JP2000042848A

JP2000042848A - Single line small lot multi-production system

Info

Publication number: JP2000042848A
Application number: JP11110973A
Authority: JP
Inventors: Shoki Kan; 鍾煕韓
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd; 三星電子株式会社
Priority date: 1998-07-27
Filing date: 1999-04-19
Publication date: 2000-02-15
Also published as: KR20000009657A

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable small lot multi-production by efficiently adjusting the flow of a production line, using a bar code and various sensors. SOLUTION: This single line small lot multi-production system includes: a main control part for controlling a system; first sensors 102a, 102b for detecting the delivery of a product to a conveyer 100; first bar code readers 103a, 103b for transmitting bar code information on the product to the main control part; second sensors 104a, 104b for detecting the product arrived at the assembling position; second bar code readers 105a, 105b for transmitting the bar code information on the product to the main control part; a robot 106 for assembling the product in accordance with a control command from the main control part; and a robot controlling-controller for controlling the robot in accordance with the control command from the main control part; and a third sensor 108 for recognizing the product arrived at the assembling position and assembled shape of the product in assembling the product.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-line, multi-product, small-quantity production system employed in a production facility utilizing a conveyor, and more particularly, to efficiently control the flow of a production line using a bar code and various sensors. And a single-line multi-product low-volume production system that enables multi-product low-volume production.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Systems utilizing conveyors and bar codes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,104, 5,190,162 and 5,634,562. US Patent 4,8
No. 50,104 relates to a method and apparatus for configuring, automating, and controlling various operations performed on other products, such as testing and repairing a PCB, wherein the apparatus transports a product. Workstation and conveyor unit and other components for performing operations on the product between the workstations. The products are loaded on standardized transport equipment that facilitates mixing different sizes and shapes of the products without adjustment to the conveyor unit. Other components are adapted to be transported by the same conveyor unit. The device also has a buffering stage coupled to each station for temporarily storing products and other components, and facilitates parallel processing of different types of products by means of a dynamic priority grading system and advance scheduling technology. To provide a distributed control system. U.S. Pat.No. 5,190,162 relates to a package sorting device having an individual barcode identification indicator, such that a guide conveyor conveys a package if the package is received at a guide station and an individual package passes a gate at predetermined time intervals. Actuator (act
uator). The package has a transport mechanism along a slider bed having a trap door movable between an elevated position in alignment with the slider bed and a lowered position providing clearance to the slider bed so that the package can be dropped from the slider bed. Driven by US Patent
No. 5,634,562 relates to a method and apparatus for separating, supplying and classifying loaded products, utilizing a computer controlled conveyor transport path. The transportation route is the drop-in section,
It consists of a separation section and a discharge section. The retraction unit includes a retraction conveyor and a supply roller for adjusting the downstream movement to the separation unit. The separating section comprises a plurality of individually and selectively controlled friction supply rollers arranged on an inclined inclined plane.

On the other hand, a system using the conventional conveyor as described above has a structure capable of producing only one product on one line, and one conveyor system uses a component supply end and a supplied component. It consists of a system to assemble and assemble, and a part to inspect and ship. The barcode is mainly used for classification of products at the time of final shipment, or is used for classifying components by being attached to a component supply end. By the way, such a conventional production system using a conveyor is designed so as to be suitable for mass production of small varieties, and many difficulties accompany application to mass production of small varieties. That is, a separate production line for producing each type of product should be provided for small-lot production of many types, which causes a problem such as an increase in equipment cost.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has been developed by efficiently adjusting the flow of a production line using a barcode and various sensors. It is an object of the present invention to provide a single-line multi-product low-volume production system that enables low-product production.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a single-line multi-product small-quantity production system according to the present invention controls the whole system in a system for assembling and producing products transferred by a conveyor. A main control unit, a first sensor provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor, for sensing the drawing of the product into the conveyor, and a first sensor provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor, the product drawn into the conveyor A first barcode reader for reading the barcode and transmitting the information to the main control unit, and a first barcode reader provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor, for sensing the arrival of the product at the assembly position on the conveyor. (2) A sensor and a bar code of a product which is provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor and reaches an assembly position on the conveyor. And a second barcode reader for reading the information and transmitting the information to the main control unit, and a main control unit provided on one side of the conveyor and controlled by the information transmitted from the first and second barcode readers. A robot for assembling a product by a command, a robot control controller provided at a predetermined portion of the robot, and controlling the operation of the robot by a control command of the main control unit;
It is characterized in that it includes a third sensor provided at a predetermined portion of the robot and for recognizing a product that has reached the assembly position and for recognizing an assembly position and an assembly shape of the product when assembling the product. .

According to the present invention, it is possible to assemble various kinds of desired products only by changing information related to a product read through a barcode reader and an assembling sequence program.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2,
The single-line multi-product low-volume production system according to the present invention includes a main controller (Supervisor) 10 that controls the entire system for assembling and producing products transferred by the conveyor 100.
1, provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor 100, first sensors 102a, 102b for sensing the pulling of the product into the conveyor 100, and provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor 100, The bar code of the drawn product is read and the information is read by the main control unit 101.
A first barcode reader 103a, 103b, and a second sensor 104a, 104b, which is provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor 100 and senses the arrival of a product at an assembly position on the conveyor 100, A second barcode reader 105 is provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor 100 and reads a barcode of a product that has reached the assembly position on the conveyor 100 and transmits the information to the main control unit 101.
a, 105b and a robot 106 provided on one side of the conveyor 100 and assembling products according to a control command of the main control unit 101 based on information transmitted from the first and second barcode readers 103a, 103b, 105a, 105b. And a robot control controller 107 that is provided at a predetermined portion of the robot 106 and controls the operation of the robot according to a control command of the main control unit 101, and a product that is provided at a predetermined portion of the robot 106 and reaches the assembly position. And a third sensor 108 for recognizing a product assembling position and an assembling shape at the time of assembling the product.

Here, the first and second sensors 102a, 102b,
Ultrasonic sensors are preferably used as 104a and 104b,
As the third sensor 108, a vision sensor is used. The barcode includes information such as a product type, parts related to product assembly, and an assembly sequence. That is, various information related to the product is set in advance by an operator or a production line operator, recorded in a barcode, and attached to the product. Also,
The first and second barcode readers 103a, 103b, 105a, 10
The traveling speed of the conveyor 100 is controlled to be constant in order to prevent an error in recognition of the bar code attached to the product. Of course, the traveling speed of the conveyor 100 is set in advance by an operator or a system operator and is input to the main control unit 101.

Now, the operation of the single-line multi-product small-quantity production system according to the present invention having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, first, when a product is pulled into the conveyor 100, first sensors (ultrasonic sensors) 102a and 102b sense the pull-in of the product and the main control unit 101.
(Step 301). Then, the main control unit 101
Commands the first barcode reader 103a, 103b to read the barcode of the product (step 302). Thereby,
The first barcode reader 103a, 103b is the first sensor 102a, 10
The barcode of the product transferred by the conveyor 100 through 2b is read, and the read information is transmitted to the main control unit 101 (step 303). That is, the first barcode reader 103a, 103b
Reads information such as a product type, parts related to product assembly and an assembly sequence recorded in the barcode, and transmits the information to the main control unit 101. Then, the main controller 101 stores the part information and the sequence information necessary for assembling the product in a buffer (not shown) of the robot controller 107 (step 304). If the product is continuously transferred by the conveyor 100 and the product reaches the assembly position on the conveyor 100, the second sensor (ultrasonic sensor) 104
A and 104b sense the arrival of the product at the assembly position and notify the main control unit 101 (step 305). Then, the main control unit 101
The barcode readers 105a, 105b are instructed to read the barcode of the product (step 306). Accordingly, the second barcode readers 105a and 105b read the barcode of the product and transmit the read information to the main control unit 101 (step 307). Then, the main control unit 101 transmits the second barcode readers 105a and 105b.
It interprets the information transmitted from, and transmits the result to the robot control controller 107 (step 308). The robot control controller 107 compares the information interpreted and transmitted by the main control unit 101 with the information stored in the buffer,
It is determined whether there is information related to a desired product. Also,
At this time, the third sensor (vision sensor) 108 simultaneously recognizes the shape of the product and transmits it to the controller 107 for robot control. The controller 107 for robot control interprets the transmitted signal to grasp the shape of the product. Then, the determined information is compared with the information of the product stored in the buffer to determine whether the product is the desired product (step 309). That is, the determination as to whether the product is the desired product is made by the vision sensor 108.
And barcode information are used. If it is determined that the product is a desired product, the robot control controller 107 issues a drive command to each drive unit (not shown) of the robot 106, whereby the robot 106 transmits the part information and the sequence stored in the buffer. Assemble the product based on the information (Step 3
Ten). At this time, the third sensor 108 recognizes the assembling position and the assembling shape of the product, and controls the robot controller.
Transmit to 107 and controller 107 stores it in memory (not shown).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 309 that the product is not the desired product, the robot control controller 107 recognizes that an error has occurred during transportation or assembly from the previous step, and notifies the main control unit 101 of the fact that the error has occurred. Inform. Then
The main control unit 101 transmits a command to pass the product related to the error as it is to the conveyor driving unit 201, and the conveyor driving unit 201 receives the command to operate the conveyor 100 again. Thereby conveyor 1
The product associated with the occurrence of the error on 00 is passed through the robot 106, transported to another location, and stored (step 311).

The bar code information read through the bar code readers 103a, 103b, 105a and 105b in connection with the above-described series of operations, that is, only by changing the product information, the database related to the product, the assembly sequence program, and the like. The desired variety of products can be assembled by a single conveyor system.

[0013]

As described above, the single-line, multi-product small-quantity production system according to the present invention can produce a variety of desired products in small quantities only by changing the bar code information read by the bar code reader and the assembly sequence program. Since such a production is performed by a single conveyor system, there is an advantage that the cost added in the case of changing from a conventional small-product mass production system to a multi-product small production system can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a single-line multi-product small-lot production system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sequence flow chart for the operation of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sequence flowchart following FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Conveyor 101 Main controller 102a, 102b First sensor 103a, 103b First barcode reader 104a, 104b Second sensor 105a, 105b Second barcode reader 106 Robot 107 Robot control controller 108 Third sensor

Claims

[Claims]

1. A system for assembling and producing products conveyed by a conveyor, comprising: a main control unit for controlling the entire system; and a main control unit provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor, for detecting a product being drawn into the conveyor. A first sensor for reading a barcode of a product drawn into the conveyor and transmitting the information to the main control unit, the first sensor being provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor; And a second position for sensing the arrival of the product at the assembly position on the conveyor.
A second barcode reader, which is provided at a predetermined position close to the conveyor, reads a barcode of a product that has reached an assembly position on the conveyor, and transmits the information to the main control unit; A robot provided on one side of the conveyor and assembling products according to a control command of a main control unit based on information transmitted from the first and second barcode readers; A robot control controller for controlling the operation of the robot according to a control command; and a controller provided at a predetermined portion of the robot for recognizing a product that has reached the assembly position, while recognizing an assembly position and an assembly shape of the product when assembling the product. A single-line, multi-product, low-volume production system characterized by including a third sensor for performing.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second sensors are ultrasonic sensors.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the third sensor is a vision sensor.
4. The single-line, multi-product, low-volume production according to claim 1, wherein the bar code includes information such as a product type, parts related to product assembly, and an assembly sequence. system.