JP2002006920A - Manufacturing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a flexible, low cost and efficient manufacturing system. SOLUTION: A base unit 1 transfers workpiece for plural work units 2 which provide respective work functions such as assembly, adjustment or inspection. This enables one base unit to perform plural various kinds of works in a working area in charge.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manufacturing system suitable for introducing various products into a manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when mass-producing products, an automatic production line using various robots is used. That is, the automation line is pallet (platen) by conveyor
In this embodiment, a work (workpiece; product) is conveyed to the robot, and each robot arranged on this line performs a predetermined operation.

[0003]

However, such an automated line requires a long line for one product, and each robot on the line is specialized according to the specification of the product. Must be designed to do the work. In addition, when the number of operations increases due to a change in a product or a change in specifications, a method of increasing the number of robots arranged on a line must be adopted. In addition, the number of pallets on which work pieces are mounted needs to be several times the number of work stations, and must be designed in consideration of all processes. In addition, since positioning accuracy in each work area must be maintained, pallet design and management are also difficult.

[0004] However, these circumstances do not pose a serious problem for small-volume mass-produced products. This is because, once the automation line is designed in consideration of all the processes and the automation line equipment is deployed, the automation line can continuously and efficiently manufacture products thereafter.

[0005] However, in recent years, in order to diversify the needs of commodities and consumers and to shorten the merchandise cycle, it is becoming increasingly necessary to produce many kinds of products in small quantities. Considering high-mix low-volume production, large investment in production equipment for one product should be avoided. In addition, effective utilization of facilities is required. For example, various types of manufacturing equipment are required to be capable of easily changing the design of a product, diverting the product to a manufacturing process, changing the process, and the like. Further, it is not preferable that the conveyor, the pallet, and the like are recreated every time the process is changed, or the management method is changed. In addition, since opportunities for performing trial production increase, it is required that manufacturing facilities can be used even in the trial production stage.

[0006] From these facts, considering the current situation of high-mix low-volume production, the automation line used in the conventional low-mix high-volume production is not appropriate, and does not require enormous capital investment for process change. There is a demand for highly flexible manufacturing equipment that can easily cope with the problems.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an appropriate manufacturing system in a situation of high-mix low-volume production.

For this reason, in the manufacturing system of the present invention, one work area for performing a plurality of works is configured to include one base unit and a plurality of work units. Each of the work units has a function of executing a specific work, and the base unit performs at least an operation of transporting a work to each of the work units in the work area. . Further, the base unit transports the work to each of the work units based on work management information for managing a work situation in each of the work units.

In other words, according to the present invention, one base unit transports a work to a plurality of work units having individual work functions such as assembly, adjustment, and inspection. A plurality of diverse tasks can be performed in one work area assigned to one base unit.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an example in which two work areas are arranged by the manufacturing system according to the embodiment in order to show an image of the entire manufacturing line. That is, areas # 1, #
2 is based on the manufacturing system of this example. Needless to say, the entire system for actually manufacturing one product is provided with a required number of units corresponding to these work areas # 1 and # 2, and one product is completed in one work area. Some require more than 10 work areas.

Each of the work areas # 1 and # 2 is constructed around a base robot 1 as a base unit. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 1, in the area # 1, four function units 2, a tray changer 3, and a tray feeder 4 are assembled to the base robot 1. The area # 2 is configured by assembling eight function units 2 and a manual operation unit 5 with the base robot 1.

FIG. 2 shows an image when a work area such as the areas # 1 and # 2 in FIG. 1 is constructed. In other words, one work area is formed by assembling necessary work units in accordance with the contents of work to be performed, with the base robot 1 at the center. The work units are the function unit 2, tray changer 3, tray feeder 4, manual operation unit 5, transfer unit 6, and the like. Figure 1
In each of the areas # 1 and # 2, the required work unit among the respective work units is the base robot 1
As a result of being freely laid out and assembled for
This is a configuration as shown in FIG.

The function units 2 are units each having one work function. As the function unit 2, for example, a unit for performing a soldering (soldering) operation, a unit for performing a screwing operation, a unit for performing an adhesive operation, a unit for performing an adjustment operation, a unit for performing an inspection operation, and the like. In each work area, a function unit 2 having a necessary function in a process to be executed is incorporated. The tray changer 3 is a unit that replaces the tray 7 on which components to be attached to a work are placed in the work area of the base robot 1. The tray feeder 4 is a unit that supplies a tray 7 on which components to be attached to a work for the work area of the base robot 1 are placed. The manual operation unit 5 is a part provided for a worker to perform a part of the work manually, or to take out a work and perform necessary work for dealing with a failure of a certain unit. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a transfer unit 6 for transferring a work between the respective areas is incorporated, and the base robot 1 is provided.
Can receive a work that has completed work in the previous work area. Note that the system of this example does not have a conveyor or a platen.

FIG. 3 shows a control configuration of the system of this embodiment.
The main controller 10 controls the base robot 1, performs system management, and performs error processing. The operation box 11 is used for programming the main controller 10, changing settings, and performing other management inputs.
The main controller 10 causes the base robot 1 to execute a work transfer operation in cooperation with the transfer unit 6. Each of the function units 2 and the tray changers 3 is a distributed system in which the main controller 10 does not control the work but performs the required work under independent control.

In the manufacturing system of this embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, each of the function units 2 executes its own work.
Mainly performs an operation of transferring a work to each function unit 2. In other words, base robot 1
Supplies work to each function unit 2,
Take out. Of course, the base robot 1 itself may perform some work. For this reason, in one work area, it is possible to execute work steps as many as the number of deployed function units. That is, a plurality of various operations can be performed under one base robot 1.
Further, since the transfer of the work by the base robot 1 and the work in each function unit 2 are performed in parallel, the work efficiency is also improved.

Further, since each work area may be provided with a work unit such as the function unit 2 necessary for the work process to be executed, the design of the production line is easy. In addition, by rearranging each work unit, it is easy to respond to product changes, specification changes, process changes, and additional work, and it is necessary to reconfigure a new production line in response to these process changes or additions. Disappears. In the case of a failure of the work unit, the problem can be solved by replacing the work unit. Further, depending on a work process that is difficult to automate, the manual operation unit 5 is provided, so that an operator can easily intervene. Furthermore, since one work area only needs to be formed so as to execute necessary work steps, it is only necessary to sequentially build each work area from the prototype stage, for example, and it is easy to introduce and build a production line.

The operation of the base robot 1 in such a manufacturing system will be described. FIG. 4 shows the base robot 1 in a plan view. The base robot 1 includes a gantry 17, arms 14, 15, an arm column 1
6, comprising shaft portions 11, 12, 13. Although not shown here, a work end on which a workpiece can be transferred or a predetermined work can be performed is attached to a lower portion of the shaft portion 12. The arm column 16 is slidable on the horizontal plane of the gantry 17 in the X-axis direction. An arm 15 is attached to the arm post, and an arm 14 is attached to the tip of the arm 15 via the shaft 11. The arm 14 is rotatable about the shaft 11 in the θ direction. A shaft portion 12 is formed at the tip of the arm 14, and a working end is formed below the shaft portion 12. The shaft portion 12 is rotatable in the R direction with respect to the arm 14, and The part 12 itself is movable as a cylinder in the Z direction which is the vertical direction with respect to the arm 14. Therefore, the working end attached to the lower portion of the shaft portion 12 can be rotated and vertically moved. This allows the working end to flexibly execute work such as transfer of a work. The arm 14 is rotatable about a position offset from the arm column 15 by the arm 15, so that the working end can function as a working range at a position indicated by a dashed line in the drawing.

According to such a base robot 1, for example, it is possible to carry out transfer work to a large number of function units 2 arranged as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to handle a large tray 7 and the like.

FIG. 6 shows a transfer unit 6a for receiving the work from the area of the previous step and a transfer unit 6 for transferring the work to the next step.
This shows a state where b is arranged. In this case, the base robot 1 removes parts from the tray 7 and attaches them to the work sent by the transfer unit 6a, and then transfers the parts to the function unit 2a to execute the work. 2
b. The work is sequentially transferred to each of the function units 2 to execute the work, and so on. The work completed by the function unit 2e is finally transferred to the transfer unit. 6b, and can be sent to the next area.

As shown in this example, one base robot 1
Supplies parts from tray 7 in the area
A plurality of required series of operations such as mounting work of the parts, soldering work, screwing work, bonding work, adjustment work, and inspection work can be performed. Since the function units 2 need only be selected and arranged in accordance with the work to be actually performed, it is understood that the system has high flexibility.

FIG. 7 illustrates that such a system provides a cost advantage. The horizontal axis indicates the working time, and the vertical axis indicates the cost. For example, assuming that 20 seconds is the working time by a normal robot, if the conventional manufacturing line attempts to work for 60 seconds, 3 seconds. Robots are required, and C1 × 3 is required in terms of cost. However, in the case of this system, the base robot 1
Since the operation for 60 seconds can be performed by the operation of each function unit 2, the cost is only C2 which is the sum of the cost C1 of one robot and the cost of each function unit 2, and the manufacturing cost is significantly reduced. It is possible to lower it.

Next, an operation method of the transfer operation by the base robot 1 will be described. This is a transfer operation control of the base robot 1 which is set by the operation box 11 shown in FIG.

For example, the operation program of the base robot 1 has a work table as shown in FIG. This work table includes a nest table and a work table. The nest table manages the status of each function unit 2, and the work table manages the work status of each work.

The nest table manages parameters such as process, work name, condition, and nest. The process has a number assigned to the work performed in each function unit 2. For example, in the case of an area in which each work is performed by six function units 2, steps 1 to 6 are allocated as illustrated. The work name indicates the work content of each function unit 2. For example, soldering (Solderring), inspection (Inspection1, Inspection
2), Screwing (Screwing), Adjustment (Adjustment1, Adju)
A work name such as stment2) is described. The condition indicates a condition for performing work in each function unit 2. For example, it is indicated that the work “1,3,5” cannot be performed until after the steps 1,3,5 are completed. On the other hand, the work set to “none” indicates that the work can be performed at any stage. The nest is the function unit 2 which is the working place of the process
Shows the situation. That is, "E" is empty, "W" is working,
“F” indicates that there is a completed work.

The work table indicates the status of the work taken into the area. The work table is given a number wk1, wk2,... To manage the progress of the work. In this example, six works wk1 to wk6 that can be currently arranged in the area
Can be managed, and three works as wk1 to wk3 are currently managed. Here, “F” indicates the end of the work, “W” indicates the work in progress, and a blank indicates the non-work. "W" during the work indicates a state where the work is arranged in the nest (function unit 2) of the process of the "W" and the work is being performed. The state in which the work is completed in a certain function unit 2 and the work is waiting to be taken out from the function unit 2 is set to “F” in the nest table and “W” in the work table. Indicated by

For example, with regard to the work wk1, it is shown that the work of steps 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 has already been completed, and the work is currently being performed in the function unit 2 of step 4. Since the nest of the process 4 is “F”, it can be identified that the work wk1 has already been taken out after completing all the processes in the area and is waiting to be transported to the next area.
Steps 1 and 3 are completed for the work wk2.
Currently working on step 6, but the nest of step 6 is "F"
Therefore, the work wk2 is in a state of waiting for transfer to the next step (function unit 2). Further, the work wk3 is in a state where the steps 1 and 3 are completed, the work of the step 5 is currently being performed, and the nest of the step 5 is “W”. It is shown that

The base robot 1 may perform an operation of transferring a work to each function unit 2 while referring to such a work table. As the sequence, "F" (waiting for retrieval) or "E" (empty) is searched from the nest of the nest table. Next, the status of the work is read from the work table. The status of the work is compared with the condition of the nest “E” step, and if the transfer is possible, the work is transferred. Also, at the time of transfer, the nest of the nest table is updated to “E” for the process from which the work is taken out, and the information of the taken out process is updated to “F” for the work. Next, if the condition of the process of the nest “E” is “absent”, a new work is fetched and added using a free address of the work table. In addition, the nest “W” (during work) and “F” (work end) of the nest of the nest table are updated by exchange with each function unit 2.

FIG. 9 shows a flow chart of the processing for transfer as described above. In step F101, the nest table and the work table are checked, and in step F10
In step 2, it is confirmed whether there is any work that has completed all the work in the area and is waiting to be taken out. If there is a work for which all the work has been completed, the work is taken out in step F103, transferred to the transfer unit 6, and transferred to the next area. At this time, the nest of the process from which the work is taken out is updated to “E”, and the status information of the work is deleted from the work table.

In step F104, the nest of the nest table is checked, and in step F105, the presence or absence of "E" is confirmed. If the step “E” does not exist, the process returns to step F101. Nest in step F105 =
If it is determined that the process “E” has been performed, the process proceeds to step F10.
In step 6, the nest of the nest table is checked again, and in step F107, it is confirmed whether or not a process of nest = “F” exists. If there is a nest = “F” step,
In step F108, the nest table is compared with the work table, and in step F109, it is determined whether or not the work can be transferred. That is, the condition of the process with nest = “E” is compared with the work completion status of each process of the work in the process with nest = “F”. To nest = "E"
It is confirmed whether or not the process can be moved to. If it is determined that the transfer is possible, the transfer of the work is executed as step F110. At this time, the nest table and the work table are updated with the transfer. In other words, in the work table, the status of the retrieved process is set to “F” for the transferred work, the nest of the retrieved process is set to “E” in the nest table, and the transferred process is set to “E”. Is updated to “W”. Then, the process returns to step F101. If it is determined in step F109 that transfer is impossible, the process returns to step F101.

On the other hand, in step F107, nest = “F”
If it is determined that there is no step, step F111
Then, it is confirmed whether or not the condition required for the process in which the nest = “E” is detected is “absent”.
If "no", in step F112, the new work, that is, the work sent from the previous process by the transfer unit 6, is transferred to the nest = “E” process. At this time, the new work is registered in the work table. In the nest table, the nest of the transferred process is updated to “W”. And step F101
Return to If the condition of the process of nest = “E” is not “absent” in step F111, the process returns to step F101.

With the above processing, the base robot 1
By transferring the work, the work can be efficiently delivered to each function unit 2, and the efficiency of the process and the reduction of time can be realized.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the manufacturing system of the present invention is not limited to the above example, but the type and number of working units such as the function unit 2 and the structure of the base robot 1 as a base unit. Various examples of the transfer processing method and the transfer processing method can be considered.

[0033]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the present invention, one base unit is used for a plurality of work units having individual work functions such as assembling, adjustment, and inspection. ), A plurality of various operations can be performed in one operation area assigned to one base unit. That is, one robot serving as a base unit can perform a variety of multiple tasks, and efficient use of one robot is realized. In addition, by performing many operations, a production line for a product with a small production amount can be constructed with a small-scale system.
Further, since a work unit may be incorporated according to a work process to be executed, design of a production line is easy. In addition, by rearranging each work unit, it is easy to respond to product changes, specification changes, process changes, and additional work, and it is necessary to reconfigure a new production line in response to these process changes or additions. Disappears. As a result, effective use of equipment and reduction of equipment investment can be realized. Of course, in the event of a failure of the work unit, the problem can be solved by replacing the work unit and the like, and time loss can be minimized. For some processes that are difficult to automate,
It can be easily handled by workers taking them out of the automation line. Also, since the need for conveyors and pallets is lessened, and pallet accuracy control is not so required, a small-scale automation line can be realized, which also contributes to simplification of manufacturing processes, efficiency, and improvement in flexibility. In addition, since one work area only needs to be formed so as to execute necessary work steps, it is only necessary to sequentially build each work area from the prototype stage, for example, and introduction and construction of a production line is easy. In addition, the base unit conveys the work to each of the work units based on the work management information for managing the work situation in each of the work units, so that in one work area, the work can be efficiently performed according to the situation. The work can be advanced and the manufacturing time can be shortened. From these facts, it is possible to construct a very effective production line at a production site where small-quantity multi-product production is performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of units in a work area according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a control structure according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a structure of a base robot according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a work range of the base robot according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a working example of the base robot of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the cost of the system according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a work table according to the embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a work procedure of the base robot according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 base robot, 2 function units, 3
Tray changer, 4 tray feeder, 5 manual operation unit, 6 transfer unit, 7 trays

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A work area for performing a plurality of works includes one base unit and a plurality of work units. Each of the work units has a function of executing a specific work. The manufacturing system, wherein the base unit performs an operation of transporting the work to at least each of the work units in the work area. 2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the base unit transports the work to each of the work units based on work management information for managing a work situation in each of the work units. system.