Demand-driven collaborative scheduling for just-in-time manufacturing
First Claim
1. A computer system including instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:
- a schedule manager configured to cause the at least one processor to determine a schedule of each of a plurality of manufacturing resources used to manufacture one or more items, relative to one or more time intervals, wherein the schedule manager includesan input handler configured to determine constraints related to the manufacturing resources and to the one or more items;
a chromosome comparator configured to compare a plurality of schedule chromosomes, each schedule chromosome representing a potential schedule and including a plurality of time periods and, for each of the plurality of time periods;
a supply quantity for at least one part used to manufacture the one or more items, anda type of output produced by at least one manufacturing facility resource used to manufacture the one or more items,the chromosome comparator also configured to evaluate each of the plurality of schedule chromosomes relative to the constraints, to thereby output a selected subset of highest scoring chromosomes of the plurality of schedule chromosomes, the evaluation accounting for a warehouse size, total items produced, and costs to switch outputs produced by a manufacturing resource during the potential schedule;
a chromosome combiner configured to combine schedule chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of schedule chromosomes to obtain a next generation of schedule chromosomes for output to the chromosome comparator and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of schedule chromosomes with respect to the constraints, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of schedule chromosomes between the chromosome comparator and the chromosome combiner; and
a scheduler configured to monitor the evolutionary loop and to select a selected schedule chromosome therefrom for implementation of the schedule based thereon.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A schedule manager may include a chromosome comparator configured to compare a plurality of schedule chromosomes, each schedule chromosome including a potential schedule of use of manufacturing resources within one or more time intervals in producing one or more items, and configured to compare each of the plurality of schedule chromosomes relative to constraints, to thereby output a selected subset of the plurality of schedule chromosomes. The schedule manager may include a chromosome combiner configured to combine schedule chromosomes of the selected subset to obtain a next generation of schedule chromosomes for output to the chromosome comparator and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of schedule chromosomes with respect to the constraints, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of schedule chromosomes between the chromosome comparator and the chromosome combiner, and a scheduler configured to select a selected schedule chromosome therefrom.
55 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer system including instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:
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a schedule manager configured to cause the at least one processor to determine a schedule of each of a plurality of manufacturing resources used to manufacture one or more items, relative to one or more time intervals, wherein the schedule manager includes an input handler configured to determine constraints related to the manufacturing resources and to the one or more items; a chromosome comparator configured to compare a plurality of schedule chromosomes, each schedule chromosome representing a potential schedule and including a plurality of time periods and, for each of the plurality of time periods; a supply quantity for at least one part used to manufacture the one or more items, and a type of output produced by at least one manufacturing facility resource used to manufacture the one or more items, the chromosome comparator also configured to evaluate each of the plurality of schedule chromosomes relative to the constraints, to thereby output a selected subset of highest scoring chromosomes of the plurality of schedule chromosomes, the evaluation accounting for a warehouse size, total items produced, and costs to switch outputs produced by a manufacturing resource during the potential schedule; a chromosome combiner configured to combine schedule chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of schedule chromosomes to obtain a next generation of schedule chromosomes for output to the chromosome comparator and for subsequent comparison therewith of the next generation of schedule chromosomes with respect to the constraints, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of schedule chromosomes between the chromosome comparator and the chromosome combiner; and a scheduler configured to monitor the evolutionary loop and to select a selected schedule chromosome therefrom for implementation of the schedule based thereon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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defining a schedule of each of a plurality of manufacturing resources used to manufacture one or more items, relative to one or more time intervals; determining constraints related to the manufacturing resources and to the one or more items, evaluating a plurality of schedule chromosomes, each schedule chromosome representing a potential schedule and including a plurality of time periods and, for each of the plurality of time periods; a supply quantity for at least one part used to manufacture the one or more items, and a type of output produced by at least one manufacturing facility resource used to manufacture the one or more items, the evaluating including comparing each of the plurality of schedule chromosomes relative to the constraints, and accounting for a warehouse size, total items produced during the potential schedule, and costs to switch outputs produced by a manufacturing resource during the potential schedule; outputting a selected subset of the evaluated plurality of schedule chromosomes;
combining schedule chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of schedule chromosomes to obtain a next generation of schedule chromosomes for subsequent evaluation therewith of the next generation of schedule chromosomes with respect to the constraints, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of schedule chromosomes; andselecting a selected schedule chromosome from the selected subset for implementation of the schedule based thereon. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A computer program product tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, are configured to:
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define a schedule of each of a plurality of manufacturing resources used to manufacture one or more items, relative to one or more time intervals; determine constraints related to the manufacturing resources and to the one or more items, evaluate a plurality of schedule chromosomes, each schedule chromosome representing a potential schedule and including a plurality of time periods and, for each of the plurality of time periods; a supply quantity for at least one part used to manufacture the one or more items, and a type of output produced by at least one manufacturing facility resource used to manufacture the one or more items, wherein evaluating the plurality of schedule chromosomes includes comparing each of the plurality of schedule chromosomes relative to the constraints and accounting for a warehouse size, total items produced during the potential schedule, and costs to switch outputs produced by a manufacturing resource during the potential schedule; output a selected subset of the evaluated plurality of schedule chromosomes; combine schedule chromosomes of the selected subset of the plurality of schedule chromosomes to obtain a next generation of schedule chromosomes for subsequent evaluation therewith of the next generation of schedule chromosomes with respect to the constraints, as part of an evolutionary loop of the plurality of schedule chromosomes; and select a selected schedule chromosome from the selected subset for implementation of the schedule based thereon. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification