JP4579167B2 - Production system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is used in, for example, an automobile manufacturing factory, and continuously includes a plurality of types of products (including intermediate products or semi-finished products such as vehicle engines) having similar process sequences and work methods in one line. The present invention relates to a production system that constitutes a so-called mixed product line that produces and mixes them.

  Conventionally, for example, a production system as shown in FIG. 3 is used to produce a plurality of types of vehicle engines as products. That is, the production system shown in this figure continuously conveys a plurality of workpieces W, and continuously produces a plurality of types of products by assembling and processing the assembly parts 50 for each workpiece W. A line 51 is provided. In addition, a plurality of work spaces are provided beside the main line 51. In each work space, the worker P performs an appropriate work (assembly of assembly parts) on the workpiece W conveyed on the main line 51. And processing).

  Further, racks (component shelves) 52 that house assembly parts by type (in FIG. 3, four types A, B, C, and D) are arranged near each work space. The person P takes out any assembly parts from the rack 52 and assembles them to the workpiece W.

  Further, a part or all of the plurality of types of assembly parts housed in each rack 52 (three types of assembly parts A, B, and C in FIG. 3) is the main line 51. It is assembled in a subline 53 provided separately, and temporarily stocked in a stocker 54 disposed in the vicinity of the subline 53. Then, based on the number of parts prepared for production prepared in advance or the number of parts for assembly put in the main line 51 and the work instruction kanban 55 indicating the number, various necessary parts for assembly are stocked by the transport cart 56. It is carried out from 54 and supplied / supplemented to each rack 52.

  In FIG. 3, 57 is an information recording body provided in each work W and holds work information, 58 is a reading device for reading the work information from this information recording body 57, and a reading device provided in each work space. Based on the workpiece information read by 58, the content of the machining on the workpiece W, the type of assembly parts to be assembled, and the like are determined.

  However, in the above-described conventional production system, if there are many types of assembly parts to be assembled to the workpiece W in one work space, the number and types of assembly parts to be stocked in the rack 52 increase, and the rack 52 There was a problem of increasing the size.

  Further, when the worker P takes out the assembly part from the rack 52 and assembles it to the work W, there is a possibility that the selection of the assembly part to be assembled to the work W is wrong.

  Further, when the type and number of assembly parts supplied / supplemented from the stocker 54 to each rack 52 are determined based on the type and number of assembly parts put into the main line 51, the production plan There was a possibility that a situation that could not cope with the midway change occurred. That is, due to a change in the production plan, the required number of production of specific types of workpieces W has increased, and in response to this, only some assembly parts are continuously put into the main line 51. In this case, first, the inventory quantity of the assembly parts in the rack 52 of the main line 51 is reduced. However, since it takes time until this is transmitted to the sub-line 53 side, the supply / replenishment of the assembly parts from the stocker 54 to the rack 52 in the sub-line 53 is not in time, resulting in problems such as missing parts. There was a risk of falling into a line stop. In order to prevent this, it may be possible to give a special work instruction to the worker of the subline 53 when the production plan is changed. In this case, the command system and management become complicated and a new problem arises. There is a concern that will occur.

  Also, the types of assembly parts used in each work space differ depending on the type (specifications) of the workpiece W, and the size of the rack 52 and the manner of arrangement of the assembly parts in the rack 52 are also various according to the types and the like. Is different. Therefore, when the type of assembly parts accommodated in the rack 52 is increased or changed due to the addition or change of the type of the workpiece W, the rack 52 is exchanged with another rack 52 in order to cope with the increase or change. It is necessary to change the arrangement of the assembly parts in 52, and there is a problem that it takes a lot of time and labor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and the object thereof is to reduce the stock space of the assembly parts necessary on the sub-line side, and to provide the assembly parts for the assembly work in the main line. It is an object of the present invention to provide a production system that can prevent erroneous selection and assembly mistakes, and can easily and flexibly cope with changes in production plans.

In order to achieve the above object, a production system according to the present invention includes a main line for continuously producing a plurality of types of products by conveying a plurality of workpieces and assembling assembly parts to the workpieces. A production system comprising: a subline for producing the assembly component used in a line; and a transport body for conveying the assembly component from the subline to the mainline side, wherein the mainline On the side, reading means for reading work information on the work from an information recording body provided for each work is provided, and in the vicinity of a part of the work space near the main line, the work configured to be capable of accommodating side by side in a line in order to use the component with assembled sets against the part rack is provided, On the other hand, the sub-line side receives the work information obtained from the information recording body by the reading means, and based on the received work information, the type of assembly parts to be assembled on the main line side, the assembly order, and An information terminal capable of grasping the timing and a stocker for stocking the assembly parts produced on the subline side are provided. On the subline side, the types of assembly parts received and grasped by the information terminal and the assembly order Then, assembly parts are produced based on the timing , stocked in the stocker, and the assembled parts supplied to the main line side based on the work information received by the information terminal. select and together to grasp the order of use is configured to be able to stack on the carrier, Meinra from carrier It has a feature that is configured to order and timing of receiving the set component attached in down side to parts shelves also synchronized with the order and timing was received grasped by the sub-line side of the information terminal.

In the invention according to claim 1, since the assembly parts produced in the sub-line are transferred to the carrier based on the work information received in the information terminal, the order of arranging the assembly parts is The order can be based on the work information. In this case, the transport destination of the main line of the carrier, since the assembled components for attached are to be received remains aligned in the order, component assembling on the workpiece in the transfer destination mainline When the assembly work is performed, an assembly part to be assembled at the head of a plurality of assembly parts arranged side by side is received.

  Therefore, in the present invention, there is no need to arrange the assembly parts by type in the vicinity of the work space beside the main line, so even if there are many types of assembly parts to be assembled to the workpiece in one work space, The number and type of assembly parts to be stocked will not increase, and the stock space will be small.

In addition, when performing assembly work for the assembly parts, the mainline worker starts from the top of the assembly parts stored in a line in the order in which they are used in the parts shelf near the work space. Therefore, there is no possibility of mistakenly selecting an assembly part to be assembled to the workpiece.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, since the assembly parts can be prepared based on the work information, even if there is a change in the production plan, it can be dealt with immediately and easily, and a special work instruction for that is required. There is no problem that the command system and management are complicated.

  Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary to arrange the assembly parts by type in the vicinity of the work space, so even if the type of assembly parts used in each work space differs depending on the type (specification) of the workpiece. The stock space can be unified, and if the type of assembly parts used increase or change due to the addition or change of the work type, the layout of the assembly parts will be changed to cope with it. Etc. can be easily performed.

That is, in the present invention, it is possible to reduce the stock space of the assembly parts necessary on the sub-line side, to prevent erroneous selection of the assembly parts during the assembly work in the main line, It is possible to provide a production system that can easily and flexibly cope with changes in production plans.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a configuration of a production system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the production system includes a main line 1 that continuously conveys a plurality of types of products by conveying a plurality of workpieces W and processing the workpieces W. In this embodiment, an engine is produced as a product in the main line 1.

  A plurality of work spaces are provided beside the main line 1 along the traveling direction. In each work space, the worker P performs an appropriate work (working or the like) on the work W conveyed on the main line 1. )I do.

  Here, an information recording body 2 is provided for each work W, and information (work information) about the work W is recorded in the information recording body 2. On the other hand, reading means 3 for reading work information from the information recording body 2 is provided at a plurality of locations on the main line 1. Then, the worker P performs work on each work W based on the work information read by the reading means 3. That is, the work information read by the reading means 3 is displayed so that the operator P can check it with a display device (not shown).

  In addition, although various things can be employ | adopted as the said information recording body 2 and the reading means 3, in this embodiment, the information recording body 2 is an ID (Identification) tag and the reading means 3 is an ID tag reader.

  In addition, a rack (parts shelf) 5 that houses an assembly part 4 to be assembled to the workpiece W is arranged in the vicinity of a part of the work space. The components 4 are sequentially taken out and assembled to the workpiece W. In this embodiment, the rack 5 is configured such that the assembly parts 4 are arranged in a line.

  On the other hand, the assembly parts 4 housed in the rack 5 and used in the main line 1 are produced in the sub-line 6 and are transferred from the sub-line 6 side to the main line by the transport body (a transport cart that runs unattended in this embodiment) 7. It is conveyed to the 1 side. In this embodiment, two sublines 6 are provided, one subline 6 produces a surge tank as an assembly part, and the other subline 6 produces a wire harness as an assembly part. Further, the types of assembly parts 4 produced in each subline 6 are three types A, B, and C, respectively.

  On the other hand, a converter 8 is connected to a part of the reading means 3 provided in the main line 1, and the work information read by the reading means 3 passes through the converter 8 and is a Personal as an information terminal. It is transmitted to the Digital Assistants portable terminal (hereinafter referred to as PDA) 9. The information received by the PDA 9 is transmitted to the PDAs 10 and 11 managed by the worker P on each subline 6 side. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transmission of information between the PDAs 9 to 11 is performed via a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) 12, so that a plurality of access points 12a are placed at appropriate locations. Is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, desired information is displayed on the touch panel 13 of each PDA 9 to 11.

  Accordingly, the worker P on each subline 6 side receives the workpieces received by the PDAs 10 and 11 managed by the workers P when the assembly parts 4 produced in the sublines 6 and stocked in the stocker 14 are loaded on the carrier 7. Based on the information, the assembly part 4 to be supplied to the main line 1 side can be selected. Further, since the work information sequentially transmitted to the PDAs 10 and 11 can grasp the order in which the worker P on the main line 1 uses the assembly parts 4, the worker P on the sub-line 6 side is transported. The assembly parts 4 are arranged in that order on the body 7, and this order is maintained when the assembly parts 4 are transferred from the transport body 7 to the rack 5. The worker P on the 1 side only needs to take out the assembly parts 4 in order when taking out the assembly parts 4 to be assembled to the workpiece W from the rack 5, and makes mistakes such as erroneous selection of the assembly parts 4. Can be eliminated.

  In the production system having the above-described configuration, it is sufficient that the rack 5 has a size that allows the assembly parts 4 to be arranged in a line, and the dimensions and configurations of the plurality of racks 5 can be unified. Therefore, even if the production plan changes or the like, and the types of assembly parts 4 to be used increase or decrease between the work spaces, the layout of the racks 5 can be easily changed, and the response can be performed in a short time. .

  Further, the order and timing of housing the assembly parts 4 in each rack 5 is based on the work information, and is configured to be synchronized (aligned) with the order and timing of the work W flowing through the main line 1. ing. Accordingly, the worker P on the main line 1 may take out the assembly parts 4 in order from the rack 5 and assemble them onto the workpiece W flowing through the main line 1, so that there is no difference in the assembly, and as a result, the post-process This eliminates the need for reworking (working time) for the workpiece W with the wrong assembly.

  Furthermore, even if the production plan is changed midway, work information is sequentially transmitted to each PDA 9 to 11 in real time, so that a special work instruction for the change is not necessary, and each worker P Can work without being particularly conscious of the above changes, and the work efficiency is improved as compared with the case where a special work instruction or the like is given.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications. For example, the information recording body 2 may be a barcode instead of the ID tag, and in this case, the reading means 3 can be a barcode reader. The information recording body 2 may be provided directly on the workpiece W. However, when the workpiece W is conveyed on the main line 1 while being held by a holding table such as a pallet, the information recording body 2 is provided on the holding table. It may be provided.

  Moreover, the said conveyance body 7 is not restricted to an unmanned traveling trolley | bogie, For example, the trolley | bogie of the type which the operator P moves manually is sufficient.

  Further, the transport body 7 loaded with the assembly parts 4 may be configured to be used as the rack 5, and in this case, the operation of transferring the assembly parts 4 from the transport body 7 to the rack 5. In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent mistakes such as changing the order of the assembly parts 4 during transfer.

  In addition, PDAs similar to the PDAs 10 and 11 are also distributed to workers (not shown) for producing the assembly parts 4 in each subline 6, and a set of works W flowing through the main line 1 by the PDA. The attached data (ordered information) may be grasped. In this case, since the worker can grasp the type of assembly parts 4 assembled in the main line 1 and the order and timing of the assembly, for example, the type, order and timing are considered. If the assembly parts 4 are produced in the sub-line 6, the assembly parts 4 are simply loaded on the transport body 7 in the order of completion in the sub-line 6 and arranged on the transport body 7 in that order. As a result, it is not necessary to consider the order in which the completed assembly parts 4 are arranged when they are stacked on the carrier 7. If comprised in this way, the said stocker 14 will also become unnecessary.

  In addition, a button (for example, work completion) that the operator P managing the PDA 10, 11 presses on the touch panel of the PDA 10, 11 immediately after the work (conveying the assembly part 4) displayed by the PDA 10, 11 is completed. By pressing this button, the work contents are stored in the PDAs 10 and 11 as work histories (work results), and can be output to a screen or a printer later to confirm the work contents. Also good. In this case, the work history may be configured to be transferred to a PC (Personal Computer).

  Further, if the display of work instructions on the screens (touch panels) of the PDAs 10 and 11 can be output to paper by a printer, it is possible to cope with work instructions on paper.

It is explanatory drawing which shows roughly the structure of the production system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows schematically the structure of the principal part of the said production system. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the conventional production system roughly.

1 Main line 2 Information recording body 3 Reading means
4 Assembly parts
5 parts shelf
6 Subline 7 Carrier 10 Information terminal 11 Information terminal 14 Stocker W Work

Claims (1)

A main line for continuously producing a plurality of types of products by conveying a plurality of workpieces and assembling assembly parts to the workpiece; and a subline for producing the assembly parts used in the main line; A production system comprising a transport body for transporting the assembly parts from the sub-line to the main line side, wherein the information recording body is provided on the main line side corresponding to each workpiece. Reading means for reading workpiece information on the workpiece from the main line, and in the vicinity of a part of the work space beside the main line in order of using assembly parts assembled to the workpiece. lined up can be configured parts shelves to accommodate provided, whereas, the the sub-line side the by said reading means An information terminal that receives work information obtained from an information recording body, and based on the received work information, can grasp the type of assembly parts to be assembled on the main line side, the order and timing of the assembly, and the subline side A stocker is provided to stock the assembly parts that are produced in this way. On the subline side, assembly parts are produced based on the types of assembly parts received and grasped by the information terminal, the order of assembly, and the timing. Then , based on the work information received by the information terminal , the stocked assembly parts are stocked in the stocker, the assembly parts to be supplied to the main line side are selected and the order of use is grasped, and the carrier together they are configured to be capable loading, the accommodation of the order and timing of component assembling into parts shelves of the main line side from the carrier Production system characterized by being configured to synchronize with the received the order and timing grasped by the sub-line side of the information terminal.

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