System and method for reducing toxic waste in manufacturing processes
First Claim
1. A method of optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in such manufacturing process, comprising:
- describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process;
connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node;
assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and
determining, using a data processing system including at least one central processing unit, a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify a manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost, the determining comprising;
building a cost matrix representing an array of the plurality of nodes; and
executing a shortest path algorithm on the cost matrix to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph;
wherein values in the cost matrix represent the edge values between nodes, wherein the shortest path algorithm comprises a modified Dijkstra'"'"'s shortest path algorithm, and wherein the shortest path algorithm is run from the end node instead of the begin node, to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph.
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Abstract
A system and method of optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in the process. In an embodiment, the method includes: describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process; connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node; assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and determining a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in such manufacturing process, comprising:
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describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process; connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node; assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and determining, using a data processing system including at least one central processing unit, a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify a manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost, the determining comprising;
building a cost matrix representing an array of the plurality of nodes; and
executing a shortest path algorithm on the cost matrix to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph;wherein values in the cost matrix represent the edge values between nodes, wherein the shortest path algorithm comprises a modified Dijkstra'"'"'s shortest path algorithm, and wherein the shortest path algorithm is run from the end node instead of the begin node, to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in a manufacturing process, comprising:
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a component for describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process; a component for connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node; a component for assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and a component for determining a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify a manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost, the determining comprising;
building a cost matrix representing an array of the plurality of nodes; and
executing a shortest path algorithm on the cost matrix to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph;wherein values in the cost matrix represent the edge values between nodes, wherein the shortest path algorithm comprises a modified Diikstra'"'"'s shortest path algorithm, and wherein the shortest path algorithm is run from the end node instead of the begin node. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A data processor readable medium storing data processor code that when loaded onto and executed by a data processing device adapts the device to execute a method of optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in said manufacturing process, the data processor readable medium comprising:
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code for describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process; code for connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node; code for assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and code for determining a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify a manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost, the determining comprising;
building a cost matrix representing an array of the plurality of nodes; and
executing a shortest path algorithm on the cost matrix to determine the shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph;wherein values in the cost matrix represent the edge values between nodes, wherein the shortest path algorithm comprises a modified Diikstra'"'"'s shortest path algorithm on the cost matrix, and wherein the shortest path algorithm is run from the end node instead of the begin node. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification