JP2000172744A - Product transportation planning device and transportation planning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently perform the transportation of products and to surely keep the designated date of delivery. SOLUTION: A product shipping sequence information calculating means 60 prepares a shipping sequence by adding the field until the point of prescribed time stored in an actual yield storing means 46 to the production schedule after the point of prescribed time stored in a scheduled yield information storing means 42. Because the information of products that are completed earlier than the schedule is added in addition to scheduled production information, it is possible to form a more accurate transportation plan. As for the products that are completed earlier than the schedule, the wider selection is allowed and the more easily a plan is formed because the longer is a shipping possible time zone, the more surely the date of delivery is observed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for planning a plan for transporting produced products to a plurality of predetermined destinations. In particular, the present invention relates to drafting a transport plan for a so-called multi-product small-quantity production product in which products having different types, specifications and destinations are mixed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various systems have been proposed to formulate transportation plans for transporting produced products to predetermined destinations. For example, JP-A-6-290185 discloses that
An apparatus is disclosed which searches for a delivery route in response to a request from a delivery destination and further formulates a delivery plan in consideration of road conditions. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-212494 discloses an apparatus for drafting a delivery plan in consideration of time constraints, loading conditions of vehicles to be delivered, and the like.

[0003]

Conventionally, the production by the flow operation has been performed when the same product is mass-produced, but is now also used when performing a multi-product small-quantity production. For example, in the production of an automobile, the type (vehicle type), specification, and delivery destination of the individual are determined at the time of being put into a production line, and the automobile is produced through each process according to a plan. The specifications to be introduced vary, and the vehicles that flow on the production line often differ in model and specifications from before and after. Conversely, if the same model and specifications are continuously flowed, the work load of a specific process on the production line is applied, which may be inefficient. Avoid focusing on the line.

[0004] As described above, in a production mode in which the delivery destination of a product being manufactured is already determined, if the production is not performed as planned due to the occurrence of defects, the product transportation plan will be inconsistent, and the efficiency will be reduced. There was a problem that transportation could not be performed well and that the delivery deadline could not be met. Such a problem does not occur when the same product is mass-produced. This is because, in mass production, since there is no individuality of each product, if there is a defective product, it can be rejected and replaced with a product that has rejected the next product.

[0005] As described above, the present invention provides an apparatus and a method suitable for planning a product transportation plan that has already been determined up to a delivery destination in a high-mix low-volume production, particularly in a production process. With the goal.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a transportation planning device according to the present invention is provided with a product completion result up to a predetermined time and a product completion schedule after the predetermined time. A shipping order calculating means for obtaining a shipping order of the subsequent products, and a transport planning means for drafting a transport plan based on the shipping order, conditions of usable transport means, and a delivery deadline.

[0007] By considering the product completion results up to a predetermined time in addition to the product completion schedule, it is possible to make a transportation plan for products that must be actually completed and transported, and for products to be completed in the future. The accuracy of is improved.

Further, a transportation plan can be made based on a transportation plan established before a predetermined time. The previous transportation plan can be used, and changes in the transportation plan can be reduced.

Further, a transportation plan can be made based on the receiving conditions of the shipping destination. According to this, for example, it is possible to draft a transportation plan by limiting the acceptable time zone of the shipping destination.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transportation planning method, comprising the steps of: obtaining a product completion result up to a predetermined time and a shipping order of the product after the predetermined time based on the product completion schedule after the predetermined time. And a step of drafting a transportation plan based on the shipping order, conditions of available transportation means, and a delivery deadline.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment relates to drafting a transportation plan for a finished product of an automobile in which a small number of products of various types are manufactured by a continuous operation.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a production process and a transportation process of an automobile. A transportation plan 12 for each month is drawn up based on a production plan 10 for each month. Based on this transportation plan 12, a large frame of a carrier car for transporting the completed vehicle is arranged. That is, the number of carrier cars that can be used on a certain day of the month is determined. The monthly production plan 10 is sequentially modified for each predetermined production unit such as day by an order 14 from an actual customer. The contents of the order 14 include a vehicle type, specifications, a desired delivery date, and the like, and an actual production plan 16 is determined in consideration of these. According to this plan, the production is started in the factory 18. Therefore, when the production of a certain product is started, the delivery destination of the individual has already been specified. Completed vehicles that have gone off-line from the production line of the factory are once pooled 20 and transported to a stopover 22 or directly to a store 24 by a carrier car according to a transportation plan. The completed vehicle sent to the stopover 22 is mounted on another carrier car from here and transported to the store 26. In some cases, the goods are sent to the store via a plurality of stopovers. Dealer 2
Delivered to customers from 4,26.

The types and specifications of automobiles vary widely, and the factory 18 flows on one production line in a state where many types and specifications are mixed. In the vehicle assembly process,
If the same specifications flow continuously or collectively, the workload of a specific process may be concentrated. In order to avoid this, a production plan is set up so that the same specifications are not concentrated, and as for vehicles flowing through one production line, vehicles of various types and specifications flow one after another. With this type of production, if a defect occurs during production, the line-off of that product will be out of schedule, and the delivery destination of other products has already been determined. Cannot be replaced by In addition, peripheral products in which a defect has occurred are also affected by the line-off schedule.

Thus, the actual schedule of the line-off is
Subject to changes due to actual orders from customers and production progress on the production line. In response, the transportation plan is changed. For the monthly transportation plan 12, a daily transportation plan 28 is drafted based on the determined production plan, that is, the information on the start of production and the actual completed results. Carrier cars are arranged based on this plan, and a transport instruction 30 is issued to the pool 20 based on the information on the line-off every moment. The progress 32 of the transportation of the product whose transportation has been started is constantly managed. The actual transportation information is analyzed, and if there is a problem, the problem is reflected in the subsequent monthly transportation plan 12 to solve the problem.

FIG. 2 shows the overall configuration of a product transportation planning device according to this embodiment. A product completion schedule indicating the scheduled date and time of completion of the product put into the line based on the determined production plan is input from the input means 40, and the storage means 4
Stored in 2. Further, the result of product completion is input from the input means 44 and stored in the storage means 46. Further, in order to take into account the request for the delivery deadline of the destination of the product, a shipping condition indicating the shipping deadline calculated backward from the delivery deadline is input from the input means 48 and stored in the storage means 50. Further, conditions for accepting the shipping destination (transportation destination), for example, there is no place to stop a carrier car of five or more or no car can be accepted after 4:00 pm are input from the input means 52 to the storage means 54. You. In addition, in order to determine an optimal transportation route from past transportation results, the transportation results are input from the input means 56 and stored in the storage means 58. Based on the information stored in the storage means 42, 46, 50, 54, 58 and the transportation plan information storage means 70 described later, the shipping order of the products is created by the calculation means 60, and this is stored in the storage means 6
Stored in 2.

Transport conditions, such as how many carrier cars can be used in a certain time zone, are input from the input means 64 and stored in the storage means 66. A transportation plan is calculated by the planning unit 68 based on the product shipping order information and the transportation conditions, and the result is stored in the storage unit 7.
0 is stored. The transportation plan can be output by the output unit 72 as appropriate.

FIG. 3 shows an outline of the transportation planning process. The same reference numerals are given to the components already described, and description thereof will be omitted. Further, the information stored in the storage means will be described with the reference numerals of the storage means in which the information is stored. The product shipping order information calculating means 60 extracts information on products to be transported based on the product completion schedule information 42, the product completion result information 46, and the transport plan information 70 created last time. Product completion record information 46
Is information on products that have already been completed and line-off at the time of planning. In addition, product completion schedule information 4
Item 2 is the completion of the product determined at the time of line introduction, and when planning a transportation plan, the products scheduled to be completed from now on are the targets. Products that have already been included in the plan at the time of the previous transportation planning are excluded from the subject of this planning. Further, the product shipping order information calculating means 60 considers various conditions after shipping. The product shipping condition 50 is a condition based on the desired delivery date of the product to the customer. To be specific, go back to the time required to ship the product from the delivery date to the customer,
The time to ship the product is defined. In addition, the condition 54 regarding delivery to the destination is also considered. For example, the deadline for delivery is conditioned by the closing time of the store to which the product is shipped. Also, the required time of the transportation route is considered from the past transportation results 58. Product shipping order information calculation means 60
In consideration of the product shipping conditions 50, the shipping destination delivery conditions 54, and the transportation results 58, the shipping order 62 of the extracted products to be transported is determined.

On the basis of the determined shipping order 62, the transportation plan drafting means 68 drafts a transportation plan 70. At this time, various transport conditions are considered. Loading base master 74
Stores information such as its location and the number of carrier cars that can be loaded at the loading site at the same time. The destination master 76 stores its location, code, destination name, carrier car size that can be carried in, and the like. The carrier car master 78 stores information such as a code specifying the carrier car, a model of the carrier car, and a usable time zone. The number-of-stacks master 80 stores the number of products that can be loaded on the model corresponding to the model of the carrier car. The travel time master 82 stores the time required from the loading base to each destination.

The transportation plan information 70 calculated based on the shipping sequence 62 and the transportation conditions 66 is output by the output means.
Sent to the transport staff. The person in charge arranges vehicle allocation while referring to this transportation plan.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart relating to a transportation planning process. First, the product completion schedule information, actual information, and past transportation plan information are read (S
100). A list of products to be completed in the target time zone of the transportation planning is created from the completion schedule information, and information of already completed products is added to the list from the actual information (S102). Further, in the transportation plan that has been drafted up to the previous time, the information of the products already included in the transportation plan is extracted from the list (S102). Next, the product shipping conditions are read (S104). As described above, the product shipping condition is a shipping time determined from the time required for transportation from the delivery date.

Next, with respect to the products in the list corrected in step S102, it is searched whether there is one that strictly adheres to the delivery date, and if there is a target product, it is determined whether the target product can satisfy the desired delivery date by a normal transportation route. (S106). If the delivery date cannot be satisfied, the shortest transport route is set (S108). The shortest transportation route is, for example, land transportation by a carrier car where transportation is usually performed by sea. For products that can be delivered by the normal route, the transport route is individually set to normal (S110). Then, the receiving time of the shipping destination is leveled (S112), and the shipping time zone is calculated for all products (S114). The shipping available time zone is the time from the line off to the shipping allowable time calculated backward from the delivery date. If the target product is not shipped during this time, the delivery date cannot be met. In the shipping time zone of each product, each product is allocated to a transportable car (S116). After allocating all the products in the planning period, the allocated transportation plan is evaluated by a predetermined evaluation function. If the evaluation function does not exceed the predetermined value, that is, does not exceed the target efficiency, the allocation condition is changed (S120), and the process returns to step S116. To change the allocation condition, for example, transporting 10 products by 5 carrier cars and 5
Changes will be made so that the cargo will be transported in a three-car carrier stack. If the value is equal to or more than the predetermined value in step S118, this is output as a transportation plan (S122), and the processing is terminated.

As described above, not only the product completion schedule information but also the actual completed product information is corrected and the transportation plan is made. As a result, it is possible to formulate a transportation plan that reflects the delay and advance of completion peculiar to high-mix low-volume production. In addition, products that have already been incorporated in the transportation plan are not included in the planning of a new plan, thereby reducing the number of products to be planned and reducing the processing load.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a production process and a transportation process of an automobile.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a transportation planning process according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a transportation planning process according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

42 product completion schedule information storage means, 46 product completion result storage means, 50 product shipping condition storage means, 54 destination delivery condition storage means, 58 transport result information storage means, 60
Product shipping order information calculating means, 62 product shipping order information storing means, 66 transport condition storing means, 68 transport planning means, 70 transport plan information storing means.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for planning a plan for transporting a product produced by a process having a production line in which products of different types, specifications and destinations are mixed to a predetermined destination, comprising: The product completion results up to the point in time, shipping order calculation means for obtaining the shipping order of the product after the predetermined time based on the product completion schedule after the predetermined time, and the shipping order and the conditions of the available transportation means and the delivery deadline. And a transportation plan drafting means for drafting a transportation plan based on the transportation plan. 2. The transportation planning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transportation planning means further develops a transportation plan based on a transportation plan established before said predetermined time. Planning equipment. 3. The transportation planning device according to claim 1, wherein said transportation planning device drafts a transportation plan based on acceptance conditions of a shipping destination. 4. A method for preparing a plan for transporting a product produced by a process having a production line in which products of different types, specifications and destinations are mixed to a predetermined destination, comprising: A process of obtaining a product shipping order after the predetermined time based on the product completion results up to the time and the product completion schedule after the predetermined time; a transport plan based on the shipping order, conditions of available transport means and a delivery deadline; And a transportation planning method. 5. The transportation planning method according to claim 4, wherein said transportation planning method further develops a transportation plan based on a transportation plan established before said predetermined time. Planning method. 6. The transportation planning method according to claim 4, wherein the transportation planning method is for producing a transportation plan based on acceptance conditions of a shipping destination.