JP2010262539A - System, and program for supporting operation and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support reduction of a total cost including stock costs in respect to operation for generating products and by-products from raw materials. <P>SOLUTION: An operation support system 100 for supporting operation for generating products and by-products which are respectively independently in demand from raw materials includes: a data storage part 6 for storing an objective function for minimizing the total cost which is the total of the procurement cost of raw materials, the production costs of the products and the by-products and the stock costs of the products and the by-products; and a planning processing part 4 which, when a production ratio to be a ratio of generating the by-products from the raw materials is given, determines the total material input of the raw materials for minimizing the total cost by using the objective function stored in the data storage part 6 and displays the total material input on an output part 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for supporting raw material procurement, production, inventory management, and the like regarding a business of generating products and by-products from raw materials.

  In the business of producing (producing) products from raw materials (production process), not only main products but also useful by-products may be generated. For example, in an edible oil refining process, not only product oil but also oil residue is produced as a by-product from raw soybeans and rapeseed. These by-products are not necessarily discarded. For example, in the case of oil cake, there is a demand for feed, and it is necessary to make a production plan to meet these demands.

  In general, the production ratio of products and by-products obtained from a certain amount of raw material is almost constant. For example, in edible oil, the ratio of oil obtained from soybean as a raw material is determined. However, the ratio of demand in the market for products and by-products does not necessarily match the production ratio. Therefore, in order to supply in accordance with demand, in many cases, it is necessary to keep either products or by-products as stock according to the situation. For example, when the demand ratio of a product is higher than the generation ratio, when a product is generated in accordance with the demand, the by-product becomes surplus and an excessive inventory of by-products occurs. Conversely, if the by-product demand ratio is higher than the production ratio, the by-product is a missing item when each production is performed in accordance with the demand for the product. At this time, if the production volume is increased, the stock of the product becomes excessive. This is a problem common to all industries where beneficial by-products are produced with the product.

  Further, when there are a plurality of production bases and inventory bases, the production cost and the stock cost vary depending on the production place and the place where the stock is held. Furthermore, disposal costs are required when discarding excess inventory resulting from excessive production. Therefore, in order to solve the inventory problem, it is important to comprehensively consider such a plurality of costs.

  When there are a plurality of production bases and inventory bases, an optimization technique for minimizing costs is used to create a plan for determining a procurement amount and a production amount. For example, Patent Literature 1 is known as an optimization technique that takes inventory into account. Patent Document 1 describes a system for planning a transportation plan for minimizing the inventory of products, minimizing the transportation cost from the factory, and minimizing the shortage at the transportation destination base. .

JP 2005-22829 A

  However, the technique of Patent Document 1 does not consider the inventory cost of by-products. It is not preferable for the production industry to produce products and by-products that exceed the demand because it increases inventory. Especially in the food industry where freshness is required, it is necessary to reduce the inventory period from product production to shipment as much as possible to eliminate the risk of quality degradation as much as possible. Avoid excessive inventory as much as possible. There must be.

  The demand for products and by-products is independent and fluctuates depending on the season. However, as described above, the production ratio of products and by-products is almost constant, and products and by-products cannot be efficiently produced from raw materials according to the demand ratio. Therefore, according to the prior art, it is difficult to maintain an appropriate inventory level and reduce the total cost including the inventory cost according to the demand for products and by-products. As a result, we have excessive inventory and have not been able to reduce the total cost.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to support the reduction of the total cost including the inventory cost in the business of generating products and by-products from raw materials.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a business support system that supports the business of generating products and by-products that have independent demands from raw materials, the raw material procurement costs, the production costs of products and by-products, A storage unit that stores an objective function for minimizing the total cost of product and by-product inventory, a demand for product and by-product, an inventory of product and by-product, and a by-product from raw material When the generation ratio, which is a ratio to be given, is given, the objective function stored in the storage unit is used to determine the input amount of the raw material that minimizes the total cost, and the processing unit to display on the output unit, It is characterized by providing. Other means will be described later.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to support the reduction of the total cost including the inventory cost regarding the business of generating products and by-products from raw materials.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the production process in which a product and a by-product are produced | generated from the raw material etc. to which this invention is applied. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the work assistance system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the work support system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows raw material information. It is a figure which shows extraction recipe information. It is a figure which shows extraction condition information. (A) is a figure which shows production recipe information, (b) is a figure which shows the registration information regarding a substitute requirement. It is a figure which shows procurement cost information. It is a figure which shows production cost information. It is a figure which shows inventory cost information. It is a figure which shows demand information. It is a figure which shows initial stock information. It is a figure which shows the whole processing flow of the work assistance system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows input plan information. It is a figure which shows production plan information. It is a figure which shows procurement plan information. It is a figure which shows the image of the output result comparison display screen by a display terminal.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Production process to which the present invention is applied)
First, a production process in which products and by-products are generated from raw materials to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, in the factory F, the raw material M is thrown in and the extract E and the by-product S are produced | generated. In addition, the raw material M ′ is input to produce an extract E ′ and a by-product S ′. Then, the products P are produced by combining the extracts E and E ′. Further, a by-product product SP is produced by combining the by-products S and S ′. Thereafter, the product P and the by-product product SP are moved to and stored in the warehouse W that is an inventory base.

  In order to meet the demand for products and by-product products, we will explain the problems in such processes. It is difficult to make a reasonable decision while reducing.

  As described above, the demand ratio of the product P and the by-product product SP is not necessarily the same as the ratio of the extracts E and E ′ (product origin) obtained from the raw materials M and M ′ to the by-products S and S ′. In order to satisfy the demand, it is necessary to keep the extracts E and E ′ or the by-products S and S ′ as stock. However, the extracts E and E ′ can be procured as an intermediate product ME in an extracted state and used as an alternative to the extracts E and E ′. When the intermediate product ME is directly procured, the by-product S is not generated. Therefore, by adjusting the order quantity of the intermediate product ME, it is possible to suppress excessive stock of by-products in the warehouse W.

(Functional configuration of the business support system of this embodiment)
Next, the functional configuration of the business support system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the business support system 100 includes an input unit 3, a planning processing unit 4 (processing unit), an output unit 5, and a data storage unit 6.

The input unit 3 includes a data reading unit 31 that reads data from the data storage unit 6 and a parameter setting unit 32 that sets parameters such as extraction conditions described later.
The planning processing unit 4 includes a model construction unit 41 that constructs a model for reducing the total cost related to the work of generating products and by-products from raw materials, and an optimization processing unit 42 that optimizes variables in the model. .

The output unit 5 includes a plan display unit 51 that displays a plan in which variables in the model are optimized, and a plan approval unit 52 that receives a plan approved (selected) by a user from a plurality of plans.
The data storage unit 6 includes raw material information 61, extraction recipe information 62 (generation condition information), extraction condition information 63 (generation condition information), production recipe information 64, procurement cost information 65, production cost information 66, inventory cost information 67, Demand information 68, initial stock information 69, input plan information 70, production plan information 71, and procurement plan information 72 are provided (details will be described later). In the present embodiment, all cost units are assumed to be circles.

(Hardware configuration of the business support system of this embodiment)
Next, the hardware configuration of the business support system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the business support system 100 is a computer and its accessory devices, and includes an input terminal 81 (corresponding to the input unit 3 in FIG. 2) and a display terminal 82 (corresponding to the output unit 5 in FIG. 2). , A processing device 84 (corresponding to the planning processing unit 4 in FIG. 2), a network 83 connecting the display terminal 82 and the processing device 84, a data storage unit 85 (corresponding to the data storage unit 6 in FIG. 2), and a printer 86 (corresponding to the output unit 5 in FIG. 2).

  The input terminal 81 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is a means for a planner to input information. The display terminal 82 is a means for outputting (displaying) the planned plan. The processing device 84 is constituted by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and is a means for drafting an inventory plan. The data storage unit 85 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and the like, and is a unit that is connected to the processing device 84 and stores various types of information. The printer 86 is means for printing the display content of the display terminal 82 and the like.

  In the present embodiment, the business support system 100 is described as an independent information system, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is also conceivable that the present invention is configured to function as a part of another information processing system. Alternatively, a plurality of input units 3 and output units 5 may share the planning processing unit 4 as a terminal function via a network and share a centrally managed database with each terminal function.

(Input information in the business support system)
Next, input information in the business support system 100 of this embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the raw material information 61 includes a raw material code 611 that is an identifier of the raw material, a raw material name 612 that is the name of the raw material, and an attribute 613 that indicates the production area and harvest time of the raw material. Even with the same type of raw material, the amount of extract and by-product obtained may vary depending on the production area and harvest time. Such raw materials having different attributes are registered as separate raw material codes 611.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the extraction recipe information 62 includes a raw material code 621, an extract code 622 that is an identifier of the extract, an extraction rate 623 (generation ratio) that indicates the rate at which the extract is extracted from the raw material, And an extraction condition 624 (see FIG. 6). If multiple extracts are obtained from one raw material, register them as separate records.

  As illustrated in FIG. 6, the extraction condition information 63 includes an extraction condition 631, an air temperature 632 corresponding to each extraction condition 631, and a humidity 633. The temperature 632 and the humidity 633 are parameters given when the extraction rate changes depending on the production environment and the conditions of the apparatus. By changing the extraction conditions, it is possible to adjust the extraction rate according to the demand.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the production recipe information 64 corresponds to a product code 641 which is a product identifier and an extract code necessary for producing the product (the extract code 622 in FIG. 5). ) And a required quantity 643 (unit is gram, for example), which is the quantity of the required product necessary for producing one unit of product (for example, one lot).
If there is an intermediate product that can be procured externally that can be used as an alternative to the extract registered in the required product code 642, as shown in FIG. An extract code 644 and an alternative product procurement code 645 that is an identifier of the intermediate product are registered.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the procurement cost information 65 includes a raw material code 651 that is an identifier of a raw material (intermediate product) to be procured, and a procurement cost 652 that is a cost necessary for procurement per unit of raw material (for example, 1 ton of soybean). And a procurement time 653 indicating a time when the procurement cost changes depending on the procurement time.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the production cost information 66 includes a product code 661, a production cost 662 per product (for example, one lot of product), and a production line 663.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the inventory cost information 67 includes a product code 671, an inventory cost 672 per unit of product for each product and per unit time (for example, one month), and an inventory base 673. Composed.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the demand information 68 includes a product code 681, a demand amount 682 for each product, and a demand time 683.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the initial inventory information 69 is information on the raw material / product / extract code 691 which is information indicating at which location each raw material / product / extract is held at the start of planning. , A stock base code 692 and a stock quantity 693.

(Processing flow of this embodiment)
A processing flow of the business support system 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 13, first, when the person in charge of planning instructs the start of the plan creation work using the input terminal 81 of the business support system 100, the input unit 3 (see FIG. 2) receives the data storage unit 6 (FIG. 2). The extraction recipe information 62 and the production recipe information 64 registered in (see) are fetched (steps 101 and 102). Next, the input unit 3 takes in procurement cost information 65, production cost information 66, inventory cost information 67, and demand information 68 from the data storage unit 6 (steps 103 and 104).

  Next, the planning processing unit 4 constructs a model (Step 105). Specifically, the model construction unit 41 satisfies the ratio given by the extraction recipe information 62 and the production recipe information 64, fulfills the demand for products and by-products given by the demand information 68, and procurement cost information. 65, minimizing the total cost that is the sum of the procurement cost, production cost, and inventory cost of the raw materials and intermediate products given by the production cost information 66 and the inventory cost information 67 is set as an objective function (details will be described later) ).

Next, the planner inputs parameters such as extraction conditions (see FIG. 6) in the extraction process using the input terminal 81 as necessary, and the parameter setting unit 32 of the input unit 3 sets the parameters. (Step 106).
Next, the optimization processing unit 42 captures the captured data into the constructed model, and performs total cost minimization calculation (step 107). Here, mathematical optimization logic such as linear programming is utilized (details will be described later).

  Next, the plan display unit 51 receives an instruction from the planning processing unit 4 and outputs the created input plan, production plan, and procurement plan, that is, displays them on the display terminal 82 (step 108). When planning a plurality of plans having different parameter combinations, the plurality of plans are displayed on the display terminal 82, and the planner compares and examines the cost values.

  If the planner is not satisfied with any of the plurality of plans, the planner performs a predetermined operation to that effect on the input terminal 81 (No in step 109), and the process is not terminated and step 106 is completed. Return to and start again from the parameter settings. When the planner is satisfied with any of the plurality of plans, the planner performs an operation of selecting the plan at the input terminal 81 (Yes in step 109), and the process is terminated.

(Business support system output information)
Next, information output (displayed) by the business support system 100 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 14, the input plan information 70 indicating the input plan of raw materials in the extraction process includes a production date 701, a production line 702, an input raw material code 703, an input quantity 704, an extraction condition 705, and a production cost. 706.

As shown in FIG. 15, the production plan information 71 includes an input date 711, a production line 712, an input extract code 713, an input quantity 714, a finished product code 715, and a production cost 716. Consists of.
As shown in FIG. 16, the procurement plan information 72 includes a request date 721, a procurement product code 722, a requested amount 723, and a procurement cost 724.

The business support system 100 can prepare a plurality of parameter combinations and derive a plurality of results. These plural results are displayed on one screen on the display terminal 82 as shown in FIG. The person in charge of the plan can compare and review a plurality of plans (work plan plans) by looking at this display. In this screen, for each cost element 801 of procurement / production / inventory, the current plan 802, which is the evaluation value in the current plan, and the plans 1, 2 (symbol 803), which are the evaluation values of the plans prepared in the past, are compared in a list. Can be evaluated. The person in charge of the plan can check the plan to be approved (selected) 804 on this screen and operate the plan approval button 805 to perform the plan approval work.
In this screen display, only the total cost for each plan may be displayed at first, and the detailed cost of each plan may be displayed by the operation of the planner.

(Formulation of constraints)
Next, the formulation of constraints at the time of planning will be described. In the following, non-negative conditions (for example, the amount of raw materials will not be negative) and large / small conditions (for example, the amount of products will not be greater than the amount of raw materials) ) Is also considered, but for the sake of brevity, some of the descriptions are omitted.

  Assume that a set of raw materials to be input is MAT, a set of extracts (intermediate products and by-products) extracted from the raw materials is EXT, and a generated product and a set of by-products shipped as products are PROD. Also, a set of combinations of intermediate products and by-products ext (EXT elements) extracted from the raw material mat (MAT elements) is defined as DEC [mat]. Here, what is required is the input quantity of the raw material mat and the combined quantity of the intermediate product ext for producing the product prod (PROD element).

First, let us consider raw material inventory transition constraints. The amount of raw materials in stock before addition to the amount of raw materials to be procured is equal to the amount of input added to the stock after input. Let MAT_ST [mat] be the amount of raw material before the raw material mat is input, MAT_PR [mat] as the amount of raw material to be procured, MAT_IN [mat] as the raw material input amount, and MAT_ST_N [mat] as the raw material stock after the input. The following equation (1) holds.

The extract extracted from the raw material is obtained by multiplying the input amount by the extraction rate. When the extraction amount of the extract ext is EXT_GEN [ext] and the ratio of the extract ext extracted from one unit of the raw material mat is DEC [mat] [ext], the following equation (2) is established.

Next, restrictions on product generation will be described.
The amount of the finished product prod is PROD_OUT [prod], the ratio (mixing ratio) of the intermediate product ext contained in the product prod is MIX [prod] [ext], and the amount of the intermediate product ext to be input for the product prod is EXT_IN. If [prod] [ext], the product obtained by multiplying the completion rate by the mixing ratio is equal to the input amount, and the following equation (3) is established.

Here, since the sum of the extract ext to be charged for the product prod cannot exceed the extraction amount of the extract ext, the following expression (4) is established.

(Formulation of objective function)
The objective function is a function for minimizing the total cost that is the sum of the procurement cost, the production cost, and the inventory cost. The procurement cost per unit of raw material mat is PR_COST [mat], the inventory cost per unit of raw material mat is ST_COST [mat], the input amount of extract ext is EXT_IN [ext], and the inventory cost per unit of extract ext is When ST_COST [ext], the production cost per unit of the extract ext is PD_COST1 [ext], and the production cost per unit of the product prod is PD_COST2 [prod], the total cost can be expressed by the following equation (5). it can. Minimization of the value on the right side of Equation (5) is the role of the objective function.

In this equation (5), the calculation is performed assuming that products and by-products are generated so as to satisfy the demand. In addition, for example, the case where the generated product is less than the demand (hereinafter referred to as “not reached”) or the case where the generated product is greater than the demand (hereinafter referred to as “excess”) is considered. You can also. In this case, assuming that the variable indicating the demand amount of the product is DEM [prod], the surplus amount of the product is DEM_REG_P [prod], and the variable indicating the unachieved amount of the product is DEM_REG_M [prod], the following equation (6) is obtained. It holds.

  It is possible to make a model that minimizes the amount of over and under delivery. Specifically, the objective function can be appropriately transformed by adding a term that takes into account the penalty cost to be added each time there is one overdelivery or unachievement of the product on the right side of Equation (6).

  As described above, according to the business support system 100 of the present embodiment, when the demand amount and inventory amount of products and by-products, and the generation ratio of by-products are given, the total cost is minimized by using the objective function described above. By determining the input amount of raw material to be displayed and displaying it on the output unit, it is possible to support the reduction of the total cost including the inventory cost for the business of generating products and by-products from the raw material. As a result, the user can appropriately input raw materials to meet the demand for products and by-products, and can reduce the excessive inventory of products and by-products, thereby reducing inventory costs and disposal loss due to excessive inventory.

  Further, the business support system 100 can be realized by causing a general computer to execute the program for each processing described above. This program can be distributed via a communication line, or can be written and distributed on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory).

Although description of this embodiment is finished above, the aspect of the present invention is not limited to these.
For example, although the present embodiment has been described by taking the case of oil production as an example, the present invention can be applied to other various production processes (for example, milling and the like) in which products and by-products are generated from raw materials.

  In addition, when calculating the production cost, the production cost is calculated based on information on at least the number of personnel required to produce the product in the past and any future price fluctuations of the raw materials. However, for a new product for which the production cost cannot be calculated based on past information, the production cost may be calculated approximately based on information on similar products or raw materials used in advance.

  In addition, regarding the business plan draft, considering the input date for raw materials, input raw materials to be input, input instructions specifying the input amount, and procurement lead time and delivery date for the procurement of raw materials and intermediate products, A raw material / intermediate product procurement instruction specifying the procurement deadline, the procurement target item, and the procurement amount may be created and output to the display terminal 82 or the printer 86.

In the present embodiment, the modeling by the linear programming method has been described. However, the modeling by the integer programming method may be performed in consideration of the lot size.
Further, the time unit of the inventory cost may be another time length such as one day even if it is not one month.
Further, modeling may be performed in consideration of yield, product storage time limit (expiration time limit), and the like.

In addition, the output result may be displayed for one plan without comparing and displaying a plurality of plans.
In addition, specific configurations of hardware, programs, and the like can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

3 ... input unit, 4 ... planning processing unit, 5 ... output unit, 6 ... data storage unit,
61 ... Raw material information, 62 ... Extraction recipe information, 63 ... Extraction condition information,
64 ... production recipe information, 65 ... procurement cost information, 66 ... production cost information,
67 ... Inventory cost information, 68 ... Demand information, 69 ... Initial inventory information,
70 ... Input plan information, 71 ... Production plan information, 72 ... Procurement plan information,
100 ... Business support system

Claims (8)

A business support system that supports the business of generating products and by-products that have independent demand from raw materials,
A storage unit that stores an objective function for minimizing a total cost that is a sum of a procurement cost of the raw material, a production cost of the product and the by-product, and an inventory cost of the product and the by-product;
The object stored in the storage unit when the demand amount of the product and the by-product, the inventory amount of the product and the by-product, and the generation ratio that is the ratio at which the by-product is generated from the raw material are given. Using a function, determine the input amount of the raw material that minimizes the total cost, and display on the output unit;
A business support system characterized by comprising: The business support system according to claim 1,
In the business, an intermediate product that is the source of the product obtained at the stage of generating the by-product separately from the raw material is procured,
The processing unit determines an input amount of each of the raw material and the intermediate product that minimizes the total cost by using an objective function stored in the storage unit, and displays the input amount on an output unit. Support system. The business support system according to claim 1,
The storage unit stores generation condition information defining a generation ratio of the product and the by-product generated from the raw material for each of a plurality of generation conditions,
The processing unit refers to the generation condition information stored in the storage unit, determines the input amount of the raw material that minimizes the total cost based on the generation condition input by the user, and displays it on the output unit A business support system characterized by The business support system according to claim 1,
When calculating the production cost, the processing unit is given in advance, based on at least the number of personnel required to produce the product in the past, and information on any future price fluctuation of the raw material The production cost is calculated, and for the new product for which the production cost cannot be calculated based on past information, the production cost is approximately calculated based on information on similar products and raw materials used in advance. A work support system characterized in that the input amount of the raw material that minimizes the total cost is determined using the calculated information and displayed on the output unit. The business support system according to claim 3,
In the screen of the output unit, the processing unit displays a list of the raw material, the product, the stock amount of each by-product, the input amount of the raw material, the completed product and the amount of the by-product to be generated. A business support system for comparing and displaying costs related to the raw material and the intermediate product for a plurality of business plan drafts created based on the generation conditions. The business support system according to claim 5,
The processing unit takes into account the input date for the raw material, the input raw material, the input instruction specifying the input amount, and the procurement lead time and the delivery date for the procurement of the raw material and the intermediate product. The business support system is characterized in that a raw material / intermediate product procurement instruction specifying a procurement deadline, a procurement target item, and a procurement amount of the raw material and the intermediate product is created and output to the output unit.   A business support program for causing a computer to function as the business support system according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A computer-readable recording medium on which the business support program according to claim 7 is recorded.

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