EP2316623A1 - Management of panel cutting for kitchen elements design - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves determining a programmed manufacturing cycle corresponding to wooden panels (P, P') automatically to be cut based on controls (100, 101), where one of the controls includes walls (A, B) and the other control includes other walls (A', B'). The programmed manufacturing cycle is determined with respect to a manufacturing time unit. Cutting of one of the walls of the former control and one of the walls of the latter control is controlled within one of the panels. Cutting of the other wall of the former control is controlled within the other panel. An independent claim is also included for a device for cutting panels for designing walls of kitchen elements, comprising a panel cutting table.

Description

The invention relates to a method for cutting panels for designing walls for designing furniture.

The invention will find a preferential application, but in no way limiting, in the management and optimization of the performance of a wood panel cutting line.

The present invention is in the more particular field of cutting wood panels to make walls of kitchen elements.

A kitchen is composed of a plurality of elements which can take on different dimensions in width, height or depth. These kitchen elements are made from wood or wood-based panels and in a wide variety of colors or coatings. The more important a manufacturer is, the better he is able to meet the demands of his customers.

For the moment, many manufacturers realize the manufacture of a kitchen upon receipt of an order from a customer. This manufacture is generally done on stock. In other words, the manufacturer designs and stores a multitude of walls cut in elementary panels having the desired characteristics, for example in the range of proposed colors. Upon receipt of the order the walls of the kitchen elements to be produced are taken from the stock and assembled.

It is understood, in these conditions, that the manufacturer must have a large storage space representing, obviously, a significant cost. Not to mention the fact that kitchens suffer the effects of fashion. The stock thus constituted, for the elements of a kitchen of a color gone out of fashion, has difficulty to be sold out and represents a not insignificant loss of money.

Moreover, through this fashion effect the manufacturer can easily fall out of stock color to the taste of the day and therefore be unable to meet a customer's order within a reasonable time.

It should also be noted that the cutting of wood or wood-based panels is currently done by sawing. Thus, the panels are usually debited, a first time, in the direction of width or length by a first cutting machine. The resulting panel pieces are routed to a second cutting machine, for the design of the walls to the desired dimensions.

Another known solution, but less common for cutting wood, is to cut the panels under the action of a jet of high pressure water. An example of such a water jet cutting station is described in the document EP 0 983 827 .

In addition, these panels can still be routed to other machines for machining operations, such as making a hole or notches.

As a result, a multitude of workstations for performing these operations are required. A solution exists, through the document US 5,269,211 , describing a single station allowing the cutting of a single panel into several identical elements. However, such a device ensures a multiplication of identical cutting tasks, without being able to take into account different cuts of several distinct elements.

If the existing solutions allow to reduce the positions and the cutting time, they do not ensure optimal management of orders, manufacturing time and stock.

The present invention proposes to solve this problem of the state of the art through a management method according to the commands of a panel cutting line for the design of kitchen element walls.

Such a method makes it possible to perform this cutting and this manufacture of the walls in "tense flow", namely at the very moment when the order of a customer goes into production, so without superfluous storage walls already cut and without lengthen the manufacturing time and, therefore, the customer's waiting time for this kitchen.

In short, the invention aims at optimizing and rationalizing a production line of furniture walls according to the orders placed, in particular at the cutting of the panels intended to constitute said walls.

To do this, such a method consists in automatically determining a programmed manufacturing cycle corresponding to at least a first and a second panel to be cut according to at least a first and a second command.

According to a particular embodiment, said programmed production cycle is determined with respect to a unit of manufacturing time.

Advantageously, said first control comprises at least a first wall and at least a second wall, said second control comprises at least a first wall, and in that it consists in controlling the cutting of said first wall of the first control and said first wall of the second control within said first panel, and then controlling the cutting of said second wall of the first control within said second panel.

Preferably, said second control comprises at least a second wall and in that it consists in controlling the cutting of said second wall of said first control and of said second wall of said second control within said second panel.

Thus, from several orders placed, and the walls constituting each of said commands, the method according to the invention is able to determine a programmed production cycle and allows to choose which panels to send to the production line, in particular the post cutting. In addition, the invention provides for cutting each panel according to the entirety of the commands, in a global manner, namely by optimizing the cutting of several walls of the same command and separate commands within the same panel. In other words, the invention no longer performs the successive embodiments of the controls, but allows their entanglement, optimizing the manufacturing time.

The invention also relates to a device for implementing the management method according to the invention.

Such a device comprises a panel cutting table and is characterized in that it comprises a management unit of its operation capable of determining a programmed manufacturing cycle according to the method according to the invention.

• la figure 1 représente, de façon schématisée et de dessus le dispositif selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 représente, de façon schématisé et en coupe la table de découpe avec le bac de récupération ; et
• la figure 3 représente une modélisation d'un exemple de mise en oeuvre du procédé selon l'invention.

Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments of the invention, with reference to the appended figures:

• the figure 1 represents schematically and from above the device according to the invention;
• the figure 2 represents schematically and in section the cutting table with the recovery tank; and
• the figure 3 represents a modeling of an exemplary implementation of the method according to the invention.

The invention is in the field of the design of furniture elements, and in particular the manufacture of the walls of kitchen elements.

The invention is particularly suitable for producing the bottom walls of a kitchen element, often made from pressed wood fibers and having a thickness less than the side walls, top, bottom or front.

The invention relates to a device for implementing the method according to the invention.

As visible on the figure 1 such a cutting device 1 comprises a cutting table 2 in the form of a receiving surface 20 to the dimensions adapted to wooden panels or wood-based cutting.

This table 2 comprises longitudinal translation control means 21 allowing more precisely to move, in a longitudinal cutting direction, a panel 3 placed on this table 2.

In addition, said table 2 comprises, consequently, a support frame 22 on which are mounted means for guiding a carriage 23 able to provide support for a panel for its displacement in this longitudinal cutting direction. , this carriage 23 and its motorized drive means substantially defining said control means 21. In this regard, this carriage 23 is advantageously equipped with means for gripping and clamping said panel 3 to ensure its maintenance during the phases of movement and cutting. Such gripping and clamping means can adopt different embodiments, in particular, that of clamps pneumatically or hydraulically controlled. We can still imagine that the maintenance of the panels 3 intervenes by depression.

Said control means 21 are designed to be adjustable in speed and displacement to allow their adjustment to the cutting work of the panels 3.

The cutting device 1 further comprises a water jet cutting head 4 mounted in transverse displacement above said cutting table 2 in line with a water jet passage slot formed in the latter. According to an advantageous embodiment, this cutting head 4 is mounted mobile at least in translation on a beam 41 extending transversely above the cutting table 2. It is again subjected to motorized drive means to ensure in an automated way its displacement along this support beam 41.

This waterjet cutting head performs a precise, clean cut, ie does not require secondary cleaning operations. It is also non-contact, that is to say that the cutting head 4 does not come into contact with the panel 3 and therefore does not cause deformation on the latter.

In addition, in the current environmental context a water jet cutting head 4 is advantageous in that it does not produces no vapor, dust or smoke.

The water-jet cutting also makes it possible, on the same table 2, to cut into a panel 3 walls having different shapes and / or sizes, this without taking up or turning over said panel 3.

Said device 1 may comprise a plurality of waterjet cutting heads 4 along the beam 41 for performing several wall cuts at the same time.

This cutting head 4 is mounted at the right of a water jet passage slot formed in the cutting table 2. This slot allows the passage of the water jet during cutting and, thus, to recover this water , also loaded with wood particles, by a filtration system 24 for reuse. Such a slot avoids in particular the cutting of the table 2 itself.

Under this passage slot of the water jet, the cutting device 1 comprises a recovery tank 25 designed to design a swimming pool for receiving and damping the water jet and its energy so as to channel the latter to prevent it from going up and coming into contact with the cut-out element.

If the control means 21 and the water jet cutting head 4 can, by individual displacements, generate, as the case may be, a longitudinal cut or a transverse cut, it is still possible to generate a combined displacement of the one and the other, for example for an angled cut or the realization of a notch or a hole in the wall to be designed.

It will be noted, once again, that in the context of the state of the art employing saws, such holes could only be designed on a different workstation.

In the embodiment visible on the figure 1 , the device 1 comprises a storage area 5 near the cutting table 2. Furthermore these panels 3 are taken from this storage area 5 and brought to the cutting table 2 by means of handling 6 that includes the device 1.

these handling means 6 are provided for depositing a panel 3 on the table 2 for its support by said holding and clamping means which is equipped with the carriage 23 corresponding to the translation control means 21 to ensure, thus the good positioning of this panel 3 on said cutting table 2.

To return to the storage area 5, it is preferably located, with respect to the longitudinal cutting direction, upstream of the cutting table 2, but can also be at any other location on the production site, even at an upper or lower floor communicating with the local housing the cutting device 1.

This storage area 5 is constituted by a rack 51 which comprises storage compartments 52 and storage panels 3 distributed in one or more horizontal rows and / or one or more vertical columns. In each compartment 52 are therefore stored panels 3 of a single color.

In particular, the rack 51 thus comprises, on either side of a longitudinal median plane, compartments 52 for storing panels distributed in one or more horizontal rows and / or vertical columns.

As for the handling means 6, they comprise a robot or a manipulator arm designed able to move in front of these compartments 52. More particularly it can move along a rail 61 or the like extending substantially in the Longitudinal median plane of the rack 51 to take from the latter a panel 3 of the color according to the customer order to be made and put it on the cutting table 2.

Whenever it is desired to make a wall we will look upstream in the storage area 5 a panel 3 of the right color and it is deposited with a manipulator robot on the cutting table 2 where it is cut by a waterjet cutting head 4.

According to one embodiment, the device 1 comprises downstream of the cutting table 2 an evacuation zone 7 at which are pushed the walls cut by suitable means. Such means can be defined by the carriage 23 itself, designed capable of pushing and releasing the cut walls at the cutting table, or by auxiliary handling means able to take these walls to deposit them on said zone 7. This is defined by a worktop 70, straight or inclined. The walls are therefore able to be presented to an operator or to suitable handling means for their subsequent processing.

According to the invention, the device 1 advantageously comprises a management unit 8 of its operation. It is this management unit 8 that allows the implementation of the method according to the invention.

Thus, this management unit comprises at least one memory for storing information relating to a manufacturing cycle.

In particular, this manufacturing cycle may correspond to one or more panels 3 to be cut according to one or more kitchen elements corresponding to one or more customer orders to be made with respect to a unit of manufacturing time, in this case , on a day of production. This memory advantageously still contains information on the location of each color of the panels 3 in the compartments 52 of the storage rack 51.

Thus, the management unit 8 is defined capable of controlling, by means of suitable means, such as sensors or the like, the control means 21 in longitudinal translation of a panel 3, more particularly the drive means of the carriage 23, but also the driving means of the cutting head or the different handling means.

In particular, this management unit 8 is designed to control the handling means 6 for the removal and / or storage of a panel 3 from the storage area 5, according to a programmed manufacturing cycle. It then intervenes on the movements of the carriage 23 of the table 2 or on the movements of the cutting head 4 in order to output the walls according to this manufacturing cycle in memory or programmed. Then, it ensures the evacuation of these walls cut on the evacuation zone 7, as the case may be, by a suitable control of the carriage 23 or auxiliary handling means.

Advantageously, this management unit 8 can optimize the manufacturing time by limiting the dead time between the cutting of the different panels. In particular, through said handling means 6 it can ensure the preparation, according to said manufacturing cycle, the next panel 3 to cut. In particular, through these handling means 6 and under the influence of this management unit 8, this panel 3 can be placed in a waiting position on the cutting table 2, where it will be able to to be supported by the carriage 23 during the next cutting cycle.

As mentioned above, a manufacturing cycle can correspond to a number of customer orders defined to be manufactured in a day, namely one or more panels 3 to be cut according to one or more kitchen elements corresponding to one or more customer orders to achieve with respect to a unit of manufacturing time, in this case, on a production day.

Through the memory of the management unit 8, the method according to the invention can handle several commands at the same time. In particular, said memory is defined capable of controlling to cut in a panel 3 of a specific color, walls corresponding to different commands of the memory manufacturing cycle.

The figure 3 represents a schematic view of an exemplary implementation of the method according to the invention.

A first command 100 and a second command 101 are retained for manufacturing, according to the cutting panels available in stock. For example, each command 100 and 101 corresponds to a piece of furniture consisting of several elements: two side walls, two upper and lower walls and a bottom. Each of the said elements must therefore be cut out of a panel.

As visible in the figure, said elements have distinct characteristics, represented by different colors. It can be seen that the side walls of the first control 100 correspond to the same material as the side walls, upper and lower of the second control 101. Therefore, they can be made in the same first panel P (grayed).

It is the same for the upper and lower walls and the bottom of the first control 100 against the bottom of the second control 101, which can be made in a single second panel P 'with different characteristics (white).

Therefore, the method according to the invention makes it possible to entangle the two commands 100 and 101, in particular by ordering the order of cutting of the various elements constituting it, so as to optimize the cutting of each panel P and P '.

According to a particular embodiment, the method according to the invention consists, on the one hand, of a first control comprising at least a first wall A and at least a second wall B and, on the other hand, a second control 101 comprising at least a first wall A ', to control the cutting of said first wall A and said first wall A' within a first panel P, then to control the cutting of said second wall B to within a second panel P '.

In particular, said second control 101 may comprise at least a second wall B 'and the method according to the invention consists in controlling the cutting of said second wall B and said second wall B' within said second panel P '.

According to the embodiment visible on the figure 1 , said first wall A of the first control 100 may correspond to one of the side walls, while the second wall B may correspond to the bottom. Similarly, said first wall A 'of the second control 101 may correspond to one of the side walls, while the second wall B' may correspond to the bottom.

In a more concrete example, in a manufacturing cycle if the management unit 8 realizes that it is necessary to cut two white walls, a black wall and three red walls for a first order and that to satisfy a second order it only needs three white walls, and two black walls, so it is able, when it is going to cut the white walls of the first order, to order to cut at the same time and on the same panel 3, the three white walls of the second order, provided that these cuts are possible to be performed on said panel 3. It is the same with the black walls.

Thus the management unit 8 can control the manufacture of the different walls of the different controls at the same time, always having in red wire the optimization of the operation of the cutting line, in particular of the device 1.

The management unit 8 may also have in memory the state of its stock and ensure a manufacturing accordingly. Thus, the absence in its stock panels of a specific color does not block production, the management unit 8 ensuring the cutting of the walls of other colors of the manufacturing cycle. Preferably, it is designed to issue an alert for the replenishment of its stock.

Of course, the content of the memory may not be limited to a single production cycle. In particular, it may be desired to optimize the cutting of the panels 3 through the knowledge of several cycles following. Thus, it is for example possible to debit in its entirety and in an optimized manner a panel 3 of a given color, avoiding a subsequent recovery of a panel fall 3. The management unit 8 is still designed to optimize the plan cutting panels 3 relative to the dimensions of the walls to be produced in a manufacturing cycle.

This methodology can be applied to a larger number of orders and more walls to be made for each of them, optimizing the order of passage of each wall to optimize the cutting time according to the supply of the chain. of production. This scheduling, combined with the storage and supply constraints of the cutting panels, allows the creation of a programmed production cycle.

This method can be completed by an additional step where, after cutting a panel, the cut-off walls are identified with respect to the manufacturing cycle and the walls are identified with respect to this manufacturing cycle for treatment. ulterior.

Advantageously, in particular because of this method of associating the cutting of the walls of several different controls on the same panel 3, the invention, in particular the cutting device 1, also comprises means of identification and allocation 81 control of a wall cut and conveyed at the evacuation zone 7, advantageously these means 81 being, again designed able to be controlled by the management unit 8.

In a first embodiment, particularly with a view to manual processing of the walls downstream of the cutting device 1, these identification and allocation means are constituted by a display screen 82 on which the management unit 8 is designed able to display and identify the walls according to their disposal on the evacuation zone 7. In fact, having advantageously generated in an optimized manner the cutting plane of the panel 3 and managing the means for pushing the walls cut on the zone d 7, said management unit 8 is able not only to know where a wall is and what command it corresponds, so to display on a screen adapted all the information necessary for the reprocessing of these walls downstream.

Advantageously, these locating means 81 thus make it possible to facilitate the work of the operator arranging these walls, in particular by classifying them in compartments adapted to a carriage.

For example, on such a truck, the compartments can be identified with respect to an order number of a manufacturing cycle. On the screen available to the operator, the management unit can assign to a given wall a number corresponding to a given command. It is therefore sufficient for the operator to slip into the compartment bearing the same number the wall in question.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the allocation means further comprise means for printing a label for each cut wall. These labels include, for example the number of the wall, the number of the order to which it relates, or a bar code for a quick check by suitable reading means.

According to another embodiment, the identification and allocation means are in the form of digital data for their retransmission to robotic handling means to ensure the classification, under the same conditions mentioned above, in the compartments of a cart or other.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device 1 comprises, on a lateral side of the cutting table 2, a manual panel insertion passage 3. This passage makes it possible at any time during the production cycle to meet requirements. special or special orders from a customer.

Thus, the method according to the invention, and its implementation device, make it possible to optimize the supply and manufacture at the level of a cutting line of furniture elements, in particular of kitchen, according to the orders, but also compared to the stock of panels to cut.

The advantages that flow from the present invention are that it is possible for a manufacturer of kitchen element walls, to manufacture these walls by "Just in time", in "just-in-time" and without stocking the completed walls, without lengthening the delivery time of this kitchen.

Claims (5)

A method of management according to the commands of a panel cutting line for the design of kitchen element walls, in which a programmed manufacturing cycle corresponding to at least a first and a second panel (P and P) is automatically determined ') to be cut according to at least first and second commands (100 and 101). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that said programmed production cycle is determined with respect to a unit of manufacturing time. A method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said first control (100) comprises at least a first wall (A) and at least a second wall (B), said second control (101) comprises at least a first wall (A '), and in that it consists in controlling the cutting of said first wall (A) of the first control (100) and of said first wall (A') of the second control (101) to within said first panel (P), then to control the cutting of said second wall (B) of the first control within said second panel (P '). Method according to claim 3, characterized in that said second control (101) comprises at least one second wall (B ') and that it consists in controlling the cutting of said second wall (B) of said first control (100). ) and said second wall (B ') of said second control (101) within said second panel (P'). Device (1) for cutting panels (3) for the design of kitchen element walls, comprising a cutting table (2) panel, characterized in that it comprises a management unit (8) of its functioning suitable for determining a programmed production cycle according to the method of any one of the preceding claims.

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