Patent Application
20090069919
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manufacturing resource planning (MRP), and more particularly to production planning and routing in an advanced MRP system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large-scale manufacturing systems typically involve complex distributed supply and demand networks. A manufacturing facility generally includes a large number of production lines producing many products having multiple process steps in manufacturing the final product. Changes in market supply and demand can cause a great deal of uncertainty in production demand, and purchase orders frequently may need to be changed or rescheduled. If the order cannot be rescheduled or updated methodically in a timely fashion, then consequent delays in production can occur.
Solutions traditionally deployed on shop floors are inadequate for today's manufacturing environments, due to the exponential increase in shop floor processes while coping with challenging delivery goals. When there is an order change or an issue on the shop floor, visibility of how a proposed corrective action will affect other orders is necessary. Many suppliers usually invest in information systems for manufacturing planning and control. Most often, the core planning and scheduling system utilized by suppliers includes or is incorporated within an MRP system.
MRP is a well known production scheduling method based on an explosion of finished product demand using manufacturing information, such as Bill-of-Material (BOM), yield and cycle times, and inventory. Within an MRP system, when routings change based on configuration changes or new manufacturing needs, the disposition of production process sequences already in operation on the shop floor can greatly be impacted. Yet, if a production process sequence already has been initiated, the current option in the art is to manually modify the initial routing requiring the update. In consequence, known mass production procedures generally flush the pipeline of production process sequences by deleting all of the production process in the initial routing and recreating new production orders with a desired new routing. Cancelling affected orders results in loss of manufacturing work, delay in manufacturing cycle time and potential shipments.
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to manufacturing production and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for mass production planning and routing. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for mass production planning and routing can be provided. The method can include initiating a production process sequence to produce a product according to an initial routing receiving a request to change the initial routing to a new routing, dynamically comparing the initial routing to the new routing, removing each production process from the new routing that had already been completed in the initial routing, and resuming the production process sequence with the new routing.
In another embodiment of the invention, a mass manufacturing production planning and routing method can be provided to include receiving a request to update an in-process order, filtering a subset of production process sequences affected by the update from a set of production process sequences for the in-process order, and, for each production process sequence in the filtered subset, comparing an initial routing of production processes for the production process sequence to a proposed new routing of production processes for the update for the production process sequence, removing each production process from the new routing that had already been completed in the initial routing, and resuming the production process sequence with the new routing.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, a manufacturing production planning and routing system can be provided. The system can include an MRP system configured to manage an order for a product by executing different production process sequences of production processes according to corresponding routings of the production processes. The system further can include a repository of production processes in different production sequences for producing the product in the MRP system. Finally, the system can include a mass production routing engine coupled to the MRP system and the repository. The engine can include program code enabled to update an in-process order of an initial routing of production processes both completed and uncompleted with a corresponding new routing of production processes by removing completed ones of the production processes while retaining uncompleted ones of the production processes, and to resume the in-process order with the new routing.
Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for intelligent mass production planning and routing in an MRP system. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, upon receiving a request to update an order in process, a list of production process sequences affected by the request can be filtered from a larger list of production process sequences in the MRP system. Thereafter, for each filtered production process sequence, an initial routing implemented prior to the update request can be compared to a new proposed routing and each production process in the sequence that has already been completed in the initial routing can be removed from the new routing. Finally, the production process sequence can resume with the new routing. Thus initial routings for the affected production process sequences can be augmented by new routings while concurrently preserving prior manufacturing operations and processes that had been successfully completed.
In illustration,
Turning now to
In more particular illustration,
For instance, by way of example a set of production process sequences can be filtered by those orders requiring an upgrade for a particular product component. Applying the filter to the production process sequence, a candidate list of sequences can be compiled providing specific routings for the particular product components requiring an upgrade. As a result, the candidate list of sequences will necessarily include a list of sequences that may be affected by a routing change. The routing change can include, for instance, a test to prove compatibility between the particular product component requiring an upgrade and an existing product component.
In any event, in block 330 the selection processor can retrieve a candidate list which represents a set of production process sequences that are possible candidates to a potential upgrade to a product or change in a existing routing scheme. In block 340, the candidate list can be confirmed automatically or manually through user input. Then in block 350 a mass production routing engine can be invoked to automatically adjust and update routings with minimal loss of manufacturing work.
Specifically, referring again to
In further illustration,
In decision block 415, if a current production process sequence in the confirmed list has already started then in block 435, the current production process sequence can be put on ‘hold’ to ensure no further changes are made while active at a workstation. Next in block 440, the sequence history can be retrieved and adjusted to the next appropriate process or operation to continue manufacturing work. In decision block 445, if the new routing impact is after the current operation in progress, then there is no concern for any loss of production activity since the new routing impact will not affect the sequence history. In this scenario, block 450 can be implemented where the new routing can be appended from the position of current operation in the old routing. Next in block 425 the engine can update the confirmed list and in block 430 it can enter the loop to see whether another next production process sequence exists in the confirmed list. If there are no more production process sequences that exist, in block 470, the production process sequence can be processed and the necessary updates to the routings can be implemented.
In decision block 445, if the new routing impact occurs before the current operation in progress, in other words, would have an affect on processes that were completed up until the current operation, then in block 455, the production process sequence can be flagged for approval. Approval can be automated by logistics software or manually approved by a user's input. Next in block 460, the post-impact processor flow adjustment can be invoked to handle the proposed new routing without having a detrimental effect on production activity. Consequently, in block 365 the production process sequence is processed and released.
In yet further illustration,
Optionally, multiple different orders in a set of released orders can be selected. For example, the selected set of released orders can be selected by way of a filter applied to the released orders. Once the set of released orders has been selected, a new set of routings can be resolved for each of the released orders in the set as compared to existing routings for each of the released orders in the set. In this way, the new set of routings can be produced without requiring an order explosion or a release from an MRP or order management system of each of the released orders in the set.
Embodiments of the invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, and the like. Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system.
For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.
A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.
