JP2000172312A - Fa information collecting method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly detect an abnormality in a manufacturing process and to quickly deal with the abnormality by collecting automatically the changes of the desired information in terms of time for a fixed period and in a prescribed condition among the job site information based on a data collecting condition and replaying to a data collecting condition setting means. SOLUTION: The agents 19-21 which collect the job site information collect and store the information which are designated by the missions for a fixed period and in every number of products or at every fixed time. Then the agents 19-21 which received the missions from a view 18 collect and store in sequence the designated information and also collate the data on the these information with the condition that is designated by a mission. If the abnormal data which correspond to the designated condition and is larger or smaller than the fixed value are detected, the agents 19-21 collect the data by going back to a past prescribed period from a point of time when the abnormality data are detected among those data which are so far collected and then send these collected data to the view 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, in an FA system that manages a plurality of processes for manufacturing a product, various site information generated in each process is collected, in particular, information (abnormality information) indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the manufacturing process. How to do it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, collection of various site information generated in a manufacturing process of a product in a manufacturing industry, particularly, anomaly information such as occurrence of a malfunction of a manufacturing apparatus or an anomaly of a product has mainly relied on manual labor. In other words, from forms that are periodically output,
By checking information such as the operating status of the device and the quality of the product, the company checked for any abnormalities.

[0003] However, when relying on humans, there is a possibility that omission of check of an item or a mistake in judgment by the person who checks the items may occur. In addition, if the amount of output information is excessive, manual processing becomes difficult. There is a problem.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides an FA that can quickly and automatically collect on-site information in a product manufacturing process, in particular, abnormal information indicating occurrence of an abnormality. It proposes an information collection method.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an FA system that manages a plurality of processes for manufacturing a product using a network connected to each of these processes,
When collecting the site information generated in each of the steps transmitted to the data transmission network of the network from an information collection terminal provided on the network, a time change of desired information from the site information. For a predetermined period,
The automatic collection is performed based on a predetermined condition.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily and surely collect a temporal change of site information generated in a manufacturing process. As a result, it is possible to immediately know information on abnormalities, such as the occurrence of defects in manufacturing equipment and abnormalities of products, and it is possible to quickly respond to this, and to automatically check for the occurrence of abnormalities without manual intervention. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the burden and man-hours of the workers and the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the desired information is compared with a preset control limit value, and when an abnormal value outside the control limit value is detected. , It is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the process.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred when the site information exceeds or falls below a preset management limit value. Can be immediately known, and this can be dealt with earlier.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method of the first or second aspect, the desired information is collected over a period that is a predetermined time in the past from the time when the abnormal value is detected. And

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the progress from a certain point in the past to the occurrence of the abnormality can be known, the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality can be clarified and dealt with at an early stage.

[0011] The invention according to claim 4 is the above-mentioned claims 1-3.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the occurrence of the abnormality is transmitted to a data transmission network of the network simultaneously with the occurrence of the abnormality.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, at the same time as the occurrence of an abnormality, the information is transmitted to the network of the FA system which controls the manufacturing process, so that the occurrence of the abnormality can be instantaneously known. Therefore, prompt response to the abnormality is possible.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 1.
5. The method according to any one of items 4 to 4, characterized in that it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the step by detecting the abnormal value a predetermined number of times within a predetermined period.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the occurrence of an abnormality can be predicted or detected at an early stage by detecting a variation in product quality or the like that has occurred within a predetermined period. It is possible to do.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a temporal change of the desired information within a predetermined period tends to approach the management limit value. And when the limit value is exceeded, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the process.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to grasp the tendency of the quality of the product and the operating state of the manufacturing apparatus to change from a normal state to an abnormal state, and there is a possibility that an abnormality may occur thereafter. It is possible to predict that. Therefore, the occurrence of the abnormality can be known in advance, and it is possible to quickly cope with this.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows an FA to which the method according to the present invention is applied.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a system. As shown,
The FA system 10 has a network bus 11 and this bus
The production process is managed through 11.

A sequencer 12 is connected to the bus 11, and the sequencer 12 controls the exchange of signals between a line 13 in the manufacturing process and the bus 12. Sequencer 12
Stores a sequence program for each manufacturing process, and each process is controlled by the sequencer program.

In each step, PI / O (Parallel I / O) 1
4, SERVO 15, SENSOR16 are connected to line 13,
These devices operate according to instructions from the sequencer 12.

A router 17 as a relay device for transmitting information is interposed between the bus 11 and the line 13 in the manufacturing process.
Various site information such as quality information, manufacturing condition information, and failure information is broadcast to the bus 11.

A plurality of terminals 18, 19 and 20 are provided on the bus 11, and a plurality of terminals 21 are also provided on the line 13. A printer 22 is connected to a part (one in the figure) of these terminals 18. Have been. These terminals 18 to 21 are for monitoring each process and collecting the above-mentioned various information, and these terminals perform the above-mentioned monitoring and information collection according to roles described later. The terminal 19 in the figure is the FA system.
10 is a shared server.

The terminal 18 uses the various site information transmitted to the bus 11 for a person who intends to use the site information to collect the site information in accordance with the data collection conditions set by the user himself / herself. Here, it is defined as a data collection condition setting device (hereinafter referred to as View).

In the view 18, what kind of information is present in the FA system 10 can be viewed in a list format, and the user can collect desired information as described above. Can be set using View18. In the following description, the data collection condition set by the user is called a mission. This Mi
The ssion may be directly input by the user from the View 18, or may be in the form of a data file created in advance using another computer and stored in an external storage device such as a floppy disk.

The FA system 10 is provided with a data collection / management mechanism (hereinafter referred to as Agent house) 23.
Terminals 19 to 21 belonging to use 23 are based on the data collection conditions (Mission) set by the user in View 18,
Plays the role of a data collection device (hereinafter referred to as Agent) that collects site information.

Further, the FA system 10 uses a DCE (data line terminating device) 24 connected to the bus 11 to
The terminal 27 connected to the external network 26 may be used as the above-mentioned View via the network 25.

The procedure for collecting site information using these views and agents is as follows. First, the Mission set by the user receives the Agent ho from View 18 via Bus 11.
Sent to use23. This mission is inside Agent house23
Agents 19 to 21 receive and collect site information according to the content of the mission. Here, the agent that actually collects information
May be one or more, which is selected and specified by Mission. In addition, conditions for detecting abnormality information (examples of which will be described later) are also described.
Specify in Mission. Collected site information (data)
Is stored in the Agent and when collection is completed,
sent to the requester (View) of n, or sequentially Agent
Sent to View. Vi received information from Agent
ew18 stores this data. The data stored in View18 is processed and analyzed by spreadsheet software provided in View18 in advance, and the results are displayed on the screen.
Alternatively, it is output to the printer 22. The user can know whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the manufacturing process by looking at the result.

In the FA system 10, Agents 19 to 21 that collect on-site information transmit the information specified by the Mission for a predetermined period, for example, for each product (or lot).
Alternatively, the data is collected and accumulated every time. By doing so, the user of the information can know the transition and fluctuation. It is assumed that the stored information is updated from old one at any time when new information is entered.

Next, a method of detecting an abnormality in the FA system 10 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a time chart schematically showing the operation of the Agent from the input of the mission to the detection of an abnormality in the present system. Agent that received Mission from View
Collects and accumulates the specified information (measurement data) sequentially, and checks this data against the conditions specified in Mission. If abnormal data that meets the specified conditions, for example, exceeds or falls below a certain value, is detected by the Agent from the collected data up to the specified period in the past from the time when the abnormal data was detected. To collect data and transmit it to View. Note that here we have described that data is collected retrospectively, but in reality, as described above, Agent has accumulated data for a predetermined period in the past, and this accumulated data is stored in View. Will be sent.

Hereinafter, a specific example of abnormality detection will be described.

(1) Continuous abnormality detection Time-series data fluctuations per unit production amount in a specific process, such as the quality of products manufactured continuously in the manufacturing process and the operation status of the manufacturing apparatus. (Referred to as "ren"). In this case, it is assumed that the limit values (upper limit value and lower limit value) have been set in advance for these data, and these limits and the conditions for determining that an abnormality has occurred in Mission, that is, how many times this limit value It is assumed that if data out of the range is generated, whether or not it is determined to be abnormal is specified.

FIG. 3A shows an example of the variation of the data to be examined. As shown in the drawing, the series (runs) of data indicated by solid lines are all below the management upper limit value, and it is determined that no abnormality has occurred in these runs. On the other hand, in the series indicated by the broken line, a plurality of values below the lower management limit occur. When this number exceeds a predetermined number, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.

FIG. 3 (b) is a time chart schematically showing the operation of the Agent for detecting the above-described abnormalities in the run.
As mentioned above, Agent that received Mission from View
Collects and accumulates the specified information (measurement data) one by one and checks the data as shown in the graph of FIG. 3 (a) based on the conditions specified by Mission. As a result, a series of abnormalities as indicated by broken lines in FIG. 3A occur, and when this abnormal data occurs a predetermined number of times, data for a predetermined period in the past before the abnormality is detected is collected from that time. Transmit the result to View.

(2) Detection of trend abnormality FIG. 4 shows how the quality of the product and the operation status of the manufacturing apparatus change with time, and in particular, the value of the data indicating these changes.
Is there an upward trend as shown in (a) or Figure 4 (b)
Let us consider a case in which a downward trend as shown in FIG. In this case, in Mission, limit values are determined in the same way as in the case of abnormal detection described above, and the conditions for judging abnormalities, that is, data trends are checked, and abnormalities are reached when the limit values are reached or exceeded. Is specified.

FIG. 4 (c) shows the variation of the data to be examined.
become that way. As shown in the drawing, when the data trend rises toward the management upper limit value and reaches, for example, the management limit value, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred.

FIG. 4D is a time chart schematically showing the operation of the Agent for detecting the above-mentioned trend abnormality. As mentioned above, Mission was received from View
Agent collects the specified information (measurement data)
While accumulating the data, the trend as shown in the graph of FIG. 4 (c) is checked based on the conditions specified by Mission. As a result, when the data shows the tendency shown in the figure and reaches the control limit value, data is collected for a predetermined period in the past before abnormality detection from that time point, and the result is transmitted to View.

[0038]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to automatically and promptly know the occurrence of an abnormality in the manufacturing process, and to deal with it promptly. At the same time, it is possible to reduce the burden on workers and the like.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the occurrence of an abnormality can be immediately known, and it is possible to deal with it at an early stage.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the progress from a certain point in the past to the occurrence of the abnormality can be known, it is possible to clarify the cause of the occurrence of the abnormality and to cope with it at an early stage.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, at the same time as the occurrence of an abnormality, the information is sent to the network of the FA system, so that the occurrence of the abnormality can be instantaneously known, and a prompt response to the abnormality is possible. Becomes

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the occurrence of an abnormality can be predicted or detected at an early stage by detecting a variation in product quality or the like that has occurred within a predetermined period. It is possible to do.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 6, it is possible to grasp the tendency of the quality of the product and the operating state of the manufacturing apparatus to change from a normal state to an abnormal state, and there is a possibility that an abnormality will occur thereafter. It is possible to predict that there is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an FA system to which a method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a time chart schematically showing an abnormality detection procedure according to the present method.

FIG. 3 is a time chart schematically illustrating an example of an abnormality detection procedure according to the present method.

FIG. 4 is a time chart schematically showing another example of the abnormality detection procedure according to the present method.

[Description of Signs] 10 FA system 11, 13, 26 Network bus 12 Sequencer 14 PI / O 15 SERVO 16 SENSOR 17 Router 18, 19, 20, 21, 27 Terminal 22 Printer 23 Data collection and management mechanism 24 DCE 25 Communication line

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 7, 2000 (2000.1.7)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0005

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an FA system that manages a plurality of processes for manufacturing a product using a network connected to each of these processes,
The site information generated in each of the steps transmitted to the data transmission network of the network, provided on the network, sets a data collection condition for collecting desired information from the site information, at least One data collection condition setting means and, when collecting the desired information based on the data collection conditions set by the data collection condition setting means, when collecting by at least one data collection means, the data collection means, , From the site information based on the data collection conditions transmitted from the data collection condition setting means, a time change of desired information, for a predetermined period, automatically collects based on predetermined conditions, The collected information is returned to the data collection condition setting unit that has transmitted the data collection condition.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5H220 AA06 BB11 CC03 CC05 CX09 HH01 HH04 JJ12 JJ34 JJ38 KK06 LL02 LL04 MM07 5H223 AA05 CC01 CC03 CC08 DD03 EE30 FF09 5K033 AA06 BA03 BA11 DA01 DB12 EA03 EA03 EA03

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An FA system which manages a plurality of processes for manufacturing a product by using a network connected to each of the processes, wherein site information transmitted in a data transmission network of the network and generated in each of the processes is stored. When collecting from the information collection terminal provided on the network, from the site information, a temporal change of desired information,
An FA information collecting method, wherein data is automatically collected for a predetermined period based on predetermined conditions. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the desired information is compared with a preset control limit value,
An FA information collection method, characterized in that when an abnormal value outside the control limit value is detected, it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the process. 3. The FA information collection method according to claim 1, wherein the desired information is collected over a period that is traced back by a predetermined time in the past from the time when the abnormal value is detected. . 4. The FA information collecting method according to claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the abnormality is sent to a data transmission network of the network simultaneously with the occurrence of the abnormality. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein an abnormality has occurred in the step by detecting the abnormal value a predetermined number of times within a predetermined period. How to collect FA information. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a temporal change of the desired information within a predetermined period of time indicates a tendency to approach the control limit value, and the limit value is set to a predetermined value. A method for collecting FA information, wherein it is determined that an abnormality has occurred in the process at the time when the value exceeds the threshold. 7. An FA information collecting apparatus using the method according to claim 1. 8. An FA system comprising the device according to claim 7.