JP2004306174A - Transfer system for production line - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transfer system for a production line, which is high in buffer volumetric efficiency, and small in transfer loss. <P>SOLUTION: The production line is arranged such that producing devices 1 to 18, buffers 201 to 203 for temporarily storing therein goods in process, and intra-bay transfer devices 101 to 103 are allotted to respective bays a, b, c as workpiece producing units. The transfer system for the production line thus arranged is constructed such that an inter-bay transfer device 301 for transfer the goods in process between the bays is combined with an auxiliary buffer 401. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a transport system for a production line including a plurality of processing units (bays).
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a production line for semiconductors or the like, a transport system called a bay system is employed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
A conventional transfer system for a production line will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0004]
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a transfer system of a production line in a semiconductor or the like including a conventional transfer system.
[0005]
In FIG. 5, in the production factory, bays, which are processing units, are divided into three bays a, b, and c. The bay a is composed of the production apparatuses 1 to 6, an in-bay transport device 101 which is a means for transporting a work in progress in the bay, and a buffer 201 which temporarily stores the work in progress. Similarly, the bay b is composed of the production devices 7 to 12, the intra-bay transport device 102, and the buffer 202, and the bay c is composed of the production devices 13 to 18, the intra-bay transport device 103, and the buffer 203. Have been.
[0006]
An interbay transfer device 301 as a means for transferring between bays is provided to face the buffers 201, 202, and 203.
[0007]
As an example of the transport method in the production line having the above-described configuration, a description will be given of a method of transporting the in-process product when a certain in-process product is completed in the production device 1 and the next process is a process in the production devices 7 to 9. I do.
[0008]
When the work in process is completed in the production device 1, if there is no empty space in the buffer 201, the process waits until there is an empty space, and the in-bay transfer device 101 conveys the work in progress from the production device 1 to the buffer 201. Further, if there is a free space in the buffer 202 in the next step, the in-process transfer device 301 transfers the work-in-progress from the buffer 201 to the buffer 202. The work-in-progress stored in the buffer 202 waits for being allocated by the production apparatuses 7 to 9.
[0009]
When there is no empty space in the buffer 202, as one method, the in-process product that has been processed waits for the buffer 202 to be empty in the buffer 201, and after the buffer 202 is empty, the in-process product is transferred from the buffer 201 to the buffer 202. I do. Alternatively, as another method, another buffer (buffer 203 in FIG. 5) is defined in advance as a transfer destination of the work-in-progress when the buffer 202 is full. After confirming the empty space, if there is an empty space, the in-process product is transported to the buffer 203 and temporarily stored. The work-in-progress stored in the buffer 203 waits for the buffer 202 at a predetermined transport destination to be empty, and when the buffer 202 is free, transfers the work-in-progress from the buffer 203 to the buffer 202 at the predetermined transport destination.
[0010]
Further, when a failure or trouble occurs in a production apparatus in the next process, or when a production apparatus having a low capacity becomes a rate-limiting factor, the stock of the in-process product increased there is also stored in the buffer. At this time, if the buffer is full and cannot be stored, the buffer may be transported to the buffer of the transport source bay or another empty buffer and temporarily stored.
[0011]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-6-206149
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the transfer system of the production line described in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that the transfer time becomes long unless a considerably extra volume (the number of shelves) is secured in the buffer, and a standby loss of the production device occurs.
[0013]
For example, in a production line for producing liquid crystals, large-sized glass substrates having an area of 1 square meter or more are being used. At the same time, the capacity of the buffer for temporarily storing the work-in-progress is increasing, and the proportion of the buffer in the entire production plant is increasing. In addition, if extra shelves are secured more than necessary for each bay due to the necessity of preparing for the inventory of the work-in-progress resulting from troubles such as a failure of the production equipment, a larger capacity buffer is required. Therefore, the installation cost and running cost of the buffer are increased, and it is an important issue to reduce the buffer volume by minimizing the number of shelves from the viewpoint of increasing the efficiency of the production factory.
[0014]
In addition, if the capacity of the buffer in each bay is reduced to a necessary minimum or less, and if there is an excess of in-process products in stock due to troubles in production equipment or delays in production, etc. It was necessary to transfer the stock of goods to another buffer. Therefore, the transfer load of the inter-bay transfer device and the transfer destination buffer increases, and when a work-in-progress is attracted from the transfer destination, the transfer time becomes longer, causing a standby loss of the production device.
[0015]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the capacity of a buffer to reduce the equipment cost of a buffer and the running cost of a factory, and to reduce the transport loss of a work-in-progress product. It is an object of the present invention to provide a production line transfer system capable of performing the above.
[0016]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, a transport system of a production line according to the present invention includes: a production device that processes a material carried in from outside; a transport unit that transports a work-in-process processed by the production device; In a transport system for a production line in which a plurality of bays are provided as processing units each having a buffer for temporarily storing a work-in-progress product, a work-in-progress product temporarily stored in the buffer is transferred between the bays. And an auxiliary buffer for temporarily storing a work-in-process processed in each bay via the inter-bay transfer device.
[0017]
Further, the transport system of the production line of the present invention is a production apparatus for processing a material carried in from outside, a transport unit for transporting the in-process product processed by the production apparatus, and temporarily transferring the in-process product. A production line transport system provided with a plurality of bays which are processing units having a buffer for storing the work-in-progress, and an auxiliary buffer for temporarily storing the work-in-progress. And a buffer-to-buffer transfer device for transferring the work-in-progress between the buffers.
[0018]
By arranging the auxiliary buffer, an increase in the number of in-process products caused by a trouble such as a failure of the production device or a delay in production can be temporarily stored in the auxiliary buffer. Therefore, the buffer in each bay is reduced to the minimum required, the factory area is reduced, and the running cost can be reduced. In addition, the transfer time of the work-in-progress is shortened, the standby loss of the production device is eliminated, and higher production efficiency can be achieved.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0020]
<First embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a production line transfer system according to the first embodiment.
[0021]
In FIG. 1, the production factory has three bays a, b, and c, which are processing units. The bay a is composed of the production apparatuses 1 to 6, an in-bay transport device 101 which is a means for transporting a work in process in the bay, and a buffer 201 which temporarily stores the work in progress. Similarly, the bay b is composed of the production devices 7 to 12, the intra-bay transport device 102, and the buffer 202, and the bay c is composed of the production devices 13 to 18, the intra-bay transport device 103, and the buffer 203. Have been.
[0022]
The inter-bay transfer device 301 is provided to face the buffers 201, 202, and 203, and an auxiliary buffer 401 is provided in the inter-bay transfer device 301. The interbay transport device 301 transports a work-in-progress between the buffers 201, 202, and 203 and the auxiliary buffer 401.
[0023]
Hereinafter, a method of transporting a work-in-progress using the inter-bay transport device 301 provided with the auxiliary buffer 401 will be described.
[0024]
For example, in the case where a certain work-in-progress is completed in the production device 1 and the next process is a production device of 7 to 9, if the buffer 202 in the next process is empty, the in-bay transfer device 101 firstly uses the production device 1 From the buffer 201 to the buffer 202 by the inter-bay transfer device 301.
[0025]
The work-in-progress stored in the buffer 202 waits for being allocated by the production apparatuses 7 to 9. If there is no empty space in the buffer 202 in the next step, the in-bay transfer device 101 first transfers the work-in-progress from the production device 1 to the buffer 201, and then the inter-bay transfer device 301 temporarily transfers the work-in-progress from the buffer 201 to the auxiliary buffer 401. Products.
[0026]
Then, when an empty space is created in the buffer 202, the inter-bay transport device 301 transports the work-in-progress stored in the auxiliary buffer 401 to the buffer 202. If the production devices 7 to 9 can process the in-process products, the production devices 7 to 9 allocate the in-process products to be processed according to a predetermined dispatching rule from the processable in-process products in the buffer 202, and At 102, the work-in-progress is conveyed to the production devices 7 to 9.
[0027]
The dispatching rule at that time may be, for example, a first-in first-out (order of arrival in the buffer 202), a work-in-progress with the least allowance for the delivery date, or a high-priority work-in-progress such as an express product. The in-process product may be selected with priority, or the in-process product with a small amount of work in the next process may be selected.
[0028]
In FIG. 1, the bay-to-bay transport device is annular, but may be straight.
[0029]
Next, with regard to the work in process of transporting the work-in-progress on the production line of the first embodiment, the material lot input to the production line shown in FIG. 1 is processed by any of the production apparatuses 1 to 6 in the bay a. The process will be described again with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0030]
First, in step S101, the input material lot is processed by any of the production apparatuses 1 to 6 in the bay a.
[0031]
In step S102, the empty state of the transfer destination buffer 202 arranged in the bay b is confirmed. As a result, if there is an empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, the process proceeds to step S106, and the work-in-progress is transferred to the transfer destination buffer 202. On the other hand, if there is no empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, the process proceeds to step S103.
[0032]
Subsequently, in step S103, the empty state of the auxiliary buffer 401 is checked. As a result, if there is an empty space in the auxiliary buffer 401, the process proceeds to step S104, and the work-in-progress is transferred to the auxiliary buffer 401. On the other hand, if there is no empty space in the auxiliary buffer 401, steps S102 and S103 are executed again, and the process waits until an empty space is formed in the transfer destination buffer 201 or the auxiliary buffer 401.
[0033]
In step S105, the empty state of the transfer destination buffer 202 in the bay b in which the production devices 7 to 9 in the next process are arranged is confirmed. As a result, if there is an empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, the process proceeds to step S106, and the work-in-progress is transferred to the transfer destination buffer 202. On the other hand, if there is no empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, step S105 is executed again, and the process waits until an empty space is formed in the transfer destination buffer 202.
[0034]
In step S107, the process waits for allocation of the in-process products from the production devices 7 to 9 in the bay b where the production device of the next process is arranged in the transfer destination buffer 202, and if there is an allocation, the process proceeds to step S108.
[0035]
In step S108, the work-in-progress is transferred from the transfer destination buffer 202 arranged in the bay b to the production devices 7 to 9 to which the work-in-progress is allocated by the intra-bay transfer device 102.
[0036]
In step S109, processing of the work-in-progress is executed by the production devices 7 to 9 in the bay b.
[0037]
In step S110, it is determined whether or not the current process is the final process. If the current process is the final process, the process proceeds to step S111, and the processing of the work-in-progress on the production line ends. On the other hand, if it is not the final step, the process returns to step S102 to execute the processing.
[0038]
In step S111, the product lot is conveyed to the payout destination in order to pay out the product lot for which processing of the work-in-progress has been completed.
[0039]
<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a production line transfer system according to the second embodiment.
[0040]
In the second embodiment of FIG. 3 as well, the bay is divided into three bays a, b, and c as in the first embodiment. The three bays a, b, and c have the same configuration as in the first embodiment.
[0041]
In this embodiment, the auxiliary buffer 401 is provided to face the buffers 201, 202, and 203. In the auxiliary buffer 401, inter-buffer transport devices 501, 502, and 503 are provided.
[0042]
Hereinafter, a method of transporting a work-in-progress using the auxiliary buffer 401 and the inter-buffer transport devices 501, 502, and 503 will be described.
[0043]
For example, in the case where a certain work-in-progress is completed in the production device 1 and the next process is a production device of 7 to 9, if the buffer 202 in the next process is empty, the in-bay transfer device 101 firstly uses the production device 1 From the auxiliary buffer 401 to the buffer 202, and then transports the in-process product to the auxiliary buffer 401 by the inter-buffer transport device 501, and then transports the in-process product from the auxiliary buffer 401 to the buffer 202 by the inter-buffer transport 502. .
[0044]
The work-in-progress stored in the buffer 202 waits for being allocated by the production apparatuses 7 to 9. If there is no empty space in the buffer 202 in the next step, the in-bay transfer device 101 first transfers the work-in-progress from the production device 1 to the buffer 201, and then the inter-buffer transfer device 501 transfers the work in process from the buffer 201 to the auxiliary buffer. The work-in-progress is transported to 401 and temporarily stored.
[0045]
Then, when an empty space is created in the buffer 202, the inter-buffer transport device 502 transports the work-in-progress stored in the auxiliary buffer 401 to the buffer 202. If the production devices 7 to 9 can process the in-process products, they allocate the in-process products to be processed according to a predetermined dispatching rule from the processable in-process products in the buffer 202 and transport the products in the bay. The device 102 transfers the work-in-progress from the buffer 202 to the production devices 7 to 9.
[0046]
Next, with respect to the operation of processing the work-in-progress on the production line of the second embodiment, the material lot input to the production line shown in FIG. 3 is processed by one of the production apparatuses 1 to 6 in the bay a. The process will be described again with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0047]
First, in step S201, the material lot is processed by any of the production apparatuses 1 to 6 in the bay a.
[0048]
In step S202, the empty state of the transfer destination buffer 202 arranged in the bay b is confirmed. As a result, if the destination buffer 202 is empty, the process proceeds to step S206, and the work-in-progress is carried into the destination buffer 202. On the other hand, if there is no empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, the process proceeds to step S203.
[0049]
Subsequently, in step S203, the empty state of the auxiliary buffer 401 is checked. As a result, if there is an empty space in the auxiliary buffer 401, the process proceeds to step S204, and the work-in-progress is carried into the auxiliary buffer 401. On the other hand, if there is no empty space in the auxiliary buffer 401, step S203 is executed again and the process waits until an empty space is formed in the auxiliary buffer 401.
[0050]
In step S205, the empty state of the transfer destination buffer 202 in the bay b in which the production devices 7 to 9 of the next process are arranged is confirmed. As a result, if there is an empty space in the transfer destination buffer 202, the process proceeds to step S206, and the work-in-progress is transferred to the transfer destination buffer 202. On the other hand, if there is no space, step S205 is executed again, and the process waits until a space is formed in the transfer destination buffer 202.
[0051]
In step S206, the in-process product is transported to the transport destination buffer 202. In step S207, the process waits for the in-process products from the production apparatuses 7 to 9 in the next process in the transfer destination buffer 202, and if there is an allocation, the process proceeds to step S208.
[0052]
In step S208, the work-in-progress is transferred from the transfer destination buffer 202 to the production devices 7 to 9 to which the work-in-progress is allocated by the in-bay transfer device 102.
[0053]
In step S209, the processes of the production devices 7 to 9 in the bay b are executed.
[0054]
In step S210, it is determined whether or not the current process is the final process. If the current process is the final process, the process proceeds to step S211 and the processing of the work-in-progress on the production line ends. On the other hand, if it is not the final step, the process returns to step S202 to execute the processing.
[0055]
In step S211, the product lot is conveyed to the payout destination in order to pay out the product lot for which the processing of the work-in-progress has been completed.
[0056]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the transfer system of the production line of the present invention, the capacity of the buffer in each bay is reduced to a necessary minimum, and the running cost is reduced by reducing the factory area. In addition, the transfer time of the work-in-progress is shortened, the standby loss of the production device is eliminated, and higher production efficiency can be achieved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a transport system for a production line according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a work-in-progress transport processing operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transfer system of a production line according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a work-in-progress transport processing operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a transfer system of a production line according to a conventional embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
a, b, c Bays 1 to 18 Production devices 101 to 103 In-bay transfer devices 201 to 203 Buffer 301 Inter-bay transfer device 401 Auxiliary buffers 501 to 503 Inter-buffer transfer devices

Claims (2)

It is a processing unit having a production apparatus for processing a material carried in from outside, a transport unit for transporting a work-in-progress processed by the production apparatus, and a buffer for temporarily storing the work-in-progress. A production line transport system having a plurality of bays,
An inter-bay transport device for transporting the work-in-progress temporarily stored in the buffer between the bays,
A transfer system for a production line, comprising: an auxiliary buffer for temporarily storing a work-in-process processed in each of the bays via the interbay transfer device. It is a processing unit having a production apparatus for processing a material carried in from outside, a transport unit for transporting a work-in-progress processed by the production apparatus, and a buffer for temporarily storing the work-in-progress. A production line transport system having a plurality of bays,
An auxiliary buffer for temporarily storing the work-in-progress;
A transport system for a production line, comprising: an inter-buffer transport device that transports a work-in-progress between the auxiliary buffer and the buffer.

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