JP2010231742A - Cost improvement activity support system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cost improvement activity support system managing both a cost improvement task and an improvement result unitarily and providing information to be determination material to draw up an effective improvement plan. <P>SOLUTION: The cost improvement activity support system includes: a cost improvement activity space preparing means for preparing a work area of each task for executing a cost improvement activity for each different cost component in a storing means; a cost improvement effect calculation means for changing cost components, such as a change in components included in design information in each table in the cost improvement activity space for each prepared task and each different cost component, processing cost included in process information, a change in a purchase cost included in purchase information, and calculating a cost improvement effect to the cost improvement activity; a cost improvement history management means for associating a cost improvement activity history with the task and with the improvement effect to store them in a cost improvement history table; a cost improvement history accumulating means for accumulating cost improvement effects for each task on the basis of the cost improvement history; and an accumulation result displaying means for displaying accumulation results. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention sets the target cost of the manufacturing cost in the product planning and design stage in the manufacturing industry, and organizes the history of cost improvement activities carried out across the organization in the cost planning in which cost improvement activities are organized, The present invention relates to a cost improvement activity support system that associates and provides product cost components, issues, and improvement effects.

  In the manufacturing industry, in order to promote cost planning, it is important to understand the composition of product costs of the company and pay attention to cost costs that have a large cost improvement effect. The target cost cost varies depending on the type of industry, but cost reduction measures are taken according to the target cost, such as design changes and purchase unit price changes when reducing material costs, and process and man-hour changes when reducing labor costs. . Here, in general, the design change is performed in the design department, the purchase unit price change is performed in the purchase department, and the process and man-hour change is performed in the production engineering department.

For example, the system of Patent Document 1 pays attention to purchasing as a cost improvement activity, supports each process such as price negotiation / assessment with a business partner, ordering, and delivery, and reduces procurement costs in material procurement and administrative costs required for procurement. It is characterized by reducing.
Further, the system of Patent Document 2 focuses on processing costs, accumulates wage rates and man-hour information used to calculate processing costs for each unit capable of grasping the cost structure, and analyzes the information. Therefore, it has the feature that the cost responsibility can be clarified and the problems can be made obvious.

JP 2004-341980 A JP-A-10-207955

  In general, companies that implement cost planning implement DR (Design Review) at the milestones of product development, systematically review items that determine product characteristics such as function, performance, and reliability, and make improvements. In general, DR is performed multiple times, and in each DR, countermeasures are examined by specialized departments in each field for the problems that were the problem in the previous DR, and finally integrated to optimize product design . Here, it is important to comprehensively judge and select the most effective and appropriate measures from among the studied measures. However, Patent Documents 1 and 2 are specialized in measures in a specific field. For example, if it is determined that the cost can be significantly reduced if the material is changed as a result of negotiations with a supplier regarding a certain material in purchasing, it is necessary to determine whether to change the design. However, there is a possibility that a valuable cost reduction opportunity may be missed because appropriate information cannot be determined because there is not enough information to make a decision.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and the cost composition of the product that is the object of the cost improvement activity, the problem, and the history information of the cost improvement activity that is organizationally repeated daily are related to each other. It is intended to provide a cost improvement activity support system that manages information, extracts effective measures, and provides information for objective comparison.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a system for managing and providing a cost component of a product, a problem, and a cost improvement activity history in association with an improvement effect,
Cost improvement problem setting means for associating the problem with design information, process information, and cost components in purchase information;
A cost improvement activity space creation means for creating a work area for each task for performing the cost improvement activity in a storage means for each cost component;
Design information management means for setting design information which is a part of cost components in the design information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Process information management means for setting process information that is part of a cost component in the process information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Purchasing information management means for setting purchasing information that is part of a cost component in the purchasing information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Change of component configuration included in design information, processing cost included in process information, change of processing process, purchase included in purchase information in each table in each cost improvement activity space for each created issue and cost component A cost improvement effect calculation means for calculating a cost improvement effect for a cost improvement activity by changing a cost component such as a price change,
A cost improvement history management means for storing the cost improvement activity history in a cost improvement history table in association with the problem and the improvement effect;
A cost improvement history aggregation means for aggregating the cost improvement effect for each problem based on the cost improvement history;
A counting result display means for displaying the counting result;
It is characterized by providing.

Further, the cost improvement history totaling means includes means for totaling with an arbitrary total key.
The tabulation result display means includes means for displaying so that the adoption / non-adoption of improvement measures can be discriminated.
In addition, the tabulation result display means includes means for displaying the improvement effect in a graph.

According to the cost improvement activity support system of the present invention, even if the cost improvement activity is performed by many different departments or persons in charge, effective countermeasures can be taken from the analysis result of the cost improvement history that has been managed and accumulated. Can be extracted, and cost improvement activities can be implemented in consideration of overall optimization.
In addition, since the cost improvement measures are integrated as the cost improvement activity history as the cost improvement activity history, the status of the overall cost improvement activities can be grasped in real time.
In addition, since the issues relating to cost improvement activities and cost elements such as part configuration information and process information are linked and managed, it is possible to clarify the responsibilities of the issues.
Moreover, since the countermeasure situation of the problem is managed, it is possible to detect a policy omission early.
In addition, regarding an estimate presented in a product sales contract with a customer, it is often required to present not only the amount but also the reason for reaching the amount. According to the present invention, since the history of the cost improvement activity remains in detail, the material for the reason for presenting to the customer naturally is also prepared.

It is a cost improvement activity support system block diagram concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart figure of a process of the cost improvement activity support system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of assignment information. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of setting a cost improvement subject and a solution target date for every cost components, such as parts composition. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of assignment setting information. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of creating the space which sets the countermeasure of a cost improvement problem according to a problem. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the design information in the space which sets the countermeasure of a cost improvement subject. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process information in the space which sets the countermeasure of a cost improvement problem. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the purchase information in the space which sets the countermeasure of a cost improvement subject. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the cost information in the space which sets the countermeasure of a cost improvement subject. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the calculation method of the cost improvement effect by a design change. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the calculation method of the cost improvement effect by a man-hour change. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the calculation method of the cost improvement effect by a purchase destination change. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of cost improvement log | history information. It is a figure which shows an example which totaled the cost improvement log | history by the product and the subject. It is a figure which shows an example of the method of merging the countermeasure result of a cost improvement problem. It is the graph which showed the progress of cost improvement activity.

Hereinafter, a cost improvement activity support system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a cost improvement activity support system according to the present invention.
The cost improvement activity support system 100 according to the present embodiment operates on a server computer, and includes a cost improvement problem setting unit 101, a cost improvement activity space creation unit 102, a cost improvement effect calculation unit 103, and a cost improvement history management unit 104. And a design information management unit 105, a process information management unit 106, a purchase information management unit 107, a cost improvement history totaling unit 108, and a totaling result display unit 109.
As information necessary for cost improvement activity support processing, a table for storing design information 111, process information 112, purchase information 113, cost information 114, and issue information 115 as a basis for cost improvement activity is provided in the cost planning database. In addition, a cost improvement history 116 for storing information necessary for the cost improvement activity support processing, a table for storing the total result 117, and task setting information 118 are provided.

The cost improvement task setting unit 101 associates the task information 115 found in the DR with the design information 111 and the processing information 112 as cost components in response to the input from the terminal 121 of the cost planning department person in charge A, and sets the task. The information is stored in a table. All terminals operated by each person in charge are connected via a network 120 to a server computer on which the cost improvement activity support system 100 operates.
The cost improvement activity space creation unit 102 is designed with the design information 111, the processing information 112, the purchase information 113, and the cost information as a countermeasure target for a space (work area) necessary for separating and implementing the cost improvement activity for each problem. 114 is prepared for each task such as 114 and stored in each table.

The cost improvement effect calculation unit 103 totals the cost information before and after the countermeasure from the design information 111, the process information 112, the purchase information 113, and the cost information 114, and calculates the difference as the improvement effect.
The cost improvement history management unit 104 stores the improvement effect calculated by the cost improvement effect calculation unit 103, the problem information 118, and a comment representing the improved content in the table of the cost improvement history 116.
The design information management unit 105 stores cost improvement measures related to design, such as changes in the part configuration and the number of used parts, in the design information 111 and cost information 114 tables.
The process information management unit 106 stores cost improvement measures related to processing such as man-hour change and method change in the process information 112 and cost information 114 tables.

The purchase information management unit 107 stores cost improvement measures related to purchase such as change of purchase unit price and change of business partners in a table of purchase information 113 and cost information 114.
The cost improvement history totaling unit 108 totals the improvement histories stored in the cost improvement history 116 table and stores them in the total result 117 table.
The aggregation result display unit 109 acquires the aggregation result information from the table of the aggregation results 117 and displays it.

  An outline of the cost improvement activity support process performed by the cost improvement activity support system 100 configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an outline of the cost improvement support process.
First, the issues for the current product design identified in the previous DR are stored in the table of the issue information 115. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the table of assignment information 115, where a number that uniquely identifies the assignment is set in the assignment number 301, and a description that describes the contents of the assignment is set in the assignment contents 302.
The cost planning department staff member A assigns each task of the task information 115 together with the responsible staff member to the component configuration and process which are the components of the cost by the input from the terminal 121 (step S201).
Here, “review the functional configuration” as “task number 1”, “review the component configuration number” as “task number 2”, “review the part material” as “task number 3”, “review task number 4” “Negotiate with business partners to lower material unit price” and “Problem No. 5” are set to “Reduce pre-setup man-hours”.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for setting a cost improvement problem as a cost component such as part configuration information or process information.
The assignment number of the assignment information 115 is assigned to the component configuration information 401, and the responsible department of the assignment solution is set to the department in charge 403, and the due date for solving the assignment is set to the assignment solution target date 404. The problem solution performance date 405 is set when the problem is actually solved in the cost improvement activity, and is left empty at this time.
By using the issue resolution result date 405, it is possible to check the measure status of the issue, refer to an issue that has not been taken, or the issue solution target date 404 has passed at the time of reference, and the issue has been resolved It is possible to refer to an issue for which the record date 405 is not input.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a table of task setting information 118 when the cost improvement task is set in FIG.
In the configuration path 501, a path for uniquely representing the component configuration is set. In the example, a character string that enumerates the route to the target part is used as a constituent path.
In the process number 502, a process number is designated when a task is set for the process.
In assignment number 503, assignment information 301 (any one of assignment numbers 1 to 5 in FIG. 3) to be assigned is set.
The responsible department 504 sets the responsible department that solves the problem, the problem resolution target date 505 sets the target resolution date, and the problem resolution actual date 506 sets the date of resolution.

  When assignment of tasks related to parts and processes is completed in this way, the cost improvement activity space creation unit 102 creates a space where each department will try a measure for solving the issues (step S202).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for creating a space for setting measures for cost improvement for each problem.
The cost improvement activity space creation unit 102 creates a copy of the cost component of the base space 601 for each issue and stores it in a table of design information 111, processing information 112, purchase information 113, and cost information 114. In FIG. 6, problem 1 countermeasure space to problem 3 countermeasure space 602 to 604 are created. Each person in charge of the task takes measures against the problem by operating the respective terminals 611, 612, and 613.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of space design information for setting a countermeasure for a cost improvement problem.
In this example, by adding the task number 701 as a main key to the component configuration, the component configuration can be held for each task.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of process information of a space for setting a countermeasure for a cost improvement problem. In this example, the process configuration can be held for each task by adding the task number 801 as a primary key to the process configuration.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of purchase information of a space for setting a countermeasure for a cost improvement problem. In this example, purchase information can be held for each issue by adding an issue number 901 to the purchase information as a primary key.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of cost information of a space for setting a countermeasure for a cost improvement problem. In this example, the cost information can be held for each issue by adding the issue number 1001 to the purchase information as a primary key.
The person in charge of improvement selects an issue to be addressed from now on by input from the terminal 122 (step S203).

The person in charge of improvement changes the cost component of the space for exclusive use of the selected problem by input from the terminal 122 (step S204). The design information management unit 105 is used for design changes. The processing information management unit 106 is used for changes related to processing. The purchase information management unit 107 is used to change the purchase.
When the cost component is changed, the cost improvement effect calculation unit 103 calculates a comprehensive effect in consideration of the product cost before and after the change and the new investment amount newly generated by the change (step S205).
The cost improvement history management unit 104 registers the cost improvement activity issues and cost component changes as a history in the cost improvement history 116 table, and at the same time sets the change date in the issue solution performance date 506 in the issue setting information 118 table. Setting is made (step S206).

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for calculating the cost improvement effect due to the design change. The quantity (number) of “part A2” of “issue number 1” on the fourth line in the design information of FIG. 10 shows an example in which the cost information of “part A2” in the cost information table of FIG. 10 is changed from “400 yen” to “300 yen” when “pieces” is changed to “3 pieces”. In this example, there is an improvement effect of “400-300 = 100 yen”.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for calculating the cost improvement effect due to the change in the man-hour. The number of “unit A” of “issue number 1” on the first line in the process information of FIG. 8 is changed from “50 minutes”. When changed to “45 minutes”, the unit price per minute is 10 yen, so that the improvement effect of “50 yen” was obtained by shortening by 5 minutes.

  FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for calculating the cost improvement effect by changing the purchase destination. From the cost A in FIG. 9 to “XX” from “Company A1” of “Part A1” of “Problem No. 1” on the first line. If the purchase unit price is changed to “5 yen”, the cost of the third row of the purchase information table in FIG. 10 is changed from “20 yen” to “10 yen”, and there is an improvement effect of “10 yen”. It will be.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the cost improvement history information 116.
The product 1401 is the changed product, the cost improvement date 1402 is the date when the countermeasure was taken, the DR number 1403 is the DR number where the problem was raised, the responsible department 1404 is the department where the countermeasure was taken, and the person in charge 1405 Is the person in charge who took the countermeasure, information for identifying the improved configuration in the improvement area 1406, the process number in which the process number 1407 has been improved, and the problem number 1408 in which the problem was based. The number and the countermeasure classification 1409 are registered with values for classifying the contents of the countermeasure, the improvement effect 1410 is the improvement effect calculated by the cost improvement effect calculation unit 103, and the comment 1411 is the improvement content registered with a free keyword.
According to the improvement measures described in FIGS. 11 to 13, “100 yen”, “50 yen”, and “10 yen” are recorded in the improvement effect 1110 in the first to third lines of the table of the cost improvement history information 116. .

  When all the issues are resolved (step S200), the cost improvement history totaling unit 108 counts the cost improvement history 116 that is a material for comprehensively determining the measures implemented in each department. 109 (step S201).

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the cost improvement history 116 is tabulated by product and problem. In this example, the improvement effects are tabulated using the product 1501 and the task number 1502 as keys. By referring to this information, it is possible to extract the problem for which the most effective measure is taken in terms of money. Note that an arbitrary key can be set as the total key of the cost improvement history 116 and can be freely analyzed from the viewpoint of the user.
The cost planning department person in charge A refers to the display contents of the total result display unit 109 displayed on the terminal 121, finds an optimum measure from various improvement measures, and decides whether or not to adopt the measure (step S208). .

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for merging the countermeasure results of the cost improvement problem.
In this example, measures adopted from each space for problem countermeasures are merged into the base space. That is, the countermeasures for the problem countermeasure spaces 602 and 603 are adopted, and a version 2 problem countermeasure base space 605 is newly created.
In the version 2 problem countermeasure base space 605, the unit A is changed to include “part A 1 ′” and “part A 3”.

On the other hand, the total result display unit 109 can display the total result in a graph format.
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the progress of cost improvement activities. In this example, the horizontal axis represents the time axis, the vertical axis represents the manufacturing cost, and the target cost is displayed in an overlapping manner, whereby the progress of the cost improvement activity can be grasped. In the graph display, the results of the cost improvement history totaling unit 108 can be graphed on an arbitrary axis, and the improvement effect can be visually confirmed.
Further, the total result display unit 109 can display so that the adoption / non-adoption of improvement measures can be determined.

100 Cost Improvement Activity Support System 101 Cost Improvement Task Setting Unit 102 Cost Improvement Activity Space Creation Unit 103 Cost Improvement Effect Calculation Unit 104 Cost Improvement History Management Unit 105 Design Information Management Unit 106 Process Information Management Unit 107 Purchasing Information Management Unit 108 Cost Improvement History Aggregation unit 109 Aggregation result display unit 111 Design information table 112 Process information table 113 Purchasing information table 114 Cost information table 115 Issue information table 116 Cost improvement history table 117 Aggregation result table 118 Issue setting information table

Claims (4)

The present invention is a system for managing and providing product cost components, issues, and cost improvement activity history in association with improvement effects,
Cost improvement problem setting means for associating the problem with design information, process information, and cost components in purchase information;
A cost improvement activity space creation means for creating a work area for each task for performing the cost improvement activity in a storage means for each cost component;
Design information management means for setting design information which is a part of cost components in the design information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Process information management means for setting process information that is part of a cost component in the process information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Purchasing information management means for setting purchasing information that is part of a cost component in the purchasing information table of the cost improvement activity space;
Change of component configuration included in design information, processing cost included in process information, change of processing process, purchase included in purchase information in each table in each cost improvement activity space for each created issue and cost component A cost improvement effect calculation means for calculating a cost improvement effect for a cost improvement activity by changing a cost component such as a price change,
A cost improvement history management means for storing the cost improvement activity history in a cost improvement history table in association with the problem and the improvement effect;
A cost improvement history aggregation means for aggregating the cost improvement effect for each problem based on the cost improvement history;
A counting result display means for displaying the counting result;
A cost improvement activity support system characterized by comprising:   2. The cost improvement activity support system according to claim 1, wherein the cost improvement history totaling means includes means for totaling with an arbitrary total key.   3. The cost improvement activity support system according to claim 1, wherein the tabulation result display means includes means for displaying so that the adoption / non-adoption of improvement measures can be discriminated.   4. The cost improvement activity support system according to claim 1, wherein the tabulation result display means includes means for displaying the improvement effect in a graph.

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