JPH03256744A - Integrated printing production control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform process control from receiving order to shipment integrally by a method wherein respective department computers are connected to one another by a local area network centering a process control part, and respective computers share a data in a common use memory in the process control part. CONSTITUTION:Since a host computer 10 is installed at a head office and a subhost computer 20 is installed at a printing works, both are connected by a communication circuit. Besides, computers installed at a production control department 21, a production planning department 22, a material supply department 23, an outside order department 24, a physical distribution department 25, a production department 26, and a analytical department 27 are connected to the subhost computer 20. Furthermore, those respective departments 21-27 are so connected as to construct a local net work so that a memory in the subhost computer 20 can be commonly used. The data in the common use memory can be utilized by accessing from any computer among the departments 21-27, and can be accessed also by the host computer 10.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is an integrated printing production management system, and in particular, a printing integrated production management system that integrates everything from order receipt to shipping by connecting computers located in various departments using a local area network. This invention relates to a printing integrated production management system that can be managed.

[Conventional technology]

In general, corporate entities engaged in printing consist of multiple departments, such as a sales department, production planning department, material procurement department, logistics department, and production department, and carry out printing operations using an efficient business structure. . In reality, information is communicated between these departments by handing over invoices or making telephone inquiries.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, there is a problem in that information transmission between departments using slips and telephones is extremely inefficient. especially,
As printed matter becomes more diverse and produced in smaller lots, communicating information using slips and telephone calls becomes extremely complicated. Furthermore, information transmission between the financial management department, which is equipped with a host computer that performs cost calculations and accounting processing, and the department that performs process control for actual production also relies on slips, which requires a large amount of manpower to complete tabulation work. There is a problem with wasting time.

Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to manage the entire process flow from order receipt to shipment using slips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an integrated printing production management system that facilitates information transmission between departments and can integrate process management from order receipt to shipping.

[Means to solve the problem]

(1) The first invention of the present application is a printing integrated production management system that includes a production management department that creates specifications regarding printed matter ordered, and a production management department that creates a production plan based on the specifications and plans based on reported production results. A production planning department that corrects production plans, a material procurement department that procures necessary materials based on the production plan, an outsourcing department that performs outsourcing processing based on the production plan, and a material procurement department that manages the receipt of materials procured by the material procurement department. A logistics department that manages the logistics department, a production department that carries out production based on production plans using materials received under the management of the logistics department and reports production results, and a production department that reports the operating status of the machines in the production department based on the production results. to the analysis department that analyzes and reports the results of this analysis, and to each department.
Each department has a computer for handling information to be transmitted to other departments, a process control department with a shared memory that can be commonly accessed from each of these computers is used, and these computers are interconnected by a local area network. This is how it was done.

(2) The second invention of the present application provides, in the printing integrated production management system according to the first invention of the present application, a terminal for the sales department that is provided in a sales department that receives orders for printed matter and inputs information regarding the orders; A host computer is also provided, which has the function of inputting information regarding orders given from this sales department terminal and performing financial management, materials management, and product management regarding these orders, and the host computer is connected to the process control department. , this process control section is operated under the control of a host computer.

[For production]

According to the printing integrated production management system of the first invention of the present application,
Computers in each department are interconnected by a local area network centered around the process control department, and each computer can share data in a shared memory within the process control department. Therefore, there is no need to communicate information between departments using slips or telephone calls as in the past, and integrated management from order receipt to shipment becomes possible. In addition, in the second invention of the present application, since the host computer and the process control department are connected, information related to production control and information related to financial management can be passed between computers, which was not done previously. This can save you the trouble of tabulating data.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an integrated printing production management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The central parts of this system are a host computer 10 and a sub-host computer 20 connected thereto. In this embodiment, the host computer 10 is installed at the head office, and the sub-host computer 20 is installed at the printing factory, so that the two are connected by a communication line. A terminal of a sales department 11 is also connected to the host computer 10 . If the sales department is located outside the headquarters, this connection is also made via communication lines.

On the other hand, the sub-host computer 20 is connected to computers installed in each department: a production management department 21, a production planning department 22, a material procurement department 23, an outsourcing department 24, a logistics department 25, a production department 26, and an analysis department 27. ing. Furthermore, each of these departments 21 to 27 is connected to form a local area network so that the memory within the sub-host computer 20 can be shared.

The data in the shared memory can be accessed and used by any computer in the departments 21-27, and can also be accessed by the host computer 10. The sub-host computer 20 will function as a process management unit that integrally manages processes performed in each department.

For example, certain data in shared memory can be controlled to only be readable by a specific department, or to be rewritten only by a specific department. This is performed by the sub-host computer 20.

Here, I will briefly explain the work content of each department. The sales department 11 receives an order for printed matter from a customer, reports this order to the host computer 10, and submits the ordered manuscript to the production control department 21. Production control department 21
creates specifications for printing work based on this manuscript. The production planning department 22 formulates a production plan based on this specification.

The material procurement department 23 orders and procures necessary materials based on the production plan. The outsourcing department 24 performs outsourcing processing based on the production plan. The logistics department 25 manages the warehousing of materials. The production department 26 performs actual production based on the production plan. The analysis department 27 analyzes the operating status of the machines in the production department 26. Further, the host computer 10 performs financial management such as cost calculation and accounting processing, material management, and product management.

Next, based on the flowchart of the work process shown in FIG. 2, the process for one item from receiving an order to shipping will be explained. First, an order is accepted in step S1. That is, the sales department 11 receives a request for printed matter from a customer. The sales department 11 inputs the details of the received order into a terminal. The terminal of the sales department 11 is the host computer 10
Since the sales department 11 is connected to the host computer 10, order information is transferred from the sales department 11 to the host computer 10, and is further stored in a shared memory within the sub-host computer 20. on the other hand,
The sales department 11 submits the manuscript received from the customer to the production management department 21. In general, this manuscript is not limited to only text manuscripts, but also includes photographic manuscripts and graphic manuscripts. Therefore, in this embodiment, the manuscript is submitted to the production control department 21 by mail or hand delivery. Note that if the sales department 11 is equipped with a scanner device or the like that captures manuscripts as digital data, it is also possible to submit manuscripts in the form of digital data via a communication line.

Next, in step S2, specifications are created. That is, the production control department 21 creates detailed specifications for the item to be printed, such as plate size, number of colors, number of sheets to be printed, and delivery date, based on the received manuscript. This specification is written to shared memory.

Subsequently, in step S3, a production plan is drawn up. This is planned in the production planning department 22 based on the specifications in the shared memory.

This production plan includes schedules between processes and schedules for production machines used within one process. Additionally, if it is determined that the process cannot be handled by the company alone, outsourcing is planned. The production plan created in this way is also written into the shared memory.

Next, in step S4, materials are procured. That is, the material procurement department 23 recognizes the materials (for example, paper and ink) necessary for printing this item based on the production plan and material data in the shared memory, and provides information regarding the necessary materials as procurement instructions. Take in. Then, the necessary materials are ordered from outside. Through this ordering process, if material information such as which materials will arrive when and what their prices are can be obtained, this material information is stored in the shared memory.

In step S5, outsourcing processing is performed. That is, the outsourcing department takes in the work content that is included as an outsourcing schedule in the production plan in the shared memory as an outsourcing instruction.

Then, based on this outsourcing instruction, outsourcing is requested to another company. Furthermore, when there is a delivery from a subcontractor, this is reported to the sub-host computer 20 as an outsourcing record. This outsourcing performance is also stored in the shared memory.

Subsequently, production in step S6 is performed.

That is, actual production work begins in the production department 26. However, if the materials necessary for production work, such as paper and ink, are not in stock, work cannot be started, so check the material data in the shared memory and check whether or not work can be started. to decide. The logistics department 25 receives an inquiry from the sub-host computer 20 and reports the fact that materials have been brought into and taken out of the warehouse. This updates the material data in the shared memory. Note that this material data is also accessed from the host computer 10 to perform material management. After confirming that the necessary materials have been received, the production department 26 starts production work. Specifically, processes such as plate making, printing plates, printing, processing, and inspection are performed by operating each device based on the production plan. In this way, the production results (for example, the number of printed sheets) obtained through the operation of the apparatus are sequentially given to the sub-host computer 20 and stored in the shared memory. Note that if each production machine (for example, a printing press) is provided with a detection device for detecting production results, the production results can be automatically reported to the sub-host computer 20. If such a detection device is not used, an on-site operator may sequentially input production results into a computer provided in the production department 26.

Further, this production result is fed back to the production planning department 22. The production planning department 22 checks whether there will be a delay in delivery based on the fed back production results, creates a new production plan as necessary, and provides it to the sub-host computer 20.

In this case, the production department 26 will perform production work based on the new production plan. On the other hand, the host computer 10 inputs the production results given to the sub-host computer 20 as progress information, and notifies the sales department 11 of this. The sales department 11 can report this progress information to customers as necessary. In addition, production department 2
The production results reported from 6 can include information regarding product defects. For example, if information such as that there is a defective part at a predetermined position on the take-up roll of a certain printed matter is reported by identifying the position of the defective part, the sub-host computer 20 or host computer 10 can report information about each product. quality information, which can be useful for product management.

In this way, when the production work in the production department 26 is completed, the product is completed. Therefore, step S7
Product management is carried out at That is, information regarding the product is provided from the sub-host computer 20 to the host computer 10. In the case of semi-finished products, information regarding the work in progress is given instead. The host computer 10 can calculate the cost of this product using data regarding materials and data regarding outsourcing. In addition, this product can be shipped and sold, and accounting processing can be performed.

Further, in step S8, analysis in the analysis department 27 is performed. This is a task of analyzing the operating status of the machines in the production department 26 based on the production results given from the production department 26. For example, it may be possible to obtain analytical data such as how much preparation time is required on average for a certain machine, or if a certain machine has been in continuous operation for more than a predetermined period of time, it may require maintenance such as refueling. It would also be possible to obtain analytical data such as the need to stop the system for a predetermined period of time. In short, here,
Any kind of analysis may be performed as long as the operating status of the machine can be analyzed based on the machine's production results.

Such analysis results are reported to the sub-host computer 20 and stored in the shared memory. Therefore, the production planning department 22 can reflect such analysis results in the formulation of a production plan.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the system of this embodiment, and can be implemented in various ways. For example, the configuration may be such that the production management department 21 is connected to the post computer 10.

Alternatively, the host computer 10 may be arranged in a local area network, or the host computer 10 and the sub-host computer 2o may not be separated, but only one host computer can perform both functions. It doesn't matter. Further, the process flowchart shown in FIG. 2 shows an example of the work performed by the system shown in FIG. 1, and the work does not necessarily have to be performed in this order.

In short, the system of the present invention is characterized in that computers in a plurality of departments can commonly access the shared memory within the process control department.

This makes it possible to easily obtain information regarding other departments. For example, in a production department, if real-time information such as which printing presses, binding machines, or collating machines are currently in operation is stored in the shared memory as production results, it is possible for other departments to This information can also be accessed from a computer at any time. It is also possible to give work instructions to operators in each department based on the data in the shared memory.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the printing integrated production management system of the present invention, computers in each department are interconnected by a local area network centered on the process control department, and data in the shared memory within the process control department can be shared. This enables integrated management from order receipt to shipment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. m1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an integrated printing production V management system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the work process performed by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-256744 (6)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A production control department that creates specifications regarding the ordered printed matter; a production planning department that creates a production plan based on the specifications and corrects this production plan based on reported production results; a material procurement department that procures necessary materials based on the production plan; an outsourcing department that performs outsourcing processing based on the production plan; a logistics department that manages the receipt of materials procured by the material procurement department; and a management of the logistics department. A production department that carries out production based on the above-mentioned production plan using the materials received under the above mentioned production plan and reports the production results, and a production department that analyzes the operating status of the machines in the production department based on the above-mentioned production results and reports the results of this analysis. The reporting analysis department and each department are equipped with computers to handle information to be transmitted to other departments, and a process control department with shared memory that can be commonly accessed from these computers is used to An integrated printing production management system characterized by interconnecting each computer by a local area network. (2) The printing integrated production management system according to claim 1, further comprising: a sales department terminal provided in a sales department that receives orders for printed matter and for inputting information regarding the orders; and a sales department terminal for inputting information regarding the orders received from the sales department terminal. A host computer with functions for inputting information and performing financial management, materials management, and product management regarding this order is further provided, and the host computer is connected to a process control department, and the process control department is connected to the host computer. An integrated printing production management system characterized by operating under the control of