JP2002341917A - Process management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a process management system which can grasp flow of articles in real time and can carry out high-level production management. SOLUTION: The process management system 20 integrates and restructures data of a manufacturing component table 14 into data by unit of customer and stores them. A work card 21 in which an ID number is recorded is issued and transferred as a set with a corresponding article. The ID number is read by a card reader 22 and corresponding data is accessed through a radio LAN 30 at the respective work places.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the management of a manufacturing process in a build-to-order manufacturing, and more particularly to a process management system for managing a production management when a product is manufactured using a plurality of vendors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order-to-order production, the production volume is small and the order volume fluctuates greatly. Therefore, when manufacturing ordered products, in order to collect necessary parts and other necessary goods for manufacturing, it is necessary to add in advance the number of parts missing during manufacturing, such as prospective production, to make an account, or to order from another company (vendor). I can't go. Therefore, if parts are lost or processing is delayed during the manufacture of a product, it is necessary to take immediate action, such as immediately ordering additional products. It is important to track the progress. In addition, at the site of each manufacturing process, it is necessary to be able to extract information on articles such as parts flowing on the line when necessary.

[0003] In the production instruction and progress management of products in the company's factory, information is given to each processing step, assembling step and inspection step by product cards and slips issued in accordance with the collection plan regardless of the parts collection status. And the progress and results are grasped by accounting for those cards and slips.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a work flow of a process management currently being performed. In the figure, when a product order is received from a customer, a production instruction 101 is issued in sales. Then, based on the production instruction 101, a production specification 102 indicating the specifications of the product ordered by the customer is created. Then, based on the production statement 102, the main computer creates part configuration data for each customer with reference to the parts table 103 in order to develop the parts at the level required for actually creating the product. With reference to the basic unit 106, a production parts table 104 in which the acquisition source, production order, and production process of each part are edited is created.

Next, the main computer creates a production card 200 for each process at once based on the production parts list 104 (batch processing), and processes the production card 200 in each processing step, each assembling step, and inspection in each vendor or company. Distribute to the process. In the manufacturing process, the processing in each step is performed by referring to each manufacturing card 200 with the part number of the part flowing on the line. In the case of the example shown in the figure, the production card 200 created by this batch process has a delivery card 201 and a steel card 20.
2. Outgoing card 203, physical tag 204, receipt card 20
5. There is a supply card 206 and a processing card 207.

[0006] The delivery card 201 is a card for designating an article to be purchased from a vendor. The delivery card 201
Sent to the vendor who receives the order, and received with the item when the vendor delivers the item. Then, at the company factory, the processed card is read by the computer and recorded as the record 107. This is the inspection result at the end of the month.

[0007] The steel material card 202 is a production card issued when the company supplies steel materials, castings, and the like that were purchased in large quantities at low cost to the vendor. The delivery card 203 is a production card for managing the delivery of articles to the warehouse.

The physical tag 204 is a name tag for linking an article such as a part with a part number, and moves with the article and flows through the company factory. A part number is described on the tag 204. In each process in the company factory, when an article flows, the tag 204 on the article is checked, and the manufacturing card 200 corresponding to the stated part number is entered. Is picked up, and the article is processed.

[0010] The receipt card 205 is a manufacturing card that serves as a receipt for the vendor. This receipt card 205
Is delivered to the vendor together with the delivery card 201, and the vendor brings the delivery card 201 and the receipt card 205 when the ordered product is delivered to its own factory. In the company's own factory, the receiving card 205 is returned by pressing the receiving stamp. The vendor receives the price of the delivered product using the receipt card 205.

The supply card 206 is issued when a steel material or a semi-processed product purchased in-house is supplied to a vendor, and describes information such as to which vendor the supply is to be made. The processing card 207 is issued when processing is performed in the company's factory, and in the processing step, a corresponding processing card 207 is searched for from the part number of the flowed article, and the article is processed based on the instruction of the card. .

[0011] These cards created by the batch process are sent to corresponding vendors or their own factories, or to each processing step. The vendor takes this card together with the ordered parts when completing the ordered parts and delivering it to their factory. In the acceptance of the own factory, acceptance inspection of the delivered product is performed, and a physical tag 204 and a supply card 206 or a processing card 207 in which a new part number is described in a non-defective product are set, and the product is transferred to the next vendor or a processing step in the own factory. .

At each work site of the company's factory, such as receiving and each processing step, these cards are manually selected by the part number according to the flow of the goods, and when the processing is completed, the input of the computer which has been LAN-deployed in each step. The result 107 is input from the terminal and the result 107 is counted, and sales acceptance and inventory management are performed.

[0013]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Some articles such as parts are made in-house, those requested to be manufactured by vendors,
There are various patterns, such as those completed by processing across multiple vendors. In the case of the conventional process management method shown in FIG. 5, the ordered product is developed into parts on the main computer, and then the production card 200 for each process is batch-generated by batch processing and distributed in advance to each vendor or related department. At this time, the contract unit price and the processing time of the article are registered by the part number. For this reason, unless a part number is newly changed every time an article moves between the factory and the vendor or between vendors, sales of each vendor cannot be managed, and sales inspection and inventory management cannot be performed.

Therefore, even with the same article, the part number changes to a new different number each time the process or the vendor moves, and the final product number also changes. Then, when the article moves, a card corresponding to the new part number is extracted from the shelf in each step or reception and set on the article. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a large number of types of cards are required to manufacture one product, and the number of cards is as large as 100,000 to 100,000 even for products requiring about 10,000 to 20,000 parts and processes. It will be 200,000 copies.

In each process and reception, a manufacturing card 200 having a manufacturing number described on an article or a physical tag 204 is manually extracted from a large number of cards, and the manufacturing card 20 is extracted.
Since the work is performed based on the information described in "0", the worker who handles the card requires skill, and the man-hour and cost required for handling the card itself increase. In addition, since the card is manually extracted, mistakes are likely to occur, which causes factors such as erroneous products, missing items, and repairs.

The production card 200 records the exact number required as a quantity for processing the article. However, it is inevitable that a defective product is generated in the process of manufacturing a product, and a defect may be found in an inspection process performed during acceptance. In such a case, the actual number of non-defective products is changed by acceptance or the like, and the shortage will be newly ordered as a separate order.
Since 00 is distributed in advance by batch processing, the information on the card cannot be corrected immediately.

Although the article flows through the process in real time, the information on the manufacturing card 200 for the article cannot be corrected in real time. In many cases, the number does not match the number, which reduces the accuracy and reliability of management, and complicates the process of paying the delivery price to the vendor.

Also, information such as the number of non-defective products actually flowing can be checked only by hand, and it is difficult to grasp the situation. Therefore, a bottleneck occurs in the supply of the products, and a situation occurs in which the production efficiency is reduced. Furthermore, in the process management and production management systems, terminals and servers are directly connected by extending dedicated cables around major vendors and each process in the factory in order to collect information in a timely manner. Therefore, it is not easy to move the position of each device once installed. Therefore, when making a line layout change such as a change due to a process change, it is not possible to appropriately perform the wiring construction cost because the balance between the cost and the effect is not balanced, and only a small improvement can be performed.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process management system which solves the above problems.

[0020]

To solve the above problems,
The process management system according to the present invention is premised on managing a manufacturing process for manufacturing an ordered product, and includes a recording unit and a transmission unit. The recording means records the information on each article composing the ordered product so that the information can be accessed by one piece of ID information corresponding to the article.

The transmitting means transmits the ID from the network.
When the information is transmitted, the information corresponding to the ID information is read from the recording means and transmitted. With this configuration, information for each article can be accessed by ID information.

Further, for example, there is further provided a work card issuing means for issuing a work card on which the ID information is recorded, wherein the work card moves between steps and vendors together with an article corresponding to the recorded ID information. By doing
At the site where an article flows, information about the article can be accessed. This ID information is read from the work card by, for example, a card reader connected to the network, so that the ID
Information is transmitted to the transmitting unit, and the transmitting unit transmits information corresponding to the ID information to the card reader.

[0023] Furthermore, information updating means for updating the information corresponding to the ID information read by the card reader based on the transmission information from the card reader further updates the information in real time. I can do it.

[0024]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a business flow according to this embodiment. In the process management system according to the present embodiment, when an order is placed and information is registered in the system, a work card on which a unique ID number is recorded is generated, and when the work flows through the work process of the own factory or is loaded / unloaded from the vendor. Then, the goods are moved together with the work card.

Hereinafter, a business flow in the process management system of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
The system configuration of FIG. 1 is different from that of FIG. 5 in that a process management system 20 that creates and manages data for process management based on data created by a main computer, and each reception and processing process in a company factory. And a card reader 22 newly connected to the process management system 20 and the wireless LAN 30. Note that the process management system 20 may be realized as one function of the main computer, or may be newly configured as a separate system.

In general, there are many factors that cause radio wave propagation disturbances at the site of a manufacturing plant, such as a machine tool, a high-voltage current cable, a back sonar of a forklift, and a radio of a delivery truck. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the wireless LAN 3
0 to connect the process management system 20 and the card reader 22 used in each process site,
Investigating the frequency of each device in the place where the device 2 is used in advance, setting and centrally managing the band, and creating a frequency management table and managing it as a production technology management item, thereby preventing radio interference with the wireless LAN 30 due to the above factors. prevent.

In addition, since the amount of data traffic varies from process to process, depending on the receiver, a queue may be generated, and in order to prevent the response from becoming abnormally slow or causing a reception error, the daily traffic volume may be reduced by a computer. Monitor in a timely manner, link transmitters and receivers and level data.

By performing these operations, each card reader 22 can be connected to the process management system 20 from anywhere in the factory.
Can be connected to a network, and a flexible system that can easily cope with a change in the manufacturing process or the like can be configured.

In the following example, the card reader 22 is installed only in the company's factory. However, the card reader 22 may be installed in each vendor and connected to each other by a network such as the Internet. . With such a configuration, each vendor can access information on goods, so each vendor can be regarded as a part of the process of its own factory, and communication and instruction work of both can be reduced, and quality and cost can be reduced. In addition, the cost can be managed and the integration efficiency can be improved. In addition, if the card reader 22 installed in each vendor has a card issuing function, there is no need to distribute the work card 21 to each vendor as described later, and each vendor can access information on ordered items by the card reader 22. Then, the corresponding work card 21 can be issued.

In FIG. 1, as a production permission for a product order from a customer, the sales person issues a production instruction 11 describing the contents of the order from the customer. And this production instruction 1
1. A production specification 12 indicating the specifications of the product ordered by the customer is created based on the specification 1. Then, based on the production specification 12, the main computer creates parts configuration data for each customer with reference to the parts table 13 in order to develop the parts at the level required for actually manufacturing the product. With reference to the unit price of each part and the basic unit 16 in which the creation time is described in the part, a production parts table 14 in which the acquisition source, production order, and production process of each part are edited is created. The production instruction 11, the production specification 12, the parts table 13, the production parts table 14, the basic unit 1
6 is basically the same as that shown in FIG.

When the production arrangement 15 is issued at the stage when the manufacturing parts table 14 is created, the process management system 20 executes the manufacturing parts table 14 divided into vendor units or in-house process units.
Aggregate and reorganize the data in the customer into data for each customer,
Generate the data needed to manufacture the ordered product,
save.

At this time, a unique ID number is generated for each article such as a component of the product, and a work card 21 on which the ID number is recorded is issued. Then, the work card 21 is sent to a bender or a processing step in a place where the article is first handled (first step). For example, the work card 2
When a corresponding article is manufactured, the work card 21 of the article is first processed by the processing step of the own factory, and the work card 21 of the article is first processed by the bender. Send to vendor.

In the present embodiment, the work card 21 on which the ID number is recorded is set together with the corresponding article, and is always moved together. The same work card 21 is used even if the corresponding article is completed through a plurality of vendors and work processes. At this time, each article is managed by an ID number recorded on the work card 21 instead of a part number. In the case where the number of articles is large and divided into a plurality of pieces at the time of movement, separate work cards 21 may be issued for each. In this case, the ID numbers recorded on each work card 21 are different from each other.

In this embodiment, each information is managed by the part number in the conventional method, but is managed by the ID number. Therefore, even when multiple part numbers are assigned to the same article, such as when part numbers are changed in the middle,
It can be centrally managed as one piece of information.

FIG. 2 shows a work card 2 according to this embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of No. 1; The figure shows the articles 31a-1 to 31a-4, which are processed in a plurality of steps: vendor A → process B in the company factory → vendor C → process E.

In the figure, for the article 31a-1, the process management system 20 first creates a work card 21a and sends it to the vendor A in the first process. At vendor A,
The ordered number of articles 31a-1 is created, and the work card 2
1a and delivered to the factory. Next, the article 31a-
1 is sent to the processing step B together with the work card 21a. In the processing step B, the information on the article 31a-1 is read by using the work card 21a with the card reader 22, and the article 31a-1 is converted into the article 31a-2 based on this information. Process. Thereafter, the article 31a is sent together with the vendor C, the processing step E, and the work card 21a, and is sequentially processed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, an article manufactured through a plurality of processes and vendors like the article 31a is managed by only one work card 21a.
After the work card 21a is issued by the production arrangement 15, the work card 21a moves as a set together with the corresponding article 31b until the corresponding article 31b disappears due to being incorporated into another part or the like, like the work card 21b in FIG. At each process site, the work management system 2 is used by using the work cards 21a and 21b.
It is possible to access the data in 0, thereby obtaining the latest information and making changes in real time.

The flow after the work card 21 has been sent to each first step will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. When the vendor of the first process manufactures the ordered product, it accepts the product together with the work card 21 by its own factory by the delivery date.

In the acceptance, the non-defective inspection of the article delivered by the vendor is performed. Then, the ID number of the work card 21 is read by the card reader 22 and the corresponding data recorded in the process management system 20 is accessed. Then, when the inspection result such as the number of non-defective products is input from the card reader 22, this is recorded as the result 17 and, for example, the receiving printer or the card reader 22 issues a receipt 23,
Give this to the vendor. The vendor receives the delivery price at the end of the month or the like based on the receipt 23.

In the case where a defective product is found as a result of the inspection, the number of non-defective products (the number of corresponding articles) input by the operator is recorded in the process management system 20 (the number is described in the work card 21). Number), the process management system 20
Updates the information corresponding to the article, such as changing the number of non-defective articles to the input value, and issues a new work card 21 on which the changed information is described. Then, the process management system 20 records the articles that have become insufficient due to defects or the like, and immediately orders them as separate orders.

When the ID number is read from the work card 21 and the corresponding information of the process management system 20 is accessed, the card reader 22 executes the next process (second process) for this article in the factory. Informs the worker of the work section name of the processing step, and when the processing is performed by another vendor, a supply slip 24 indicating which secondary vendor is to be paid.
Issue The worker sees this and carries the delivered goods together with the work card 21 to the secondary vendor described on the supply slip 24 or to the supply shelf for the work center notified.

The secondary vendor brings back the article placed on its own shelf together with the work card 21, and performs the processing of the order received on the article as in the case of the primary vendor. Then, the completed article is delivered together with the work card 21 to be received. In addition, the worker of each processing step brings the article from the own supply shelf together with the work card 21 to the work area. Then, the ID number of the work card 21 is read by the card reader 22 installed in the work area, and the process management system 20 is accessed. The process management system 20 has an ID
The information corresponding to the number, that is, information such as the work content and quantity of the article is sent to the card reader 22, and the card reader 22 notifies the operator of the information by screen display or the like.

As described above, in each work section in the company factory such as the processing step, only the ID number of the work card 21 accompanying the article is read by the card reader 22, and necessary information on the article can be taken out. Therefore, unlike the related art, there is no need to extract the corresponding card based on the part number, so that human error hardly occurs. Also, information on articles can be viewed in real time updated.

In each processing step, when the processing of the flowed article is completed, the ID number of the work card 21 is read by the card reader 22, the process management system is accessed, and the inspection result is recorded. As a result, the manager can grasp the real-time progress of the articles flowing through each process. In addition, since the shortage due to defective products or the like can be immediately grasped, prompt measures such as ordering additional orders separately can be performed.

As described above, in the process management system according to the present embodiment, by setting the article and the work card 21 and moving them together, information on the article can be obtained by using the work card 21 whenever necessary. Can be taken out. Further, even if information on an article changes due to the occurrence of a defective product or the like, the information can be changed using the work card 21 at the site. Therefore, if information in the process management system 20 is accessed, real-time information of each article can be obtained, and the progress can be grasped.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the work card 21. In the present embodiment, various production cards used in the conventional method are collected in the work card 21. The work card 21 has ID numbers 31-1 and 31-2 recorded thereon, and various kinds of information are written on the front side thereof.

In the case of the figure, the final part number, product name,
The execution place (vendor / work center name of the processing step), the contents of the process, the receiving place, and the delivery date of the quantity and the corresponding product are recorded in the order in which the work is performed. Note that these recorded contents are described as appropriate depending on products, processes, and the like to which the present system is applied.

In each process in each vender or company's own factory, processing is performed while checking the contents of work and the delivery date by referring to this description. In each step, by looking at this description, it is possible to grasp the overall flow of processing for this article. When the description on the work card 21 is changed, such as a defective product is generated, the data is updated from the card reader 22 as described above, and the change is described with a red pencil or the like so as to be understood. When an article has flowed to a certain process of the card issuing machine, the card is replaced with a new work card 21 reissued. At this time, in the process management system 20, the update number managing the version number of the work card 21 is counted up, and the old work card 21 is made unusable.

The ID number is a unique number assigned to the process management system 20 to identify the information record of the corresponding article. When the ID number is notified from the card reader 22, the process management system 20 Access the corresponding record in the storage device. The ID number also includes an update number for managing the version number of the work card 21, and as described above, the work card 21 is reissued due to a change in the description content, or damage or loss of the work card 21. In this case, the update information distinguishes the old work card 21 from the old work card 21.

If, for example, the address information when the process management system 20 accesses the storage device is used as the ID number, the access speed to the corresponding information can be increased, and the speed of data processing can be increased. Therefore, the response time to the site can be remarkably shortened, and the convenience can be improved.

The method of recording the ID number on the work card 21 includes a method of recording by using pattern information such as magnetism, perforation (punch), bar code, etc. Any method may be used as long as the work card 21 can be recorded by a method capable of reading the ID number without removing the work card 21 from the article.

Further, since the work card 21 moves each process in the company's factory and a plurality of vendors accompanying the article, there is a possibility that the work card 21 may be damaged or damaged. In preparation for this, the work card 21 records the ID numbers at a plurality of places so that the ID numbers can be read even if the work card 21 is damaged. In the case of FIG. 3, the ID numbers are recorded at two places apart from 31-1 and 31-2. Further, the work card 21 may be stained with oil or hit the sun because it walks through each process or the vendor. However, even in such a case, the work card 21 may not be readable. In this case, a configuration is used in which an ink containing a large amount of a plastic component or a large amount of carbon is used.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of an information record recorded in the process management system 20. The information record shown in FIG. 2 is an order record of one piece of information in which the process management system 20 aggregates and reconfigures data in the manufacturing parts table 14 divided into vendor units into data in customer units. This shows one article, which corresponds to one work card 21.

In the case of the figure, an ID number and an update number indicating the version number of the work card 21 are recorded at the head, and subsequently, information necessary for each processing performed on the article, that is, each manufacturing Information managed by the card 200 is recorded. Of these, the ID number is a tag for searching this record, and includes the same information as the ID number recorded on the work card 21. As described above, I
In the case where the address information used when the process management system 20 accesses the storage device is used for the D number, the I number in FIG.
No D number part is required.

For example, the A delivery data and the A1 delivery data in the same figure are information instructing the delivery of the article with the part number A and the part number A1 obtained by processing the article with the part number A, respectively. The quantity, delivery date, unit price, etc. are recorded. A recorded after A delivery data
The supply data is information managed by the supply card 206 with the part number A, and records information such as the supply destination of the article with the part number A. Further, in the A2 reception data, information managed by the part number A2 reception card 205 is recorded, and thereafter, all information on the article corresponding to the ID number is sequentially recorded as one record.

As described above, in the present embodiment, in the conventional method, each piece of information managed on a vendor basis is configured and recorded and managed on a customer basis. You can access all information.

[0057]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to access information recorded on an article flowing between processes or between vendors by using an ID corresponding to the article. .

Also, various and large numbers of cards required in the conventional method can be collected into a work card in which IDs are recorded, and the work card can be moved as a set with a corresponding article. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the labor that has been spent on handling cards such as installing and removing cards by a skilled person in the conventional manner, and to reduce costs.
In addition, it is possible to eliminate human error in handling of the card, and it is possible to prevent poor quality due to this.

Further, by moving the work card with the corresponding article, the information on the article can be extracted or changed at a certain place of the article. Therefore, at each work site, the latest information on the article can be extracted at the place where the article is present, and the information can be updated immediately even when the information such as the number of conforming items changes.

Further, since the information on the flowing articles is changed in real time, by monitoring this information, it is possible to grasp the progress status and the collection status of each article, and to grasp bottleneck parts in advance. Can be dealt with immediately, such as placing an order separately, thereby preventing line stoppage.

Further, since the work card can describe the processing of all the steps for the corresponding article, the operator can grasp the overall flow of the processing for the article by looking at the work card. . Also, by connecting the process management system and a card reader for reading the work card by wireless LAN, it is possible to flexibly and easily cope with layout changes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a business flow in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of a work card.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a work card.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an information record recorded in a process management system 20.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a business flow of a conventional process management.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 101 Production instructions 12, 102 Production specifications 13, 103 Parts list 14, 104 Manufacturing parts list 15, 105 Production arrangement 16, 106 Basic unit 17, 107 Results 20 Process management system 21 Work card 22 Card reader 23 Receipt 24 Payment slip 30 Wireless LAN

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A management system for managing a manufacturing process, wherein recording means for recording information on each article constituting an ordered product so that the information on the article can be accessed by one ID information corresponding to the article. And a transmitting means for reading out information corresponding to the ID information from the recording means and transmitting the information when the ID information is transmitted from a network. 2. A work card issuing means for issuing a work card on which the ID information is recorded, wherein the work card moves between processes and vendors together with an article corresponding to the recorded ID information. The process management system according to claim 1, wherein 3. When the ID information is read from the work card by a card reader connected to the network, the ID information is transmitted to the transmitting unit, and the transmitting unit transmits information corresponding to the ID information. Is transmitted to the card reader. 4. The process according to claim 3, further comprising an information updating unit that updates the information corresponding to the ID information read by the card reader based on transmission information from the card reader. Management system. 5. The process management system according to claim 1, wherein the network is a wireless network. 6. The process management system according to claim 1, wherein the ID information is based on information indicating a position of the corresponding information in the recording unit.