JP6945373B2 - Work improvement support system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a work improvement support system and method.

Various factories such as control panels, office equipment, automobiles, aircraft, industrial machinery, construction machinery, etc. produce products by production methods such as line method, cell method, and dynamic cell method. One product is produced through a plurality of work processes such as preparation of parts and materials, sheet metal, painting, assembly of main parts, assembly of main parts to the main body, and inspection. At the production site, products are produced according to a pre-planned production plan, but due to various circumstances, the production plan and the actual production often deviate from each other. Especially in so-called bottleneck work, there is a large gap between the plan and the actual results. Therefore, there is known a technique for extracting bottleneck work and presenting countermeasures against bottleneck (Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-190031

Patent Document 1 states, "Estimate the bottleneck device and its occurrence time according to the production plan and the in-process situation, classify each bottleneck device according to the bottleneck factor from the occurrence time and the state of the corresponding device group. Take proactive measures according to the classification results ”(Patent Document 1, paragraph 0010, summary), and not to associate the process in which the bottleneck occurred with the work video data of the situation at the site where the worker works. No.

Therefore, in the conventional technique described in Patent Document 1, for example, a user such as a manager of a production process cannot examine the cause of a bottleneck and improvement measures while checking the situation at the work site on a video, which is convenient. Is bad.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a work improvement support system and method that are easy for users to use.

In order to solve the above problems, the work improvement support system according to the present invention is a work improvement support system that supports improvement of the work process, and has a performance management unit that manages performance data related to each work included in the work process, and each of them. Based on the plan management department that manages the plan data related to the work, the work video management department that manages the work video data that captures the situation of the work site where each work is performed by the worker, and the actual data and the plan data related to the work. , It is determined whether the work corresponds to the predetermined work to be improved, and if it is determined that the work corresponds to the predetermined work, the predetermined work video data related to the work determined to correspond to the predetermined work among the work video data. It is equipped with a work analysis unit that extracts data.

According to the present invention, when a work corresponding to a predetermined work to be improved is detected, work video data related to the work can be extracted, so that the user can improve the work based on the work video data. Can be considered.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the whole outline of this embodiment. It is a functional block diagram of a work improvement support system. This is an example of a computer system that realizes a work improvement support system. This is an example of a table that manages work results. This is an example of a table that manages work procedures. It is a flowchart which shows the work video management process. It is a flowchart which shows the work improvement support process. It is a flowchart of the process which detects the actual working time according to 2nd Example. This is an example of a table that manages work results. It is a flowchart which shows the image management process which concerns on 3rd Example.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the work improvement support system 1 according to the present embodiment, as will be described later, work video data obtained by extracting the bottleneck work from a plurality of work included in the work process and photographing the situation of the work site 2. Of these, the predetermined work video data that shifts the state of the bottleneck work is extracted. As a result, the user in charge of improving the work process can infer the cause of the bottleneck work and devise measures for eliminating the bottleneck work while viewing the predetermined work video data.

The first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall outline of the work improvement support system. The work improvement support system 1 supports the planning of improvement measures by providing the user with predetermined work video data that captures the situation of the work to be improved.

The work improvement support system 1 can be configured by using, for example, at least one computer. An example of a computer system that realizes the work improvement support system 1 will be described later with reference to FIG.

The work improvement support system 1 is composed of an arithmetic unit, a memory device, an auxiliary storage device, an input / output interface circuit, a communication interface circuit (all not shown) and a predetermined computer program as computer resources, and each function 11 to 19 described later. To realize.

The work site 2 will be described first. The work site 2 includes at least one cell 21. In the cell 21, the worker W produces the product 25 according to the work procedure displayed on the work instruction terminal 23. Here, the cell production method will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to the line method and the dynamic cell method. Further, the work site 2 of the present embodiment is suitable for so-called high-mix low-volume production, but can also be applied to low-mix low-volume production and low-mix low-volume production.

A plurality of cameras 24 for monitoring the work status of the operator are installed in the cell 21. At least a part of the cameras 24 of each camera 24 can monitor not only the working condition but also the surrounding condition of the cell 21. Although it differs depending on the installation location, installation angle, shooting angle of view, etc. of the camera 24, the situation around the cell 21 (arranged around the cell 21) in addition to the operator's hands and feet during work and the overall image of the operator. Other cells, etc.) can also be monitored. In FIG. 1, five cameras 24 are illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and four or less or six or more cameras can be installed in association with the cell 21.

An RFID reader 22 that reads information from an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifier) tag 26 is provided in the cell 21 or in the vicinity of the cell 21. Here, the RFID tag 26 can be divided into, for example, a work tag 26-1 held by the worker W and a product tag 26-2 provided on the product 25.

The work tag 26-1 can be further divided into a worker tag that stores the identification information of the worker W and a work guidance form tag that indicates the cell (placement destination process) where the worker is placed (both). Not shown). The RFID reader 22 reads out the identification information that identifies the worker and the identification information that identifies the cell (process) from the work tag 26-1. The work improvement support system 1 can grasp which worker is assigned to which cell 21 based on the information read by the RFID reader 22. Further, by acquiring the information about the product 25 from the product tag 26-2, the current position of the product 25, the manufacturing history, and the like can be grasped.

The work instruction terminal 23 displays a screen for teaching the worker the work procedure in the cell 21. When the worker completes one work procedure, the worker operates the completion button indicating the completion of the work procedure or the next button requesting the display of the next work procedure on the work instruction terminal 23. Each time the worker finishes each work procedure or calls the explanation of the next work procedure, the button is operated as "operation from the worker". By monitoring the operation of the work instruction terminal 23, the work improvement support system 1 can grasp the progress of the work procedure in each cell in real time.

The worker can also have the worker terminal 27. The worker terminal 27 is, for example, a mobile phone (including a so-called smartphone) or a mobile information terminal provided by the company. The usage status of the worker terminal 27 is managed.

The configuration of the work improvement support system 1 will be described. The work improvement support system 1 includes, for example, a work status monitoring unit 11, a production performance management unit 12, a production plan management unit 13, a worker management unit 14, a work video management unit 15, a work analysis unit 16, and a screen. A display unit 17 is provided. Further, as shown in an embodiment described later, the work improvement support system 1 can also include an actual work time detection unit 18 and a worker terminal management unit 19 that manages the worker terminal 27.

It is not necessary that all the entities of these functions 11 to 19 are provided in the work improvement support system 1. For example, the work status monitoring unit 11, the production performance management unit 12, the production planning management unit 13, the worker management unit 14, the worker terminal management unit 19, etc. are provided outside the work improvement support system 1, and their external functions 11 to 11 Only necessary information may be transmitted from 14, 19 and the like to the work analysis unit 16.

The work status monitoring unit 11 monitors the progress of work in each cell 21 based on the identification information read from the RFID tag 26 by the RFID reader 22 in each process and the operation by the operator on the work instruction terminal 23. Then, it is transmitted to the production performance management unit 12.

The production performance management unit 12 as an example of the “performance management unit” manages the production performance for each cell (process) based on the data from the work status monitoring unit 11.

The production plan management unit 13 as an example of the “plan management unit” manages the production plan of the work site 2. The production plan management unit 13 manages the production plan of the entire production site and the production plan for each cell.

The worker management unit 14 manages, for example, the worker number, name, working style, working hours, history of the process in charge, and the presence / absence of skills required in each cell of each worker. Information managed by the worker management unit 14 is written in the work tag 26-1.

The work video management unit 15 stores and manages the work video data taken by each camera 24 of the work site 2 in the work video storage unit 151 in association with the shooting time. The work video management unit 15 also stores and manages video data related to times other than the work time, such as 24 hours 365 days or 24 hours on all working days, as a part of the work video data. That is, the work video management unit 15 manages the video data for a long period of time, and manages the video data not only during the time when the worker is working but also during the time zone which is not directly related to the work. As in the embodiment described later, the work video management unit 15 may also include an image quality control unit 152 that controls the image quality of a part or all of each camera 24.

Based on the production record data of each cell managed by the production record management unit 12 and the production plan for each cell managed by the production plan management unit 13, the work analysis unit 16 "predetermined work to be improved" in each cell. It is determined whether or not the bottleneck work as "" has occurred. That is, the work analysis unit 16 detects the work estimated to be the bottleneck work as the bottleneck work from the actual value (work time) and the target value (target work time) for each work.

The work analysis unit 16 reads the work video data corresponding to the detected bottleneck work from the work video management unit 15 and displays it on the screen display unit 17. The work analysis unit 16 can display not only the work video data of the bottleneck work but also predetermined information about the bottleneck work on the screen display unit 17. Predetermined information on the bottleneck work includes, for example, information indicating the work procedure of the bottleneck work, information on the worker in charge of the bottleneck work, information on the product 25 and its parts related to the bottleneck work, and the like. be.

A user such as a production control manager in charge of improving the work process estimates the cause of the bottleneck by checking the work video data about the bottleneck work displayed on the screen display unit 17, and devises a countermeasure. can do. The devised measures are updated as work procedure instruction information after verification. The worker can perform the work by referring to the work procedure instruction information (information indicating how to proceed with the work by characters, images, etc.) for which measures have been taken.

The actual work time detection unit 18 detects the time when the actual work is possible (actual work time) from the apparent work time by the worker W, and notifies the work analysis unit 16. As shown in an embodiment described later, the actual work time detection unit 18 is, for example, a work video data managed by the work video management unit 15 and a usage history of the worker terminal 27 managed by the worker terminal management unit 19. Based on this, the actual working time can be calculated.

FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of the work improvement support system 1. The work status monitoring unit 11 includes, for example, an RFID reader 22, a work instruction terminal 23, and an RFID management system (not shown) that manages RFID data read by the RFID reader 22.

The production record management unit 12 reads out data indicating the progress status of the work site from the RFID data and the operation contents of the work instruction terminal 23, and grasps the production record.

The data collection unit 101 regularly or irregularly acquires the actual data for each work in each cell 21 from the production actual production management unit 12, and also obtains the actual data for each work in each cell 21 from the production plan management unit 13 for each process (production plan for each cell). ) To get. The data collection unit 101 does not need to periodically acquire the production plan for each process, and may acquire the production plan for each process from the production plan management unit 13 when the production plan is changed. The data collection unit 101 stores the actual data of each cell 21 acquired from the production actual management unit 12 and the process-specific production plan acquired from the production plan management unit 13 in the data pool 102. The actual data also includes data on the work time required for each work procedure in each cell.

The work analysis unit 16 reads out the production plan for each process and the actual data from the data pool 102, analyzes the work state of each cell 21, extracts the bottleneck work, and displays it on the screen display unit 17. Further, the work analysis unit 16 gives an instruction to the work video management unit 15 to display the work video data corresponding to the bottleneck work on the screen display unit 17.

The work video data managed by the work video management unit 15 and the actual data are managed at the same time managed by the time management unit 103. The time management unit 103 may acquire time information from a time server installed outside the work improvement support system 1 and use it, or may use a timer in the time management unit 103.

In this embodiment, by searching the time information in the work video data at the start time of the bottleneck work, the work video data corresponding to the bottleneck work can be read out from the work video management unit 15. Instead of the method of managing by time, marker information indicating a work delimiter may be set in the work video data each time each work is completed.

FIG. 3 is an example of a computer system that realizes the work improvement support system 1. The computer system 1000 is configured by connecting, for example, a video management server 1002, a database server 1003, an application server 1004, and a personal computer 1005 with a communication network CN.

The video management server 1002 is a computer that realizes the work video management unit 15. The video management server 1002 is connected to each camera 24 of each cell 21 via a hub 1001, and stores work video data acquired from each camera 24 in a hard disk drive, a tape drive, a semiconductor memory, or the like. The hub 1001 may also have a function of supplying power to each camera 24.

The database server 1003 is, for example, a computer that realizes a data pool 102 or the like. The application server 1004 is, for example, a computer for realizing the production performance management unit 12 and the production plan management unit 13. The personal computer 1005 is, for example, a computer that realizes a work analysis unit 16 and a screen display unit 17.

FIG. 3 is only an example of a computer system applicable to this embodiment. A computer system having a configuration other than the configuration shown in FIG. 3 can also be used for the work improvement support system 1 of this embodiment.

For example, when the work site 2 and the work improvement support system 1 are physically far apart, a copy of the work video data managed by the video management server 1002 is provided at a location physically close to the personal computer 1005. You may. As a result, the work analysis unit 16 operating on the personal computer 1005 can quickly acquire a copy of the work video data and display it on the screen display unit 17.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the work record management table 121. The work record management table 121 manages the contents of each work. The work record management table 121 can be created for each cell 21, but one cell will be described with reference to FIG. The work record management table 121 can be managed by the production record management unit 12.

The work record management table 121 manages, for example, the product name 1211, the serial number 1212, the work procedure 1213, the work time 1214, and the work start time 1215 in association with each other. The work record management table 121 may include items other than those shown in FIG. 4 (for example, manufacturing date and time, worker identification information, etc.).

The product name 1211 is the name of the product 25 manufactured in the cell 21. Serial number 1212 is a serial number that identifies the product.

The work procedure 1213 is information that identifies the work procedure executed in the cell 21, for example, a work name. The working time 1214 is the time required for each working procedure. As described above, the worker performs the work based on the work instruction information displayed on the work instruction terminal 23, and operates the terminal 23 before and after the start of the work. As a result, the work status monitoring unit 11 can grasp the time required for each work by each worker in each cell 21.

The work start time 1215 is the start time of each work. When a work break is detected from the operation on the work instruction terminal 23, the work start time is specified and stored in item 1215 of the work record management table 121.

FIG. 5 is an example of the work procedure management table 131. The work procedure management table 131 manages the storage destination of the target value and work instruction information of each work. The work procedure management table 131 can be provided for each product 25. In FIG. 5, a case where work procedures for a plurality of products 25 are managed by one table 131 will be taken as an example. The work procedure management table 131 can be managed by the production planning management unit 13.

The work procedure management table 131 manages, for example, the product name 1311, the work procedure 1312, the target work time 1313, and the storage destination 1314 of the work instruction information in association with each other. The product name 1311 is the name of the product 25. The work procedure 1312 is information that identifies each work procedure (each work) performed to produce the product. The target work time 1313 is the target time required to complete each work procedure (each work).

The work instruction information storage destination 1314 is an address that stores information for instructing the operator of the work procedure necessary for manufacturing the product 25 by characters, images, or voice. One work instruction information may be prepared for the entire series of operations required for manufacturing the product 25, or work instruction information may be prepared for each individual work procedure. FIG. 5 shows a case where work instruction information is prepared for the entire series of work. In this case, the work instruction information includes an operation button or an operation instruction for inputting the start or end of each work procedure to the terminal 23.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the work video management process. This process is executed by the work video management unit 15. In the example of FIG. 6, the work site 2 and the work improvement support system 1 are physically far apart, and in order to reduce the read delay of the work video data, a copy of the work video data is placed near the work improvement support system 1. The case where it is provided in the above will be described.

The work video management unit 15 starts recording according to a recording start instruction from the work analysis unit 16 (S11: YES). Basically, in this embodiment, the situation of the cell 21 of the work site 2 is not only during the work being performed but also during the time when the work is not being performed (time before the start of the work, time after the work is completed). Take a picture of (and the surrounding situation) and save it.

The work video management unit 15 starts shooting with each camera 24 in each cell 21 (S12), and saves the shot image data in the work video storage unit 151 (S13).

When the work video management unit 15 determines whether the transfer start timing has arrived (S14) and determines that the transfer start timing has arrived (S14: YES), the work video management unit 15 determines the work video data (displayed as image data in the figure). Transfer to the transfer destination (S15). As the transfer start timing, for example, a time zone at midnight when the load on the computer system 1000 is light may be selected.

When the transfer is completed (S16: YES), the work video management unit 15 determines whether to stop recording the work status (S17). In this embodiment, the process returns to step S12 in order to continue recording regardless of the presence or absence of work. On the other hand, for example, recording can be stopped in preparation for maintenance work of the camera 24.

If the work video management unit 15 does not create a copy of the work video data near the work improvement support system 1, steps S14 to S16 may be omitted.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the work improvement support process. This process is executed by the work analysis unit 16.

The work analysis unit 16 acquires the target work time and the work time for each work from the production plan management unit 13 and the production performance management unit 12 (S21).

The work analysis unit 16 extracts the work estimated to be the bottleneck work from the degree of deviation between the target work time and the work time, and the information (for example, cell number, work name, etc.) screen for identifying the bottleneck work. It is displayed on the display unit 17 (S22).

For example, the user who is responsible for improving the work process can select one or more of the bottleneck work displayed on the screen display unit 17 (S23: YES). The work analysis unit 16 reads the work video data corresponding to the work (bottleneck work) selected by the user from the work video management unit 15 (S24), reproduces the read work video data, and displays it on the screen display unit 17. (S25).

As described in FIG. 4, since the division of each work is managed by the time information (work start time 1215 in FIG. 4), the user can collate the work start time with the time information in the work video data. Work video data related to the selected work can be specified.

While viewing the work video data displayed on the screen display unit 17, the user can consider the cause of the work becoming a bottleneck and consider measures for eliminating the bottleneck.

Then, the improvement measure (bottleneck measure) devised by the user is registered in the production planning management unit 13 as a modified version of the work instruction information (S26).

According to the present embodiment configured in this way, the bottleneck work can be extracted, and the work video data corresponding to the bottleneck work can be reproduced and displayed, so that the user can relatively easily display the bottleneck work. The actual state of work can be visually confirmed. As a result, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to support the planning of measures against bottlenecks of the user, and the usability of the user is improved. Since the cycle of work improvement by the user can be shortened, the production site (work site) can be efficiently improved, and the productivity can be improved.

Further, in this embodiment, since the image of the cell 21 (and its surroundings) is captured and stored for a long time regardless of the presence or absence of work, for example, the invasion of a third party or a small animal, the position change of the instrument or the shelf, etc. , It is possible to grasp the situation while the worker is absent. Therefore, it is possible to further support work improvement.

Further, although the size of the storage for storing the work video data becomes large, if the image of the cell 21 is taken and stored for a long period of time regardless of the presence or absence of the work, it can be useful for the analysis work at a later date.

The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Since each of the following examples including this embodiment corresponds to a modified example of the first embodiment, the differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. In this embodiment, the time during which the work was actually possible (actual work time) is detected instead of the apparent work time.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of detecting the actual working time. This process is executed by, for example, the actual work time detection unit 18 shown in FIG. The actual work time detection unit 18 may be provided in the work analysis unit 16.

The actual work time detection unit 18 was able to actually perform the work by subtracting the work incapacity time during which the work could not be performed from the apparent work time for each work in each cell (S31). The time is calculated (S32 to S35).

The actual work time detection unit 18 determines whether or not the worker exists in the cell 21 (presence / absence) by analyzing the image data of the camera 24, for example, and the worker is not in the cell 21. The time is detected as the incapacity time (S32).

The actual work time detection unit 18 acquires the time when the worker uses the worker terminal 27 based on the history managed by the worker terminal management unit 19, and detects the terminal use time as the work inability time (S33). ).

The actual work time detection unit 18 calculates the actual work time by subtracting the inoperable time from the apparent work time (S34). Here, the actual work time detection unit 18 calculates the net non-workable time in consideration of the start time and the end time of the non-workable time. For example, when the worker is using the worker terminal 27 at a place away from the cell 21, the absence time and the terminal usage time are not simply summed up, but only the absence time is used as the non-workable time.

The actual work time detection unit 18 stores the actual work time calculated in step S34 in the work record management table 121A described in FIG. 9 (S35).

FIG. 9 is an example of the work record management table 121A according to this embodiment. The table 121A has an actual work time of 1216 and an actual work start time of 1217 as compared with the table 121 described with reference to FIG.

In the actual working time 1216, the time during which the worker was actually able to work is stored. At the actual work start time 1217, the start time of the actual work time is stored. A plurality of values may be stored at the actual work start time 1217 in case the worker leaves the seat in the middle of the work.

In this embodiment, in the work improvement support process described with reference to FIG. 7, "actual work time" is used instead of "work time". For example, when a worker is suddenly called during work and leaves the cell 21, in the first embodiment, the apparent work time becomes longer than the target work time, so that the work is extracted as a bottleneck work. May be done. However, when the worker returns to the cell 21 and resumes the work, and the work is completed within the target work time, the work is only temporarily delayed due to a sudden reason. In the first embodiment, a temporarily delayed work may be detected as a bottleneck work, but in this embodiment, a substantial bottleneck work whose actual work time is longer than the target work time is extracted. be able to.

This embodiment configured in this way also has the same effect as that of the first embodiment. Further, in this embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not the work is a bottleneck work based on the actual work time instead of the apparent work time detected in the first embodiment, so that the work situation can be analyzed more accurately. It can improve reliability and usability.

The third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the image quality of each camera 24 is controlled and saved.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the work video management process according to the present embodiment. This process differs from the process described in FIG. 6 in that a new step S18 is provided between steps S12 and S13.

The work video management unit 15 sets the save image quality when saving the image data taken by each camera 24 (S18). Image quality includes, for example, resolution and color. The work video management unit 15 sets the storage image quality of each camera 24 according to the work, for example.

For example, the camera 24 that can best capture the place where the work is performed can be set as the main camera to set the storage image quality high, and the other cameras 24 can be set as the sub camera to set the storage image quality low.

Alternatively, the storage image quality of the camera 24, which is likely to detect the movement of the operator by a predetermined amount or more, may be set high, and the storage image quality of the other cameras 24 may be set low.

Alternatively, the storage image quality of the image data captured during the work may be set high, and the storage image quality of the image data captured during the work may be set low.

This embodiment configured in this way also has the same effect as that of the first embodiment. In this embodiment, since the stored image quality is controlled according to the work, the size of the stored work video data can be reduced, and the storage cost can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. A person skilled in the art can make various additions and changes within the scope of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the configuration is not limited to the configuration example shown in the accompanying drawings. The configuration and processing method of the embodiment can be appropriately changed within the range of achieving the object of the present invention.

In addition, each component of the present invention can be arbitrarily selected, and an invention having the selected configuration is also included in the present invention. Further, the configurations described in the claims can be combined in addition to the combinations specified in the claims.

1: Work improvement support system, 2: Work site, 11: Work status monitoring department, 12: Production performance management department, 13: Production planning management department, 14: Worker management department, 15: Work video management department, 16: Work Analysis unit, 17: Screen display unit, 18: Actual work time detection unit, 19: Worker terminal management unit, 21: Cell, 22: RFID reader, 23: Work instruction terminal, 24: Camera, 25: Product

Claims (1)

It is a work improvement support system that supports the improvement of work processes.
A performance management department that manages performance data related to each work included in the work process,
The plan management department that manages the plan data for each work,
A work video management unit that manages work video data that captures the situation of the work site where each work is performed by the worker,
Based on the actual data and the planned data related to the work, it is determined whether the work corresponds to a predetermined work to be improved, and if it is determined that the work corresponds to the predetermined work, the work video data Among them, a work analysis unit that extracts predetermined work video data related to the work determined to correspond to the predetermined work, and
A display unit that displays the predetermined work video data to a user who is different from the worker and is in charge of improving the work process.
With
The association between each work and the work video data is based on the operation from the worker on the work instruction terminal provided to the worker in response to each work.
The actual data is the work time required for the work.
The plan data is the target work time of the work, and is
The predetermined work is a bottleneck work in which the work time is longer than the target work time by a predetermined value or more.
The actual work time detection unit that detects the actual work time in which the worker was able to actually perform the work by subtracting the incapacitated time in which the work could not be performed from the apparent work time in the work time. With more
The work video management unit manages work video data taken by a plurality of cameras arranged at the work site, and determines the storage image quality of the work video data taken during the actual work time as the actual work time. Make it higher than the saved image quality of work video data taken at times other than
Work improvement support system.

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