JPH07182423A - Production management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an error from occurring at a shipment deciding means, to improve the workability in the software alternation/disuse states, and to prevent the outflow of the test data in a test run mode of a process requiring the decision of shipment in a production management system. CONSTITUTION:This production management system includes a working result storing means F6 which stores the working results of plural production processes, plural deciding means MIT which output the working results of the means F6 and the identifiers of objects to be produced, and a managing means MTn which retrieves the working result out of the means F6 based on the output identifier and sends the retrieved result to a shipment deciding means HST. When a specific symbol is included in the identifier, the means MTn deletes the identifier at a certain point before it is sent to the means HST.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manufacturing control system used in a manufacturing line for vehicles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in manufacturing lines for vehicles and the like,
FA (Factory Automation) technology in which all work related to product manufacturing, such as vehicle transportation and assembly control, is performed under the control of a computer for the purpose of improving product quality, reducing manufacturing costs, and improving productivity. The production system which introduced is adopted. In such a production system, a vehicle is sequentially transported to various assembling machines under the control of a computer, and each assembling machine is provided with control data determined in accordance with product specifications and the like. In this way, the target product is automatically produced without any human labor.

For processes requiring strict control, for example, the results of work performed by the assembly machine, such as the tightening condition of bolts, are measured by sensors, and the measurement results are obtained for each product or each part. It is inspected whether or not it matches the common set value prepared in. Then, only the object to be assembled that has passed the inspection is flown to the next step. In this way, the work and the monitoring thereof are carried out as a unit, and a high quality product is stably produced.

In such a production system, there are provided a plurality of judgment steps for judging whether the measurement results or the like collected in each manufacturing step are acceptable or not. After various judgments are made in these judgment steps. Finally, the shipping decision is made by the host computer. In this case, in order to revise the software of the production system involving such shipment determination, the simulated measurement result (dummy data) is actually input to each determination process, and the same operation as the actual car body work is performed. Perform a test run to perform the work of. Therefore, in each determination step, the dummy data is treated in the same manner as the actual measurement result (actual vehicle data), and is transmitted to the host computer after the determination of the dummy data is performed.

[0005]

By the way, in order to distinguish the dummy data used for such a test run from the actual vehicle data, it is necessary to include a symbol having no relation to the identification of the vehicle as an identifier. Is done. On the other hand, since the host computer that makes the final shipping determination receives the data determined in each determination step via the communication line, it is necessary to identify the communication error at that time. That is, the host computer generally does not accept any data having a nonexistent identifier. Therefore, regardless of whether the data transmitted to the host computer is real vehicle data or dummy data, if an identifier that does not exist is included in the data, it is treated as if some error occurred. It will be. Then, when the data is dummy data, when the error occurs, the worker judges it and deletes it.

However, such dummy data is different from other communication errors and the like, and the occurrence of an error caused by it can be predicted. Therefore, it is inconvenient to be able to distinguish it from other errors. Is. Further, although a means for incorporating software for identifying dummy data into each determination step is also conceivable, software corresponding to the number of determination steps must be prepared, which may cause inconveniences in software management and installation work. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and prevents an error from occurring in a host computer in a test run of a process involving shipment determination,
The purpose is to improve workability when software is abolished and to prevent leakage of test data.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a work result storing means for storing work results in a plurality of manufacturing processes, and a pass / fail result of the work results stored in the work result storing means. A plurality of judging means for making a judgment and outputting the identifier of the product to be manufactured together with the judgment result, and a management for searching the work result in the work result storing means on the basis of the identifier outputted from the judging means and transmitting it to the shipping judging means It proposes a manufacturing management system which comprises a means and deletes the identifier when the identifier of the product to be manufactured includes a specific symbol that cannot be recognized by the shipping determination means.

[0009]

According to the manufacturing control system of the present invention, the work result collected in the manufacturing process is stored in the work result storing means, and the plurality of judging means judges whether the work result is acceptable or not. Then, when the pass / fail determination is made, the determination result and the identifier of the article to be manufactured are output by the determination means, and the management means retrieves the work result in the work result storage means based on the identifier. The work result retrieved by this will be transmitted to the shipping determination means, but in this case, when the identifier includes a specific symbol that cannot be recognized by the shipping determination means,
The management means deletes the identifier and the shipment determination means does not transmit the identifier.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the manufacturing control system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a manufacturing control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This manufacturing control system
Safety equipment (Supplemental Restrai
nt System: Hereinafter, abbreviated as SRS. ) Assembling SR
It is applied to the S assembly line, and is installed in the factory along with equipment for performing each work on the line.

The SRS assembling line has a plurality of steps for assembling the parts such as the dashboard sensors R, L, and SRS units, and each step basically has one type of work. Is supposed to do. There are various types of vehicles to which the SRS is attached (hereinafter, this type of vehicle is referred to as an SRS specification vehicle), and the configuration of the SRS to be attached differs depending on each specification. In this SRS assembly line, each time a vehicle arrives at each process, the vehicle is identified, and based on the identification result, whether or not the parts prepared for the process should be assembled to the vehicle. Judgment is made. Also, indicate the difference in the assembly parts due to the difference in specifications. By such control, only the parts required by each vehicle can be assembled to each vehicle.

A serial number is attached to each of the above-mentioned components by a bar code, and the serial number is collected when the component is assembled in a vehicle. In addition, when each part is assembled in each process, such as bolt tightening work, fitting work, etc., information indicating the result of the work such as tightening torque value, fitting state, etc. is collected. There is.

In this manner, the manufacturing control system according to the present embodiment collects the serial numbers of the respective parts and the work status at the time of assembling them as work result data, and manages the collected work result data for each vehicle. Is. In the manufacturing management system of the present embodiment, first to third SRS assembly lines are installed in the factory.
Each vehicle carried into the factory is put into any one of these lines, and the SRS is assembled as needed.

The structure of the manufacturing control system of this embodiment will be described below. The manufacturing control system of this embodiment is
As shown in FIG. 2, communication terminals CT1 and CT2, work terminals WT, management terminals MT1 to MT3, intermediate inspection terminal MIT (determination means), complete inspection terminal FIT (determination means), maintenance terminal MET, form terminal BT, adjustment Terminal ADT (determination means), terminal such as retest terminal RT, and file server FS
1 to FS3. N1 and N2 are each a token ring network, and are used as a data transmission path between the terminal devices in the manufacturing control system.

The communication terminals CT1 and CT2 are ALC (Assemble Line Cont) for controlling the entire automobile manufacturing line.
rol; assembly line control) Host computer H
It is connected to ST (shipment determination means) via a communication line. Two communication terminals CT1 and CT2 are provided for duplexing the communication function.
Collectively referred to as communication terminal CTn. When a vehicle is inserted into the SRS assembly line, AF-ON data, which is received data regarding the inserted vehicle, is transmitted from the host computer HST, and the communication terminal CTn receives this AF-ON data. . When the vehicle is line-off from the SRS assembly line, the history information about the vehicle on the SRS assembly line is transmitted from the communication terminal CTn to the host computer HST as AF-OFF data. .

One work terminal WT is provided for each process forming each line, and in each process under its control, control of work to be performed in each process under its control. This control includes the identification of incoming vehicles, the determination of work availability,
This includes control of an ETC (electrical torque control) wrench or constant torque wrench that performs work content determination, assembly part determination, and tightening work. Confirmation of the work contents actually performed in each process under their control, specifically the value of the torque in the tightening work,
Collects the state of the mating part after the mating work and the serial number of assembly parts. Formation of work result data based on the above collection results. Judgment as to whether or not work has been performed in a manner satisfying predetermined criteria and display of judgment results. And so on.

The management terminal MTn (n = 1 to 3) is installed for each line n and manages various files corresponding to each line. These files are held in the file server FSn (n = 1 to 3) in order to store information for controlling the work performed by each line or the work result data. As shown in FIG. 3, the files provided in each file server FSn are management files for each line n, and include ALC reception file F1 and ALC transmission file F1.
2, a trigger file F3, an SRS work table F4, a terminal operation confirmation file F5, an inspection machine data file (work result storage means) F6, and a save data file F7.

Among these management files, the specific contents mainly related to the present embodiment will be described below. (1) SRS work table F4 The SRS work table F4 defines work contents when assembling SRS parts to a vehicle in this SRS assembly line, and is a data table of tightening data and the like fetched by each work terminal WT. have.

(2) Inspection machine data file F6 This inspection machine data file F6 stores work data corresponding to each vehicle to be put into the SRS assembly line. These work data are created by the management terminal MTn each time new AF-ON data is written in the ALC reception file F1. Each area in this work data is reserved for recording the result of work performed on the vehicle. Therefore, it is filled with a space having no content at the time of being created by the management terminal MTn, and the work terminal W is used when the vehicle passes through each process.
The work result data (part number, tightening data, fitting data) collected by T is sequentially written. In addition, data corresponding to various inspection processes and adjustment processes, such as the middle inspection determination date, ..., the complete inspection determination date, ..., the adjustment determination date, ... It is adapted to be written in the file F6.

(3) ALC transmission file F2 The ALC transmission file F2 is AF-O as shown in FIG.
FF data is stored. This AF-OFF data is
It is created by the management terminal MTn for each vehicle that has completed the work on the SRS assembly line. The AF-OFF data created in the ALC transmission file F2 is sequentially transmitted to the host computer HST by the communication terminal CTn. Of each item included in the AF-OFF data,
The search key (line number, sequence number, frame number (identifier)), N1 parts data, N2 tightening data and N3 fitting data are created based on the contents of the AF-ON data of the vehicle. To be done. However, unlike the case of AF-ON data, each part data has a key. The host computer HST, which has received the AF-OFF data, associates the data with each other based on these keys. The AF-OFF data also has items for shipment determination. This item is for the middle inspection terminal MIT, complete inspection terminal FI
T, adjustment terminal ADT, etc.

(4) Trigger File F3 In this trigger file F3, the frame number of the vehicle for which creation and transmission of AF-OFF data is permitted is written (see FIG. 5). This frame number is given as a 10-digit number that is a combination of a 3-digit sequence number and a 7-digit machine number, and is used as a middle inspection terminal MIT, complete inspection terminal FIT, and adjustment terminal ADT.
Etc. The management terminal MTn refers to the inspection number data file corresponding to the trigger data and creates the AF-OFF data described above.

The intermediate inspection terminal MIT retrieves the work data in the inspection machine data file F6 by using the frame number of the vehicle in which the SRS parts are assembled and the like as a key, and displays the work data to the worker. The comprehensive judgment is made as to whether or not the work has been normally completed. If the determination result is “Yes”, the medium inspection terminal MIT writes information indicating “inspection passed (shipment OK)” as the item of the medium inspection determination of the work data in the inspection machine data file F6. In the case of failure, information that means "failed inspection (shipment stop)" is written. Then, after this, the intermediate inspection terminal MIT writes the line number of the line and the frame number of the vehicle for which the intermediate inspection has been completed in the trigger file F3.

The complete inspection terminal FIT is the middle inspection terminal MI.
The work data is displayed again for the vehicle that has passed the “inspection” at T, and a comprehensive determination is made as to whether or not the work has ended normally. If the result of this determination is that there is no defect, information that means “shipment OK” is written as an item for the complete inspection determination of the work data, and if a defect is found, it means “shipment stop”. The information to be written is written. Further, in the case of “shipment OK”, the completion inspection determination date and the completion inspection determination time are written,
In the case of "stop shipping", the maintenance terminal MET
After the maintenance by, the adjustment terminal ADT writes the adjustment determination date and the adjustment determination time.
Then, after that, the complete inspection terminal FIT or the adjustment terminal A
The frame number of the vehicle is written in the trigger file F3 by DT.

The management terminal MTn also constantly monitors the inside of the trigger file F3. When a new frame number is written, the management terminal MTn searches the inspection machine data file F6 using the frame number as a key, It is designed to read work data. And the management terminal MTn
Adds a key for associating the component data, the tightening data, and the fitting data to the read work data to create AF-OFF data, writes the AF-OFF data in the ALC transmission file F2, and then triggers. The data in the file F3 is deleted. Also, the communication terminal CT
n constantly monitors the ALC transmission file F2,
When new AF-OFF data is found, it is transmitted to the host computer HST, and after the transmission is completed,
AF-OFF data is deleted.

In the manufacturing control system of this embodiment, when the sequence number in the frame number written in the trigger file F3 is a number such as "000" which does not exist as a normal sequence number. Then, the management terminal MTn sends the ALC transmission file F2 of the AF-OFF data.
Writing to is canceled.

In the manufacturing control system configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 1, the work result data collected in each process is stored in the inspection terminal data file F6 created by the management terminal MTn in the work terminal WT. Are sequentially written by (ST1). Next, the vehicle in which the SRS parts have been assembled is sequentially put into the intermediate inspection process and the completed vehicle inspection process, a comprehensive determination of the assembly condition of the components and the like is performed, and the determination result is written in the inspection machine data file F6. At the same time (ST2), the frame number is written in the trigger file F3 (ST3). Then, using the frame number in the trigger file F3 as a key (ST4 ', S
T4 ″), the work data in the inspection machine data file F6 is read by the management terminal MTn (ST4), A
AF-OFF data is created in the LC transmission file F2 (ST5). Further, it is transmitted to the host computer HST by the communication terminal CTn (ST6, ST
6 '). After that, the host computer HST transmits the data subjected to the shipping processing from a system (not shown) to the manufacturing management system, and the management terminal MTn creates the saved data in the saved file.

Here, in the operation of the series of manufacturing control systems, when some trouble occurs in the software such as the work terminal and the inspection terminal or when the software is changed, the form terminal BT is used. , A simulated data set (dummy data) is formed in the inspection device data file F6, and the dummy data is used as the intermediate inspection terminal MI.
T is treated in the same way as actual vehicle data. As the dummy data, data having "000" which does not normally exist is used as the sequence number in the frame number.

In this case, the intermediate inspection terminal MIT retrieves the dummy data in the inspection machine data file F6 by using the dummy frame number as a key and displays it.
Then, if the worker inputs “Yes” as the comprehensive judgment, the intermediate inspection terminal MIT determines that the inspection machine data file F6
As the item of the middle inspection determination of the dummy data in the above, information that means "inspection passed (shipping OK)" is written, and in the case of failure, information that means "inspection failure (shipment stop)" is written. After that, the intermediate inspection terminal MIT writes the dummy frame number in the trigger file F3, and performs all the operations on the dummy data, as in the actual vehicle data.

Here, in the dummy data, since the sequence number is “000”, the management terminal that has found it recognizes that it is dummy data and
The frame number in the trigger file F3 is deleted without creating AF-OFF data in the transmission file (ST5 '). Thereby, the dummy data is transmitted to the communication terminal C.
It is possible to prevent the transmission to the host computer HST by Tn, and avoid the occurrence of unnecessary error in the host computer HST.

According to the manufacturing control system of the present embodiment, the above-mentioned operation is not limited to the middle inspection terminal MIT, and is the same when a software test run is performed in a terminal involving judgment such as the complete inspection terminal FIT and the adjustment terminal ADT. Will be implemented. Therefore, when the software of the plurality of determination terminals is abolished, the number of pieces of software to be prepared can be reduced by identifying dummy data at one location of the management terminal MTn without replacing the software of each terminal.

[0031]

As described above in detail, the manufacturing control system according to the present invention includes a work result storing means for storing work results in a plurality of manufacturing processes, a pass / fail judgment result of the work results, and an identifier of an article to be manufactured. Is provided with a plurality of judging means and a managing means for searching the work result in the work result storing means based on the outputted identifier and transmitting the work result to the shipping judging means, and the identifier includes a specific symbol. In this case, since the management means deletes the identifier, it is possible to prevent dummy data including a specific symbol from being transmitted to the shipment determination means when a test run of the software of the determination means is performed, and an error occurs in the shipment determination means. There is an effect that it is possible to avoid the occurrence of the above and the outflow of the dummy data from the shipping determination means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a data flow showing an embodiment of a manufacturing control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of the manufacturing control system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between various management files and terminals in the manufacturing management system of FIG.

4 is a diagram showing a data format in a management file used in the manufacturing management system of FIG.

5 is a diagram showing frame numbers used in the manufacturing control system of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 MTn management terminal (management means) WT work terminal (work control means) MIT medium inspection terminal (judgment means) FIT complete inspection terminal (judgment means) ADT adjustment terminal (judgment means) F2 ALC transmission file F3 trigger file F4 SRS work table F6 Inspection machine data file (work result storage means) HST host computer (shipment determination means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of work result storage means for storing work results in a plurality of manufacturing processes, and a plurality of work result storage means for judging whether the work results stored in the work result storage means are acceptable or not and outputting the identifier of the product to be manufactured together with the judgment results. Of the work result storing means based on the identifier output from the judging means, and managing means for transmitting the work result to the shipping judging means. A manufacturing management system, wherein the management means deletes the identifier when a specific unrecognizable symbol is included.