JPH05318247A - Assembling operation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an assembling work system which can omit the parts supplying operation till the site of assembling work and can maintain a high service rate of assembling work when the parts picking and assembling are performed continuously. CONSTITUTION:In conformity to the command from a controller, a self-mobile transport vehicle 1 moves bit by bit to an automated warehouse 7 in which parts necessary for the assembling work are accommodated, and continuous operations of picking and assembling the parts are performed on the vehicle 1 in conformity to the command given by an operation instructing device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assembling work system for sequentially assembling parts, and more particularly to an assembling work system capable of eliminating the parts supply work to an assembling work place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an assembly work system, assembly work places are sequentially arranged in accordance with a work procedure, and assembly parts at each work place are supplied from a warehouse to the assembly work place. Then, the product which has completed the assembling work is conveyed to the next assembling work place by a belt conveyor or the like.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional assembling work system, the assembling work place is fixed, and the parts must be supplied to each assembling work place. Therefore, it is necessary to place a dedicated warehouse worker to supply the necessary parts from the warehouse, or to introduce an unmanned supply system with great investment and technical difficulty in order to automate the parts supply.

Further, when the picking work and the assembling work of the parts are continuously performed, if the picking operation route of the automatic guided vehicle is determined only by considering the efficiency of the picking work, the assembling work becomes unusable. There is a problem in that the operating rate of is reduced. Here, the operating rate of the assembly work is a ratio of the net assembly work time to the total time of the assembly work, and is defined by the following formula. Operation rate = (Net assembly work time / Total assembly work time) x
100 (%)

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and eliminates the work of supplying parts to the assembly work place, and also improves the operation rate of the assembly work when the picking work and the assembly work of the parts are performed continuously. It is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly work system that can be kept high.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in an assembly work system of the present invention according to claim 1, a host computer, a work instruction device, and an automatic guided vehicle equipped with the work instruction device, In an assembly work system consisting of a warehouse in which parts are stored and a controller that controls the travel route of an automated guided vehicle, the automated guided vehicle sequentially follows the warehouse in which the parts required for assembly work are stored in accordance with the instructions of the controller. It is characterized in that it is moved and the picking work and the assembling work of the parts are continuously performed on the automatic carrier according to the instruction of the work instruction device.

Further, in the assembly work system of the present invention according to claim 2, the host computer continuously performs the parts picking work and the assembling work based on the production plan and the location data indicating the parts storage position. Assembly work procedure data and picking operation route data of the automated guided vehicle, which are optimized to maximize the operation rate of the assembly work at the time of performing the work, are transferred to the work instruction device and the controller.

[0008]

According to the assembling work system of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, according to the first aspect of the invention, the automatic guided vehicle follows the instruction of the controller and is located at a specific location of a warehouse in which parts necessary for the assembling work are stored. To automatically move to. When stopped at that location, the work instruction device on the automated guided vehicle displays the name and number of parts to be picked and the assembly work method on the display, or outputs them as a control signal. Based on the instruction, the picking work and the assembling work of the parts are immediately performed continuously on the automatic guided vehicle.
During the assembly work, the automatic guided vehicle automatically moves to the next location according to the instruction of the controller. As described above, the assembling work sequentially proceeds on the automatic guided vehicle.

Further, among the assembling work system of the present invention,
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the host computer optimizes the picking efficiency of the parts and the operating rate of the assembling work based on the production plan, the location data indicating the parts position, the assembling work procedure precedence order data, and the like. The assembly work procedure data and the picking operation route data of the automated guided vehicle are transferred to the work instruction device and the controller.

Several embodiments of an assembly work system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition,
In the description of the drawings, the same elements will be denoted by the same reference symbols, without redundant description.

[0011]

First Embodiment First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, parts are loaded and unloaded in an automatic warehouse, and an operator on an automated guided vehicle receives and assembles the parts.
2 is a diagram showing the structure of an automatic guided vehicle, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a layout of a warehouse and a work area. As shown in the figure, the automatic guided vehicle 1 is equipped with a work instruction device 2 for instructing a work procedure and a controller 3 for controlling an operation route of the automatic guided vehicle 1, and an operator 4 gets on the vehicle and performs an assembly work. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, a loading station 6 for loading the delivered parts equipped with a reader 5 for reading a part code attached to each part, an automatic warehouse 7 for housing the parts, and an assembly line based on the production plan. A host computer 8 for issuing an instruction, an instruction station 9 for giving an operation instruction to the automated guided vehicle 1, a delivery station 10 for delivering the assembled product, and a unloading station 11 for delivering parts according to the instruction of the host computer 8 are arranged. There is. These devices are connected to the host computer 8 as shown in FIG.

Next, the assembling operation by the assembling work system of the first embodiment will be described. A work space necessary for the assembly work is secured in the automatic carrier 1, and the worker 4 gets on the board to perform the assembly work. On the other hand, the receiving worker 15 is the automatic warehouse 7
The part code of the part to be stored in is input by the reader 5 and registered in the host computer 8 for storage. Then, the host computer 8 instructs the automatic warehouse 7 to store the position information for storing the parts, that is, the location data so that the parts are stored in a predetermined place.

The host computer 8 also performs the operation shown in FIG. That is, the host computer 8 receives the production plan, decides the product to be produced on a daily basis or immediately thereafter,
From the location data indicating the required parts and the position of the unloading station 11 to be picked and the data indicating the precedence priority of the assembly work procedure, the picking operation route and the assembly of the automatic guided vehicle are optimized so that the operation rate of the assembly work is optimized. Create an operation file that combines work procedures. Then, the instruction is transferred from the instruction station 9 to the controller 3 of the automated guided vehicle 1, and at the same time, an issue instruction is issued to the automated warehouse 7.

Next, the operation of the automated guided vehicle 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. The automated guided vehicle 1 circulates through each of the unloading stations 11 along the operation route indicated by the operation file until the worker 4 receives the parts. Stop at the unloading station 11. The worker 4 takes necessary parts from the unloading station 11 according to the instruction of the work instruction device 2 and assembles them on the automatic guided vehicle 1. The automated guided vehicle 1 that has left the final unloading station 11 moves down to the instruction station 9 to receive an instruction for the next work after unloading the assembled product at the delivery station 10, and completes a series of work. ..

In this embodiment, since the worker 4 picks and assembles the parts at the same time, the conventional work of picking the parts and supplying them to the assembly line becomes unnecessary. Further, depending on the standard assembly sequence, the worker 4 may have a free space due to the relationship between the movement time for picking and the assembly man-hour, but the picking of the automated guided vehicle 1 should be performed so that this free space is minimized. Since the operation route and the work procedure are combined, the operation rate of the assembly work can be maintained high. Further, since the automatic warehouse 7 distributes the parts to fixed positions when the parts are loaded, the time and effort for loading the parts are reduced, and the parts are automatically sent to the unloading station 11 according to the unloading instruction. It is also easy to set the travel route.

Further, in this embodiment, the information is transmitted to the automated guided vehicle 1 from the instruction station 9, but instead of placing the instruction station 9, the instruction content of the operation file is recorded on a recording medium such as an IC card or a floppy disk. The controller 3 is provided with a card reader and a floppy disk drive for storing the information and reading this information.
May be instructed to.

[0017]

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, parts are manually stored in a general-purpose parts shelf, and a worker who gets on an automatic carrier performs picking and assembling of parts. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a layout of a warehouse and a work area. .. As shown, in the second embodiment, the automated warehouse 7 of the first embodiment
Instead of the above, a general-purpose parts shelf 13 having no delivery station was installed. Then, the automated guided vehicle 1 travels along the runway 14. The warehousing worker 15 inputs the part code of the part sent to the warehouse with the reader 5, registers it in the host computer 8 for warehousing, and stores it in a predetermined position on the parts shelf 13.
Similarly to the first embodiment, the host computer 8 creates an operation file according to the procedure of FIG. 4 and transfers it from the instruction station 9 to the controller 3 of the automated guided vehicle 1. As in the first embodiment, the automated guided vehicle 1 uses the work process shown in FIG.
And the worker 4 assembles on the automated guided vehicle 1.
The automatic carrier 1 lowers the completed product at the payout station 10 and then moves to the instruction station 9 to receive an instruction for the next operation, and completes a series of operations.

In this embodiment, since the worker 4 picks and assembles the parts at the same time, the conventional work of picking the parts and supplying them to the assembly line becomes unnecessary. Further, depending on the standard assembly sequence, the worker 4 may have a free space due to the relationship between the movement time for picking and the assembly man-hour, but the picking of the automated guided vehicle 1 should be performed so that this free space is minimized. Since the operation route and the work procedure are combined, the operation rate of the assembly work can be maintained high.

Further, in this embodiment, the information is transmitted to the automated guided vehicle 1 from the instruction station 9, but instead of placing the instruction station 9, the instruction content of the operation file is recorded on a recording medium such as an IC card or a floppy disk. The controller 3 is provided with a card reader and a floppy disk drive for storing the information and reading this information.
May be instructed to.

[0020]

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the third embodiment, an assembly robot is mounted on an automatic carrier to automatically perform the assembly work. FIG. 7 is a view showing the structure of the automatic guided vehicle. As shown in the figure, an assembly robot 16 and a temporary placing table 17 for parts are mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 1. The work procedure in the third embodiment is basically the same as that in the first and second embodiments, but the robot 16 performs picking of parts and assembly work. Further, the work instruction device 2 of the first embodiment only displays the work content, but in the third embodiment, it functions as a robot controller that directly gives the work content to the assembly robot 16. According to this instruction, the assembly robot 16 takes out the parts from the unloading station 11 or the parts shelf 13 and performs an assembly operation. Parts that are not assembled immediately are placed on the temporary stand 17. The automated guided vehicle 1 lowers the completed product at the payout station 10, and then moves to the instruction station 9 to receive an instruction for the next operation, thus completing a series of operations.

In this embodiment, since the assembling robot 16 performs all the assembling work, the assembling work can be labor-saving and unmanned. Since the assembling robot 16 picks and assembles the parts at the same time, the conventional work of picking the parts and supplying them to the assembly line becomes unnecessary. Also, depending on the standard assembly sequence, the assembly robot 16 may have a free space due to the relationship between the moving time for picking and the assembly man-hour, but the picking of the automated guided vehicle 1 should be performed so that this free space is minimized. Since the operation route and the work procedure are combined, the operation rate of the assembly work can be maintained high.

[0022]

As described above, according to the assembling work system of the present invention, it becomes possible to carry out the parts picking work and the assembling work continuously, and the work of supplying the parts to the assembling work place can be performed. Can be abolished. In addition, it is possible to minimize the free space that occurs in the assembling work when the component picking work and the assembling work are performed continuously, and to maintain a high operating rate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an automatic guided vehicle according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a layout of a warehouse and a work area according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between a host computer and another device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating an operation file.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the automatic guided vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a layout of a warehouse and a work area according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of an automatic guided vehicle according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic guided vehicle 2 Work instruction device 3 Controller 4 Worker 5 Reader 6 Storage station 7 Automatic warehouse 8 Host computer 9 Instruction station 10 Discharge station 11 Storage station 12, 14 Runway 13 Parts shelf 15 Storage operator 16 Assembly Robot 17 Temporary stand

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Masahisa Fukuda 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshinori Mimaki 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An assembly work system comprising a host computer, a work instruction device, an automated guided vehicle on which the work instruction device is mounted, a warehouse in which parts are stored, and a controller for controlling an operation route of the automated guided vehicle. In the above, the automated guided vehicle sequentially moves to the warehouse in which the parts necessary for the assembly work are stored according to the instruction of the controller, and the picking work and the assembly work of the parts on the automated guided vehicle are performed according to the instruction of the work instruction device. Assembly work system characterized by continuous operation. 2. The host computer, based on the production plan and the location data indicating the component storage position, should maximize the operation rate of the assembly work when the component picking work and the assembly work are continuously performed. The assembly work system according to claim 1, wherein the optimized assembly work procedure data and the picking operation route data of the automated guided vehicle are transferred to the work instruction device and the controller.