JP7240094B2 - Color management method and color management system for co-colored parts - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for managing the color of a plurality of types of parts painted in the same color (hereinafter also referred to as "co-color parts").

For example, the body of an automobile is often composed of a plurality of types of parts painted in the same color. Such parts of the same color are usually painted collectively at the same factory, but may be painted at different factories due to the materials of the parts and the facilities. In this case, in each painting factory, the color difference (difference from the standard value) of the manufactured parts is measured, and a color inspection is performed to determine whether the color difference of each part is within a predetermined range. Then, the parts that have passed the color inspection are shipped to the assembly plant, and after the vehicle body is assembled by combining a plurality of types of parts in the assembly plant, the color inspection of the entire vehicle body is performed. This color inspection of the entire vehicle body is usually carried out visually by an operator.

As described above, even when a vehicle body is assembled using parts that have passed the color inspection at each painting factory, the color inspection of the entire vehicle body at the assembly factory may result in a defective product. For example, if the color difference of the front door panel is near the upper limit of the allowable range, and the color difference of the adjacent fender is near the lower limit of the allowable range, even if the color difference of each individual part is within the allowable range, these When the two parts are combined, it may seem that the colors of both parts are different. In particular, when the materials of each part are different, for example, when the fender is made of resin and the front door panel is made of metal (steel plate), it is not easy to make the colors of these parts the same. are likely to look different.

For example, Patent Literature 1 below discloses a coloring evaluation method for a plurality of types of parts manufactured in different factories. Specifically, an IC tag that stores unique information (part number, factory name, date of manufacture, etc.) was attached to each part manufactured at each factory, and the color information of each part was measured. After that, the color information of the component is stored in association with the IC tag. Then, a computer matches the serial numbers and color information data of all parts to create a table of suitable parts combinations (combinations with similar colors and textures). Assemble the In this way, by composing the vehicle body by combining parts with similar colors and textures, it is possible to reduce the number of occurrences of poor color matching after assembly.

JP 2016-161297 A

However, if an IC tag is attached to each part to manage the color information as described above, the cost of the IC tag and the reading device for reading the IC tag is high. Since it is necessary to read the data and confirm that it matches the combination in the matching table, the productivity is lowered and the manufacturing cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to improve the quality of color matching when co-colored parts are combined by a low-cost technique.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for managing the color of a plurality of types of parts painted in the same color, comprising the steps of measuring color information of individual products of each part; A process of calculating the color tendency of each part from the obtained color information of each part, and a process of comparing the color tendency of each part and adjusting the coating conditions of each part based on the comparison result. To provide a tint management method for co-color parts.

Thus, in the color management method for co-colored parts of the present invention, instead of managing the color information of individual products of each part, the color tendency (color information distribution) is obtained from the color information of each part. ) is calculated, and the color tendencies of multiple types of parts are compared. In this case, since there is no need to provide an IC tag or the like to each individual product of each component for management, cost reduction can be achieved. In addition, by comparing the color trends of each part, it is possible to grasp in advance whether color matching failures are likely to occur later. can improve the color matching level of the part.

The above-mentioned color management method is a system for managing the color of multiple types of parts that have been painted in the same color at different painting factories. A computer for storing information and a color management computer connected to the computer of each painting factory, wherein the color management computer collects the color information of each part stored in the computer of each painting factory. a storage unit for storing, a calculation unit for calculating the color tendency of each component from the color information of each component stored in the storage unit, and a display for displaying the color tendency of each component calculated by the calculation unit It can be realized by a color management system for common-color parts having a part.

In this color management system, first, in each painting factory, the color information of each product of each part is measured and stored in a computer. Then, the color information of each part stored in the computer of each painting factory is sent to the color management computer and stored in the storage section of the color management computer. Based on the tint information of each part stored in the storage part, the calculation part calculates the tint tendency of each part, and the tint tendency is displayed on the display part. In this case, the operator can review the coating conditions of each part as necessary by comparing the color tendencies of each part displayed on the display unit of the color management computer. can.

In addition to the display unit of the color management computer, each component calculated by the calculation unit is displayed on the display unit of another computer connected to it (for example, a computer installed in each painting factory or office). It may be possible to display the color tendency of . In this case, not only the operator who operates the color management computer but also the operator who operates other computers can compare the color tendencies of each part and review the coating conditions of each part.

As described above, by comparing the color tendencies of the co-colored parts and adjusting the coating conditions for each part based on the comparison results, the color matching quality of the co-colored parts can be improved without increasing the cost. can be done.

1 is a diagram conceptually showing a color management system for co-colored parts according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a display screen of the display unit of the color management computer, and the color tendency of each part is displayed. It is a display screen of a display unit of a color management computer according to another embodiment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the automobile manufacturing system shown in FIG. 1, a car body is assembled by combining a plurality of types of parts painted in the same color in separate painting factories. Specifically, this manufacturing system comprises a first painting factory 10 that paints the front bumper W1, a second painting factory 20 that paints the fender W2, a third painting factory 30 that paints the body body W3, and the body body W3. An assembly plant 40 is provided for assembling a vehicle body W by assembling a front bumper W1 and a fender W2. The front bumper W1, the fender W2, and the main body W3 are painted in the same color at the painting factories 10, 20, and 30, respectively. In this embodiment, the front bumper W1 and the fender W2 are made of resin, and the main body W3 is made of steel.

The first painting factory 10 has a painting process of painting the front bumper W1 injection-molded with resin and an inspection process of measuring the color information of the painted front bumper W1. The inspection process is provided with a colorimeter 11 for measuring the color information of the front bumper W1. As the colorimeter 11, for example, a color difference meter that measures the color difference with respect to standard values is used. In this embodiment, the colorimeter 11 measures the color difference with respect to the standard values of the Lab color system (JIS Z8781-4:2013). The color information (color difference) measured by the colorimeter 11 is stored in the computer 12 .

The second painting factory 20 has a painting process of painting the fender W2 injection-molded with resin and an inspection process of measuring the color information of the painted fender W2. In the inspection process, a colorimeter 21 for measuring color information of the fender W2 is provided, and the color information (color difference) measured by the colorimeter 21 is stored in the computer 22 . Since the details of the colorimeter 21 are the same as those of the colorimeter 11 of the first painting factory 10, the description thereof is omitted.

The third painting factory 30 has a painting process for painting the body W3 made of steel and an inspection process for measuring the color information of the painted body W3. The main body W3 has a main body frame, side panels, roof panel, front door, rear door, back door, etc., and is manufactured through a press molding process and a welding process, and then brought into a painting process. In the inspection process, a colorimeter 31 is provided to measure the color information of the main body W3, and the color information (color difference) measured by the colorimeter 31 is stored in the computer 32. FIG. Since the details of the colorimeter 31 are the same as those of the colorimeter 11 of the first painting factory 10, description thereof will be omitted.

The assembly plant 40 performs an assembly process of assembling the vehicle body W by assembling the front bumper W1 and the fender W2 transported from the first and second paint plants 10 and 20 to the main body W3 transported from the third paint plant 30; and an inspection step of inspecting the color of the vehicle body W obtained.

In the inspection process of the assembly plant 40, the presence or absence of color defects in the vehicle body W is visually inspected by an operator. This inspection process includes a reader 41 that reads the tag T attached to the vehicle body W, a color defect switch 42 that the operator presses when the color defect is determined, the reader 41 and the color defect switch 42. A color management computer 44 connected via a control panel 43 is provided.

The color management computer 44 is connected to the computers 12, 22, 32 of the paint factories 10, 20, 30, and these computers 12, 22, 32, 44 operate the color management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. is constructed. The color management computer 44 has a storage unit 44a that collects and stores color information (color difference) of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 stored in the computers 12, 22, and 32 of the painting factories 10, 20, and 30. , a calculation unit 44b for calculating the color tendencies of the components W1, W2, and W3 from the color differences of the components W1, W2, and W3 stored in the storage unit 44a; and a display section 44c for displaying the color tendency of the color.

The procedure of the color management method using the above color management system will be described below.

In the first painting factory 10, the color difference is measured by the colorimeter 11 for all the painted front bumpers W1, and the color difference data is stored in the computer 12. Similarly, in the second painting factory 20, the color difference is measured by the colorimeter 21 for all the painted fenders W2, and the data of this color difference is stored in the computer 22. Similarly, in the third painting factory 30, the color difference is measured by the colorimeter 31 for all the painted body bodies W3, and the color difference data is stored in the computer 32. In the inspection process of each painting factory 10, 20, 30, it is determined whether or not the color difference of the manufactured parts W1, W2, W3 is within a predetermined range. It is transported to the assembly plant 40 . The parts W1, W2, and W3, which are determined to be defective in color difference by the inspection, are repainted in the coating process or discarded as defective products.

In the assembly plant 40, the vehicle body W is assembled by assembling the front bumper W1 and the fender W2 to the main body W3. The assembled vehicle body W is carried into an inspection process. In the inspection process, the reader 41 reads the information (vehicle number, paint color, etc.) of the tag T attached to the vehicle body W, and the read information is transmitted to the color management computer 44 via the control panel 43 . Then, an operator in the inspection process visually inspects the color of the vehicle body W, and presses the color defect switch 42 if the color is defective. The signal of the color defect switch 42 is transmitted to the color management computer 44 via the control panel 43, and the fact that the vehicle body W has a color defect is stored together with the information read from the tag T.

Further, the color management computer 44 collects the color difference data of the individual parts W1, W2, W3 stored in the computers 12, 22, 32 of the painting factories 10, 20, 30, and uses the color difference data as The storage unit 44a stores. Based on the color difference data of the components W1, W2, and W3 stored in the storage unit 44a, the calculation unit 44b of the color management computer 44 calculates the values of the components W1, W2, and W3 manufactured within a predetermined period. Calculate the color tendency. In this embodiment, the calculator 44b calculates the distribution (histogram) of the L value, a value, and b value of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 manufactured within a predetermined period.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 44c of the color management computer 44 displays the color tendency (graph showing the color difference distribution) calculated by the calculation unit 44b. The vertical axis of each graph indicates the color difference value (L value, a value, b value), and the horizontal axis indicates the number of parts. Each graph shows the reference values L _s , a _s , b _s of the color difference, and the upper limit values L _max , a _max , b _max and the lower limit values L _min , a _min , b _min of the control range of the color difference. (see dotted line). Each graph shows median values L1 to L3, a1 to a3, b1 to b3 are shown (see dashed line). The above-described predetermined period, that is, the range of the component population for which the color tendency is calculated can be freely set by the operator who operates the color management computer 44 for each of the components W1, W2, and W3. In addition, the standard values L _S , a _S , b _S of each part W1, W2, W3, the upper limit L _max , a max _, b _max and the lower limit L _min , a _min , b _min of the control width are the paint color are the same, they may differ slightly depending on the material of the parts.

By thus displaying the color tendencies of the components W1, W2, and W3 on the display unit 44c of the color management computer 44, it is possible to compare these color tendencies. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the distributions of the L value and b value of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 are substantially the same. On the other hand, regarding the a values, the distribution of the a values of the front bumper W1 and the main body W3 is separated from the distribution of the a values of the fender W2. For example, a warning may be displayed on the screen of the display unit 44c when the difference between the median values of the distribution of values is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

As described above, the color matching tendency of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 can be grasped from the result of the visual inspection by the operator and the result of comparing the color tendency of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3. For example, from the result of comparing the color tendencies of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 shown in FIG. 2, it is easy to cause color matching defects between the front bumper W1 and the fender W2, and between the fender W2 and the main body W3. It is expected that. In this case, for example, by adjusting the painting conditions (paint, painting method, etc.) so as to increase the a value of the fender W2 and bringing the a values of the other parts W1 and W3 adjacent thereto closer to each other, color matching failure occurs. can be prevented in advance. If it is difficult to raise the a value of the fender W2 due to the influence of the material, painting process, etc., the painting conditions may be adjusted so as to lower the a values of the front bumper W1 and the main body W3. Alternatively, by adjusting the painting conditions so as to raise the a value of the fender W2 and lowering the a values of the front bumper W1 and the main body W3, the a values of the parts W1, W2, and W3 are reduced. You can bring it closer.

As described above, by comparing the color tendencies of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 manufactured within a predetermined period, the color information of each individual product of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 is converted into the unique information of each product. (manufacturing number, etc.). Therefore, since there is no need to attach an IC tag or the like to each product of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3, the cost is reduced, and since the operation of reading the IC tag or the like is unnecessary, the workability of the inspection process is enhanced. increase productivity.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Other embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but descriptions of the same points as those of the above-described embodiments will be omitted.

For example, the display unit 44c of the color management computer 44 may display the color tendency of each component for a plurality of periods. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the graph showing the distribution of the a values of the fender W2 and the main body W3 shows the parts W2, Not only the distribution of the a value of W3, but also the median values a2′ and a3′ ( The median values a2″ and a3″ of the a-value distribution of each part W2 and W3 manufactured in the period before the previous period (for example, 10 days before the previous period) (see the two-dot chain line) (see the three-dot chain line) it's shown.

As described above, by displaying the color tendencies of each of the parts W2 and W3 in a plurality of periods, it is possible to review the coating conditions while considering changes in the color tendencies of the parts W2 and W3 up to that point. be able to. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the a-value distributions of the fender W2 and the main body W3 manufactured during the above-mentioned predetermined period are generally the same. be done. However, in the fender W2, the a value is stable during the predetermined period (median value a2), the previous period (median value a2′), and the period before the previous period (median value a2″), whereas the body body W3 , the a value decreases as it goes back to the predetermined period (median a3), the previous period (median a3'), and the period before last (median a3''). Therefore, if the manufacturing is continued as it is, the a value of the main body W3 will become larger than the a value of the fender W2, and there is a possibility that the color matching of both parts will be poor. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent poor color matching by investigating the cause of the instability of the a value of the main body W3 and revising the coating conditions as necessary.

Although the color management computer 44 is provided in the inspection process of the assembly plant 40 in the above embodiment, the color management computer 44 may be provided in another location. For example, the color management computer may be installed in another factory (for example, a painting factory for each part) or in an office inside or outside the factory.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the color tendency of each component is displayed on the display unit 44c of the color management computer 44 is shown. The color tendencies of the parts W1, W2, and W3 may be displayed on the computers 12, 22, and 32 in the paint factory, and the display units of the computers installed in the factory or in the office outside the factory. As a result, even at a place other than the color management computer 44, it is possible to review the coating conditions while observing the color tendency of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3. For example, a color manager who manages the color of each of the parts W1, W2, and W3 in each of the painting factories 10, 20, and 30 can not only color the parts W1, W2, and W3 alone, but also color-match with other parts. Since the painting conditions can be examined in consideration of the situation, each painting factory 10, 20, 30 can take comprehensive measures in advance in order to improve the quality of color matching.

In addition, the parts that manage the color are not limited to the above. The present invention can be applied to management of color matching.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case of managing the color of the same-colored components (resin component and metal component) made of different materials has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention may be applied when managing the color of common-color parts made of the same material manufactured in another factory.

10, 20, 30 Painting factory 11, 21, 31 Colorimeter 12, 22, 32 Computer 40 Assembly factory 41 Reader 42 Color defect switch 43 Control panel 44 Color management computer 44a Storage unit 44b Calculation unit 44c Display unit T Tag W Body W1 Front bumper W2 Fender W3 Body body

Claims (5)

A method for managing the color of a plurality of types of parts that are painted in the same color in separate painting factories and that constitute a vehicle body ,
a step of measuring the color information of each individual product of each part in each painting factory ; a step of storing the measured color information of each part without associating it with the unique information of each individual product of each part; A process of calculating the distribution of the color information of each part from the color information of the parts, and a process of comparing the distribution of the color information of each part and adjusting the coating conditions of each part based on the comparison result. A color management method for co-color parts comprising: The distribution of the color information for each period of each part manufactured within a plurality of periods is calculated, and the distribution of the color information for each period of each part is compared. color management method. A system that manages the color of multiple types of parts that make up a vehicle body that are painted in the same color at separate painting factories,
Equipped with a computer provided in each painting factory and storing color information of each individual product of each part, and a color management computer connected to the computer of each painting factory,
The color management computer
a storage unit that collects the color information of each part stored in the computer of each painting factory and stores it without associating it with the unique information of each individual product of each part;
a calculation unit that calculates the distribution of color information of each component from the color information of each component stored in the storage unit;
and a display unit for displaying the distribution of the color information of each component calculated by the calculation unit. 4. The color of the co-colored component according to claim 3, wherein the distribution of the color information of each component calculated by the calculator can be displayed on a display unit of another computer connected to the color management computer. management system. The calculation unit calculates the distribution of the color information for each period of each part manufactured within a plurality of periods,
5. The color management system for co-colored parts according to claim 4, wherein the display unit displays the distribution of the color information for each period of each of the parts.

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