JP2012203855A - Product lifecycle determination system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for determining and presenting an appropriate production stop period about a product which it is difficult for a producer to unilaterally determine to stop producing.SOLUTION: A product lifecycle determination system includes: information change detection means for detecting that the content of predetermined information held by a peripheral system has been changed; information acquisition means for, when it is detected that the content of the information has been changed by the information change detection means, acquiring predetermined information from the peripheral system; and production continuation determination means for determining whether to continue the production of a product on the basis of information included in the predetermined information acquired by the information acquisition means, that is, information indicating the order receiving situation of the product, the demand prediction of the product, the inventory/delivery situation of parts necessary for the manufacturing of the product and the developing situation of the takeover machine of the product.

Description

  The present invention relates to a product life cycle determination system, and more particularly, to a system that supports determination of the timing of production stop / maintenance stop of a communication infrastructure product or the like.

  Many industrial products are produced in anticipation of future demand. For this reason, there are various demand prediction systems that predict future demand based on past demand fluctuations (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2002-288407 A

  Communication infrastructure products are required to provide a long-term stable communication service to a large number of users who use the communication service. Therefore, producers of communications infrastructure products need to maintain production facilities and secure and store necessary parts so that maintenance, inspection, parts replacement, and product replacement can be performed over a long period of time to maintain the functions of each product. is there.

  In addition, the demand for communication infrastructure products largely depends on the capital investment environment of the communication service provider, so the fluctuation in demand is completely different from that of general products.

  Therefore, it is difficult for producers of communication infrastructure products to determine whether to stop production or maintenance of communication infrastructure products based simply on future demand forecasts.

  However, it is not practical for economic reasons to prepare for maintaining the functions of existing products over the future. In addition, with the progress and development of communication technology and communication equipment, it is necessary to replace existing products with new products. Therefore, there is a demand for appropriately determining when to stop production and maintenance of communication infrastructure products.

  Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a system for determining and presenting an appropriate production stop time for a product that is difficult for a producer to determine a production stop unilaterally, such as a communication infrastructure product. is there.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the product life cycle determination system includes an information change detection unit that detects that the content of predetermined information held by a peripheral system has been changed, and the information change detection unit includes: An information acquisition unit that acquires the predetermined information from the peripheral system when it is detected that the information has been changed, and information included in the predetermined information acquired by the information acquisition unit, the order status of the product, Continuing production to determine whether to continue production of the product based on information representing the demand forecast of the product, the inventory / procurement status of parts necessary for manufacturing the product, and the development status of the successor of the product. Determination means.

  According to the present invention, in response to a change in information related to product production held by a peripheral system, information necessary for determining whether or not to continue product production is acquired from the peripheral system and the determination is made. This makes it possible to propose a production stoppage at an appropriate time.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the product comprehensive management system containing the product life cycle determination system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a product comprehensive management system including a product life cycle determination system 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, it is assumed that the product comprehensive management system is used for production / maintenance management of communication infrastructure products. However, the product comprehensive management system can also be applied to production management and / or maintenance management of products other than communication infrastructure products. It is. This system is particularly suitable for the management of products that require limited maintenance, such as communication infrastructure products, and that require maintenance or parts replacement or product replacement to maintain functionality over a long period of time. .

  The product comprehensive management system shown in the figure includes an inventory management system 12, a PLM (Product Life cycle Management) system 13, a material ordering system 14, a production management system 15, and a cost management system as peripheral systems in addition to the product life cycle determination system 11. 16 and a budget management system 17.

  The configuration of the peripheral system is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1 as long as it has information used for determination of production stop and maintenance stop, and may be a single system or may include two or more systems. . The product comprehensive management system shown in FIG. 1 assumes cooperation with a plurality of existing systems.

  The inventory management system 12 uses the materials and parts used for the products that are currently being produced (referred to as current products) and the products that have been suspended but are subject to maintenance (referred to as maintenance products). Inventory information about the inventory quantity of the product. The inventory management system 12 notifies the product life cycle determination system 11 when there is a change in the inventory number information held. In response to a request from the product life cycle determination system 11, the inventory management system 12 provides the product life cycle determination system 11 with all or a part of the inventory number information held as inventory number information R1 and R2.

  The PLM system 13 provides information on the configuration of each of the current product and the maintenance product, that is, the type and amount of material and the type and number of parts necessary (necessary) for manufacturing each of the current product and the maintenance product. Holds configuration information to represent. The PLM system 13 also includes configuration information of each product currently being developed (hereinafter referred to as a development product (including a maintenance product or a successor of the current product)) and development schedule information indicating the development schedule of each development product. I have it. The development schedule information includes information that can affect a change in the demand of the product, for example, information such as a new product announcement time and a new product shipping disclosure time. The PLM system 13 also notifies the product life cycle determination system 11 when there is a change in the information held, and if there is a request from the product life cycle determination system 11, all of the information held Or a part is provided to the product life cycle determination system 11 as product structure information R3, R4 and product development schedule information R13, R17.

  The material ordering system 14 holds ordering result information indicating the material ordering result, delivery schedule information indicating the delivery schedule of the ordered material, and delivery availability information indicating whether the material can be delivered. The material ordering result represents the order quantity for each ordered material. The delivery schedule represents the scheduled delivery time of each ordered material. The material ordering system 14 also notifies the product life cycle determination system 11 when there is a change in the information held. In addition, the material ordering system 14 provides all or part of the stored information to the product life cycle determination system 11 in response to a request from the product life cycle determination system 11. Information provided from the material ordering system 14 to the product life cycle determination system 11 includes material ordering result information R6, R8, ordered material delivery schedule information R14, R18, and material delivery availability information R15, R20.

  The production management system 15 has order / delivery result information representing past orders and delivery results for each product, and demand prediction information representing future demand predicted based on the order / delivery results information. . The order / delivery record information represents, for example, the number of orders / delivery per month for the past several years. The production management system 15 notifies the product life cycle determination system 11 when there is a change in the information held. Further, the production management system 15 provides all or a part of the information held in response to a request from the product life cycle determination system 11. The information provided includes product order record information R7 indicating the number of production orders received for each product but not yet delivered, product demand information R16 indicating the number of products expected to be produced within a predetermined period in the future, and maintenance orders. Maintenance order record information R9 indicating the number of unprocessed cases and maintenance demand information R19 predicted to have a maintenance order within a predetermined period in the future are included.

  The cost management system 16 holds cost information for each of the current product, maintenance product, and development product. The cost information represents a price reflecting the current material cost and personnel cost. In response to a request from the product life cycle determination system 11, the cost management system 16 provides cost information for each of the current product, maintenance product, and development product as product cost information R10.

  The budget management system 17 holds sales information such as sales price and maintenance price of each product. The sales information represents the price of each product at the present time. The budget management system 17 provides sales information R5 in response to a request from the product life cycle determination system 11.

  The product life cycle determination system 11 includes a control unit 111, a production continuation determination unit 112, a maintenance continuation determination unit 113, a production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, a display unit 115, and an input setting unit 116.

  The control unit 111 performs cooperative control with the peripheral systems 12 to 17 and controls the production continuation determination unit 112, the maintenance continuation determination unit 113, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, the display unit 115, and the input setting unit.

  Further, the control unit 111 operates as an information change detection unit that receives information change notifications sent from the peripheral systems 12 to 15 and detects that there has been an information change. Further, the control unit 111 operates as an information acquisition unit that acquires information from the peripheral systems 12 to 17 in response to the information change detection.

  In the present embodiment, it is detected that the information has been changed by notification from the peripheral systems 12 to 15. However, the information may be periodically collected to detect the change.

  The production continuation determination unit 112 determines whether to continue production of the current product based on information provided from the inventory management system 12, the PLM system 13, the material ordering system 14, and the production management system 15. That is, the production continuation determination unit 112 functions as a production continuation determination unit.

  Further, the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 determines whether or not to continue the maintenance of the current product and the maintenance product based on information provided from the inventory management system 12, the PLM system 13, the material ordering system 14, and the production management system 15. To do. That is, the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 functions as a maintenance continuation determination unit.

  The production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 determines whether or not to stop production of the current product based on the determination result of the production continuation determination unit 112 and the information provided from the cost management system 16 and the budget management system 17. . That is, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 functions as a production end determination unit. Further, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 stops the maintenance of the current product and the maintenance product based on the determination result of the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 and the information provided from the cost management system 16 and the budget management system 17. It is determined whether or not. That is, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 also functions as a maintenance stop determination unit.

  The display unit 115 displays various information provided from the peripheral systems 12 to 17 under the control of the control unit 111, the determination results of the production continuation determination unit 112, the maintenance continuation determination unit 113, and the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, and the like. indicate.

  The input setting unit 116 receives input of setting information required for determination in the production continuation determination unit 112, the maintenance continuation determination unit 113, and the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, and holds the input setting information. The control unit 111 reads the setting information from the input setting unit 116 as necessary and supplies the setting information to each of the determiners 112 to 114.

  Next, the operation of the product comprehensive management system of FIG. 1 will be described in detail. However, since the operations of the peripheral systems 12 to 17 are not directly related to the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted, and the operation of the product life cycle determination system 11 will be mainly described below.

  First, when there is a change in the information held by each of the peripheral systems 12 to 17, the peripheral system 12 to 17 notifies the product life cycle determination system 11 to that effect. Upon receipt of the information change notification, the control unit 111 of the product life cycle determination system 11 requests provision of predetermined information to all the peripheral systems 12 to 17 including the system that has notified the information change. Each of the peripheral systems 12 to 17 provides predetermined information in response to a request from the control unit 111 of the product life cycle determination system 11. The provision of information does not have to be performed for all the information that is held, but can be performed only for information related to the product regarding the changed information. That is, when information on a plurality of types of products is held, only information on one or more types of related products need be provided.

  The production continuation determination unit 112 includes inventory quantity information R1 from the inventory management system 12, product configuration information R3 and product development schedule information R13 from the PLM system 13, material ordering record information R6 from the material ordering system 14, and ordered. It receives material delivery schedule information R14 and material delivery availability information R15, and product order record information R7 and product demand information R16 from the production management system 15. Then, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines whether or not to continue product production based on these pieces of information.

  Specifically, the production continuation determination unit 112 first obtains the sum of the number of ordered products indicated by the product order record information R7 and the predicted number of orders indicated by the product demand information R16 for the product related to the changed information. The predicted number of orders may be a number predicted after an arbitrary period of time, for example, one week, three months, six months, or one year. This period can be determined based on the spread status of the product, the product life, etc., and is given as setting information.

  In obtaining the sum of the number of ordered products and the predicted number of orders, the predicted number of orders is adjusted based on the product development schedule information R13. This is because the order forecast is made based on past demand fluctuations, customer's capital investment plans, and the like, whereas the actual number of ordered products can vary depending on the development status of new products. For example, if a new product (successor) is about to be released, the order may be postponed.

  Next, the production continuation determination unit 112 obtains the product of the sum of the number of ordered products and the adjusted predicted number of orders and the number of parts necessary for manufacturing the product indicated by the product configuration information R3 for each type of part. Then, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines that production can be continued if the obtained product is equal to or less than the number of each part type indicated by the inventory quantity information R1.

  When any of the obtained products exceeds the number of corresponding parts indicated by the inventory quantity information R1, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines the material ordering result information R6, the ordered material delivery schedule R14, and the material delivery availability. Based on the information R15, it is determined whether or not production can be continued.

  Specifically, for materials necessary for manufacturing, when the material delivery availability information R15 indicates that delivery is not possible, it is determined that production cannot be continued.

  On the other hand, when the material delivery availability information R15 indicates that delivery is possible, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines whether or not more than the necessary number of necessary materials have been ordered based on the material ordering record information R6. Based on the ordered material delivery schedule R14, it is determined whether or not the ordered material is delivered more than the necessary number within the allowable delivery date. If the necessary materials are not ordered more than the required number, and if the necessary materials are not delivered within the allowable delivery date, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines that the production cannot be continued, otherwise It is determined that production can be continued. The allowable delivery date is given as setting information.

  In this way, the production continuation determination unit 112 determines that production can be continued if the materials for manufacturing the ordered product and the predicted ordered product can be secured within the allowable delivery date, and the production is continued if the material cannot be secured. Judged as impossible.

  When the production continuation determination unit 112 determines whether production can be continued, the production continuation determination unit 112 outputs a production continuation determination signal R12 indicating the determination result to the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114. At this time, the production continuation determination unit 112 outputs the product order record information R7 to the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 if the production continuation enable / disable signal R12 indicates that production can be continued. Further, the product demand information R16 may be sent together with the product order record information R7.

  The production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 determines that production is stopped when the production continuation enable / disable signal R12 from the production continuation determination unit 112 indicates that production cannot be continued, and proposes to stop the production of the target product on the display unit 115. Display. The production continuation determination unit 112 notifies the control unit 111 of the determination result.

  On the other hand, when the production continuation enable / disable signal R12 from the production continuation determination unit 112 indicates that production can be continued, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 receives the product cost information R10 from the cost management system 16 and the budget management system 17 from A break-even point is obtained based on the sales information R5. Further, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 determines the number of production orders (and the predicted number of orders received) based on the calculated break-even point and the production order record information R7 (and product demand information R16) from the production continuation determination unit 112. ) Is below the breakeven point. When the number of production orders (or the predicted number of orders) falls below the breakeven point, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 determines that production is stopped. Then, the production continuation determination unit 112 performs display for proposing the production stop of the target product. The production continuation determination unit 112 notifies the control unit 111 of the determination result. Information necessary for calculating the breakeven point is given as setting information.

  When the production continuation determination unit 112 determines that the production is continued, the operation is stopped without displaying anything on the display unit 115.

  When the control unit 111 receives the notification of the determination result indicating the production stop from the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, the control unit 111 acquires the product name and product number of the succeeding machine determined to be production stop from the PLM system 13 or the like. Display on the display 115.

  As described above, the product life cycle determination system 11 proposes to stop production of products that cannot be secured because necessary materials and the like cannot be secured, and products that can be produced but cannot be profitable. It can be performed. Moreover, the display which introduces the product used as the successor machine of the product which proposed the production stop can be performed. This suggestion display of production stop is performed when the information held by the peripheral system is changed. The information change is, for example, when an order for a product is received. Therefore, when the customer's attention is directed to the product, a production stop proposal can be made.

  The maintenance continuation determination unit 113 operates in the same manner as the production continuation determination unit 112. However, the information given from the peripheral systems 12 to 15 to the production continuation determination unit 112 is information related to production, whereas the information given to the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 is information related to maintenance. Different.

  That is, the inventory quantity information R2 supplied from the inventory management system 12 to the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 represents the quantity of materials necessary for maintenance of products related to the changed information. The product configuration information R4 supplied from the PLM system 13 to the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 represents the quantity of materials (for example, regular replacement parts) necessary for maintenance. The product development schedule R17 represents a production stop schedule for a product whose production quantity has already been determined. Further, the material ordering record information R8, the ordered material delivery schedule information R18, and the material delivery availability information R20 supplied from the material ordering system 14 to the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 are information on materials necessary for maintenance. Furthermore, maintenance order record information R9 supplied from the production management system 15 to the maintenance continuation determination unit 113 is information indicating the number of unprocessed orders for which maintenance orders have been received, and maintenance demand information R19 is a maintenance order information within a predetermined period in the future. This is information indicating the predicted maintenance number predicted to be present.

  The maintenance continuation determination unit 113 determines whether or not to continue the maintenance based on the information supplied from the peripheral systems 12 to 15 described above, and generates a maintenance / continuation determination signal R11 indicating the determination result as a production / maintenance stop determination. Output to the device 114.

  The production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 performs the maintenance stop determination in accordance with the maintenance continuity determination signal R11 as in the case of the production stop determination. When it is determined that the maintenance is stopped, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 displays the fact on the display unit 115. At this time, the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114 also notifies the control unit 111 of the maintenance stop.

  In response to the maintenance stop notification from the production / maintenance stop determination unit 114, the control unit 111 acquires the product name and product number of the successor product determined to be maintenance stop from the PLM system 13 and the like, and displays it on the display unit 115. Display.

  As described above, the product life cycle determination system 11 according to the present embodiment performs production and maintenance of products related to the changed information when the information held by the peripheral systems 12 to 15 is changed. Determine whether to continue. Then, as a result of the determination, when it is determined that the production of the product is to be stopped and when it is determined that the maintenance is to be stopped, a message to that effect is displayed. Thereby, it becomes possible to propose a production stop or a maintenance stop to a customer at an appropriate time. That is, the change of the information held by the peripheral systems 12 to 15 mainly occurs when a product order is received from a customer and a maintenance request is received. At this time, if the product life cycle determination system 11 displays the production stop or the maintenance stop of the target product, the production stop or the maintenance stop of the target product can be proposed to the customer. At that time, it is also possible to introduce new products (successors). In this way, at the timing when the customer's attention is directed to the product, it is possible to propose a production stop or maintenance stop and introduce a successor.

  Further, in the product life cycle determination system 11 according to the present embodiment, information held by a plurality of peripheral systems is automatically acquired, so that the determination determination result of production stop / maintenance stop is obtained after the information is changed. Can get instantly. Thereby, the time and labor cost required for information collection, information analysis and determination can be reduced.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the product life cycle determination system 11 is linked to a plurality of peripheral systems, but can be configured as a single management system.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Product life cycle determination system 12 Inventory management system 13 PLM system 14 Material ordering system 15 Production management system 16 Cost management system 17 Budget management system 111 Control part 112 Production continuation determination device 113 Maintenance continuation determination device 114 Production / maintenance stop determination device 115 Display 116 Input setting section

Claims (5)

Information change detection means for detecting that the content of the predetermined information held by the peripheral system has been changed;
An information acquisition unit that acquires the predetermined information from the peripheral system when the information change detection unit detects that the content of the information has been changed;
Information included in the predetermined information acquired by the information acquisition means, including a product order status, a demand forecast of the product, a stock / procurement status of parts necessary for manufacturing the product, and a successor of the product Production continuation determining means for determining whether to continue production of the product based on information representing the development status of
A product life cycle determination system comprising:   Based on the information included in the predetermined information, the maintenance order status of the product, the prediction of the maintenance order of the product, the procurement status of parts necessary for maintenance, and the information indicating the production stop schedule of the product, The product life cycle determination system according to claim 1, further comprising a maintenance continuation determination unit that determines whether or not to continue maintenance of the product.   The production stop timing of the product is determined based on the determination result from the production stop determination means and information included in the predetermined information, each representing the cost of the part and the sales of the product. The product life cycle determination system according to claim 1, further comprising a production stop determination unit.   The maintenance stop timing of the product is determined based on the determination result from the maintenance stop determination means and information included in the predetermined information, each representing the cost of the part and the sales amount of the maintenance. The product life cycle determination system according to claim 1, further comprising a maintenance stop determination unit.   5. The product life cycle determination system according to claim 3, further comprising a display unit configured to display a determination result of the production stop determination unit or the maintenance stop determination unit.

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