JPH10113849A - Part delivery system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a trouble caused by an error of judgement, etc., by providing stock control means to judge a demanded part to supply to a process on which part demanding means is provided and to instruct delivery of the part to an automatic multistory warehouse in accordance with a part demanding instruction. SOLUTION: A stock control computer 7 recognizes the shelf number of a warehouse main body l0a where a motor is stored and gives an instruction to deliver the motor from a shelf of the shelf number to a warehouse control panel 10b. Additionally, it recognizes in accordance with a reference data that a distination of AGV6 is a third process of an assembly line 1-1 and instructs the distination to an AGV control panel 5. A pallet received by this AGV6 is transported to a part shed provided in a process of the assembly line 1-1 and unloaded there.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parts delivery system for transferring parts delivered from an automatic three-dimensional warehouse to an assembly line using unmanned transportation means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 conceptually shows a conventional retrieval system. In this system, parts are paid out as follows.

[0003] An operator 100 determines a part to be delivered based on the progress of production in an assembly line (not shown). The operator 100 operates the warehouse operation panel 210 of the automatic three-dimensional warehouse 200 to store parts to be taken out of the warehouse main body 220.
Let out from stock. An operator 100 performs an AGV (automated guided vehicle) so that the delivered parts are transported to a predetermined process of the assembly line.
Give instructions to 300.

[0004]

Conventionally, the operator 100 performs the judgment of the parts to be delivered, the delivery instruction to the automatic three-dimensional warehouse 200, and the transportation instruction to the AGV 300. It is not desirable from the viewpoint of improving workability.

[0005] Further, in order to artificially determine the parts to be delivered and the delivery time thereof, delicate skill is required, and there is a possibility that the artificial determination may be erroneous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a delivery system capable of saving labor and improving workability in taking out parts in view of such a situation.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a parts delivery system for transporting parts delivered from an automatic three-dimensional warehouse to an assembly line, wherein an input for inputting a lot number and a specification number of an article to be produced on the assembly line. Means,
A part request means provided in each step of the assembly line, and a step in which the part request means is provided, based on a lot number and a specification number input by the input means and a part request instruction by the part request means. Inventory control means for determining a requested part to be supplied and instructing the automatic three-dimensional warehouse to issue the part, and the part requesting means for determining the part ejected from the automatic three-dimensional warehouse based on the ejection instruction. And a component transporting unit that transports the component to a predetermined process.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows an assembly line 1-1.
1-4 (for example, a motorcycle engine assembly line) each have a plurality of assembly steps, and a component request switch 3 is disposed on the line side of each of these steps.

Each component request switch 3 is composed of a push button switch or the like, and outputs a signal indicating the number of the corresponding process in accordance with the operation of the operator 2. The component request switch 3 is provided with a nameplate indicating the name of the required component.

Lot / specification input devices 4-1 to 4-4 are provided on each of the assembly lines 1-1 to 1-4. Each of the input devices 4-1 to 4-4 includes a touch panel (not shown) for inputting a lot number and a specification number of an article to be produced, and the input devices are inputted by a built-in programmable controller (not shown). The stored lot number and specification number are stored in the memory.

Each of the input devices 4-1 to 4-4 is connected to an AGV control control panel 5 which is a master unit thereof, and a component request switch 3 for a corresponding assembly line 1-1 to 1-4.
Each is connected to a group.

The AGV control panel 5 has a
It performs operation management of an AGV (automated guided vehicle) 6 and inquires inventory of a required component to an inventory management computer 7, and has a built-in programmable controller (not shown).

The optical communication device 8 is a communication means between the control control panel 5 and the automatic guided vehicle 6. By using this optical communication device 8, non-contact data communication using serial optical data becomes possible. .

The automatic three-dimensional warehouse 10 includes a warehouse body 10a,
It comprises a warehouse operation panel 10b for controlling the warehouse body 10a. The warehouse body 10a includes a stacker crane for loading and unloading parts, a shelf for storing parts, and a loading table (neither is shown) used for delivery of parts using the stacker crane. Have.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the master data stored in the memory of the inventory management computer 7. FIGS. 3 and 4 show the production management host computer 1.
2 exemplifies production plan data and delivery plan data created in Step 2.

The master data is stored in the assembly line 1
It has contents in which parts to be assembled in each of the steps -1 to 1-4 (in this example, steps 1 to 20) are arranged in the order of the steps.

As is clear from the master data,
The parts to be assembled in each process are determined by the model and destination of the article to be produced. Then, for example, the assembly component in the third step of the assembly line 1-1 is a motor, but the type of the motor to be installed differs depending on the model of the article to be produced and the destination.

The above-mentioned production plan data includes the scheduled assembly date, assembly line number, lot number, specification number, production number, model, and destination (country, region, etc.) of each article to be produced. Has the contents listed in accordance with

The delivery plan data is data on parts required on a predetermined scheduled assembly date, and is created based on the production plan data and master data.

The components required on the scheduled assembly date are to be delivered the day before the scheduled date.
The scheduled delivery date of each part of the part number shown in FIG.
Day 0, which suggests that these parts will be ready for July 1 assembly.

Now, assuming that each part having the part number shown in FIG. 4 is delivered, the inventory management is performed by the receiving terminal (not shown) in which data (part number, line number, lot number, specification number, etc.) concerning these delivered parts is shown. It is input to the computer 7.

Therefore, the inventory management computer 7 assigns each delivered part to a different empty shelf of the warehouse body 10a based on the input delivered part data, ie,
A process for deciding a shelf for storing each of the delivered parts is executed, and then a storage instruction for storing the corresponding part on the decided shelf is output to the warehouse operation panel 10b.

As a result, the warehouse operation panel 10b operates the stacker crane of the warehouse body 10a so that the delivered parts are stored on the predetermined shelf of the warehouse body 10a. Each of the above-mentioned parts is stored in the warehouse main body 10a in a state of being stored in a pallet having a prescribed size. Therefore, the number of parts stored in the pallet is 100, and the planned production Assuming that the number of pallets is 300, the number of pallets containing these components stored in the warehouse main body 11 is three.

Since the size of each of the above components is different, the number of those components accommodated in the pallet is naturally different.

On the other hand, the inventory management computer 7 creates inventory data as shown in FIG. 5 representing the correspondence between the determined shelves and storage components, and stores this data in an inventory memory (not shown).

Next, the lot number 001 in FIG.
The procedure for paying out parts for the first article having the specification number 01 will be described.

The stock management computer 7 takes in the production plan data and the delivery plan data from the production management host computer 12 and prints out the next one month's worth of production plan data on paper.

Then, the line-side worker 2 inputs the lot number 001 and the specification number 01 of the first article using the lot / specification input device 4-1 based on the printed production plan data. I do.

Along with this, the programmable controller of the input device 4-1 outputs data 01 indicating the number of the corresponding assembly line 1-1 and data 001 indicating the lot number.
And 01-00 obtained by synthesizing data 01 indicating the specification number
Data of the form 1-01 is stored in the memory.

Here, for example, the worker 2 operates the assembly line 1
Assuming that the part request switch 3 in the third step of -1 has been operated, a signal indicating the installation number (step number) is output from the part request switch 3, and this signal is provided on the line 1-1. It is applied to the input device 4-1.

Therefore, the programmable controller of the input device 4-1 inputs data 003 indicating the installation number of the switch 3 when the operation signal of the switch 3 is inputted,
The combined data 01-001-01 is transferred to the AGV control panel 5 via a data link.

The AGV control panel 5 transmits the data 003
Then, inventory inquiry data 003-01-001-01 is created by combining the data with the composite data 01-001-01, and the inquiry data is stored in the memory and transferred to the inventory management computer 7.

The inventory management computer 7 determines that the required component is the motor-A based on the inquiry data and the master data of FIG. 2, and determines whether the component is in stock based on the inventory data. Then, the determination result is transmitted to the AGV control panel 5.

When the inventory control computer 7 transmits the result of the determination that there is stock to the AGV control control panel 5, the control control panel 5 requests the inventory control computer 7 to take out the motor-A.

Therefore, the inventory management computer 7 recognizes the shelf number of the warehouse body 11 in which the motor-A is stored based on the inventory data, and issues an instruction to take out the motor-A from the shelf of the shelf number. Is given to the warehouse operation panel 10b. Also, based on the inquiry data, the AGV
Recognizing that the destination of No. 6 is the third step of the assembly line 1-1, the destination is instructed to the AGV control panel 5.

The warehouse operation panel 10b controls the stacker crane on the basis of the above-mentioned delivery instruction, and as a result, the parts pallet containing the motor-A is placed on the loading tray of the warehouse body 11.

Note that the warehouse operation panel 10a outputs a warehouse completion signal when the parts pallet is completely warehoused. Therefore, the inventory management computer 7 executes a process of reducing the inventory amount of the required parts in the inventory memory by the delivery amount, that is, an update process of the inventory data.

On the other hand, the AGV control control panel 5 gives a work instruction to the AGV 6 based on the destination instruction, whereby the AGV 6 is moved from a predetermined standby position to the warehouse body 10a.
To carry out the work of receiving the pallet on the above-mentioned loading tray, and the work of transporting the received pallet to the parts yard provided in the third step of the assembly line 1-1 and lowering it.

The installation number of the parts request switch 3 is
The AGV control panel 5 guides the automatic guided vehicle 6 based on the installation number because the switch 3 is information for specifying the location of the process where the switch 3 is provided.

As described above, the third line of the assembly line 1-1
In the process, predetermined components are paid out by operating the component request switch 3 provided in this process, but the same operation is performed for other processes of the assembly line 1-1 and each process of the other assembly line. Predetermined parts can be paid out.

Since the above-mentioned parts are procured in units of pallets as described above, the number of component request operations by the operator 2 differs between parts having a small shape and parts having a large shape.

That is, for example, assuming that the planned number of products to be produced is 300, the number of operations required for parts whose number of pallets is 100 is three, but when the number of parts is 150, The required operation for a part is performed twice. The operator 2 executes a component addition request operation when it is determined that the number of parts in the procured pallet has become equal to or less than the specified number.

Next, the case where the inventory management computer 7 transmits the determination result indicating that there is no inventory to the control control panel 5 will be described.

As is apparent from the following reason, the above-mentioned judgment of no stock is at the stage when the production end time of the present production target article is approaching, in other words, the delivery of parts required for the next production target article is started. It should be done at the right stage.

That is, for example, the motor shown in FIG.
Since the initial stock number of A is 300, assuming that the number of stored motor-A on the pallet is 100, the warehouse main unit 1 is operated at the stage when the required operation of motor-A is performed three times.
The stock number of the motor-A at 0a becomes zero.

Accordingly, it is determined that there is no stock in accordance with the fourth request operation.
The third request operation is performed when the number of motors A accommodated in the pallet paid out in the third request operation has become equal to or less than a specified number, that is, when the end of production of the current production target article is approaching. Will be.

When the determination result indicating that the stock is out of stock is transmitted, the AGV control panel 5 determines that the stock is out of stock by sound, lighting of a lamp, sound of a buzzer, or the like in order to prompt the change of the lot number and the specification number. Notify the outside of the error occurrence.

Therefore, if the operator detects the occurrence of the above error during the production of the first article having the lot number 001 and the specification number 01 shown in FIG. 3, for example, the second article (model B, destination area) The lot number 002 and the specification number 01 of the item (a) are input by operating the touch panel of the input device 4-1.

When the operator 2 operates, for example, the component request switch 3 in the third step of the assembly line 1-1 after the input operation, the AGV control panel 5 creates inquiry data 003-01-002-01. And transfers it to the inventory management computer 7.

In this case, the inventory management computer 7 determines that the component to be paid out in the third step is the motor B based on the master data of FIG. 2, and after confirming the inventory of the motor B, , And the destination of the AGV 6.

As a result, the motor-B
The pallet containing the pallet is unloaded, and the pallet is supplied to the third step by the AGV 6.

As described above, in the above-mentioned stocking system, an error indicating that there is no stock is notified when the product to be produced is switched, so that the input setting operation of the lot number and the specification number of the corresponding assembly line is executed again at that time. This makes it possible to request a part for the switched production target article.

By the way, it is possible to eliminate the operation of inputting the lot number and the specification number when the above error occurs. In this case, the AGV control panel 5, the stock management computer 7, and the input devices 4-1 to 4- 4 performs the following processing.

Now, in the assembly line 1-1, the lot number 00
1. If the inventory management computer 7 determines that there is no stock of the part requested from the third step in a state where the first article having the specification number 01 is being produced, in this case, the inventory management computer 7 Then, the data indicating the lot number 002 and the specification number 01 of the second article are transmitted to the AGV control and control panel 5 together with the determination result that there is no stock.

Accordingly, the AGV control panel 5 sends the inquiry data 003-01- regarding the first article.
001-01 to new inquiry data 003-01-
002-01 is automatically changed and transferred to the inventory management computer 7.

It should be noted that the above-described automatic change processing of the inquiry data is performed by executing the above-described automatic change processing which is also performed at the time of a parts request operation in each of the other lines 1-2 to 1-4. For example, since the input operation of the lot number and the specification number in the input device 4-1 needs to be performed only once at the time of starting the production, the workability is remarkably improved.

[0057]

According to the present invention, it is not necessary to judge the delivery parts and the delivery time and to give instructions to the automatic three-dimensional warehouse and the automatic guided vehicle artificially, so that labor saving and improvement in workability can be achieved. In addition, it is possible to prevent troubles caused by errors in the above-described determination and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a component delivery system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a table illustrating the contents of master data.

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating contents of production plan data;

FIG. 4 is a table illustrating contents of delivery plan data.

FIG. 5 is a table illustrating contents of inventory data;

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a conventional retrieval system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-1 to 1-4 Assembly line 3 Parts request switch 4-1 to 4-4 Lot / specification input device 5 AGV control control panel 6 AGV 7 Inventory management computer 10 Automatic three-dimensional warehouse 10a Warehouse body 10b Warehouse operation panel

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A parts delivery system for transporting parts delivered from an automatic three-dimensional warehouse to an assembly line, comprising: input means for inputting a lot number and a specification number of an article to be produced on the assembly line; Based on a lot number and a specification number inputted by the input means and a part request instruction by the part request means, a request part to be supplied to the step provided with the part request means. The inventory management means for instructing the automatic three-dimensional warehouse to take out the part while determining, and transporting the part taken out of the automatic three-dimensional warehouse to a step provided with the part requesting means based on the take-out instruction. A parts delivery system, comprising: parts transportation means. 2. The parts management means, comprising: means for determining whether or not the required parts are in stock in the automatic three-dimensional warehouse;
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for changing the lot number and the specification number input by the input means to a lot number and a specification number of the next production target article when the required parts are not in stock. Part delivery system as described.