Patent Grant
8306648
This application claims the foreign priority benefit under Title 35, United States Code, §119(a)-(d) of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-201102, filed on Aug. 4, 2008 in the Japan Patent Office, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process control device, a process control method system, and process control system for performing a sequence order control for location control and work instructions of products to be produced, in a production line including a plurality of production processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a production line for manufacturing vehicles, work is performed in a plurality of processes including a main trim line for the body which is the main part to be produced, and sub-lines for manufacturing parts, etc., such as doors and bumpers to be attached to the body and for supplying them to the main-line. In each process in these production lines, a work instruction sheet based on the product specification for the body is issued correspondingly to the body to be worked in phase with a sequential flow of the body. Then, field workers or robots for assembly work perform the work with reference to the work instruction sheet.
However, in recent years, such a production line produces a wide variety of products in a small quantity in order to meet diversified demands of the users. Therefore, location control of the product in the production process and sequence order control of the flowing products becomes important in performing work at appropriate timing.
Furthermore, in a production line which produces a wide variety of products in small quantities, products having different specifications may flow such that the products are mixed, and the sequence order of the product may be changed in accordance with the determination of the field workers. For example, the sequence order of vehicles may be changed in order to perform the work for the same vehicle type or the same body color successively. However, since work instruction sheets are issued in sequence orders that are based on production schedules coordinated in advance in conventional process control systems, it is not possible to deal with the modified sequence order at the field site. As a result of the coordination performed at the field site, in order to deal with the changed sequence order, there is a need for a system that can have accurate information about the production situation and the location of the product at the field site, plan the production schedule accordingly, and control and adjust the production situation.
JP6-144318A discloses an example of a device for correcting vehicle tracking data. The device adjusts the vehicle tracking data with the actual situation of the sequence order of the vehicle, by detecting an identification number on the vehicle with an identification number detecting device provided at an exit point in the work zone of the vehicle production process, and collates it with the vehicle tracking data that shows the sequence order of the vehicle in the work zone to detect and correct any mismatch of the vehicle.
A first aspect of the present invention provides a process control device comprising: a tracking control unit that receives event information, transmitted from the passing signal transmission device, notifying that a product being produced in a production line including a plurality of production processes passes a predetermined location, the event information including an ID of the product and controls a status of current location and sequence order of the product on the basis of the event information transmitted from the passing signal transmission device; a conductor unit that determines a process that corresponds to the ID of the product in the event information received by the tracking control unit and generates a request for performing the determined process; a work instruction unit that issues the work instruction for the product being produced in the production line in response to the request from the conductor unit; a work instruction past record control unit that controls past record of the work instructions in response to an issue of the work instruction by the work instruction unit; a work instruction sequence order control unit that controls a sequence order of the work instructions issued by the work instruction unit; and a work instruction sequence order storage unit that stores information of the sequence order of the work instructions, wherein the work instruction sequence order control unit controls the work instruction sequence order storage unit.
Thus, by having the work instruction sequence order control unit and the work instruction sequence order storage unit, the information of the sequence order of the work instruction can be controlled in addition to the information of the current location of the product which is controlled by the tracking control unit.
A second aspect of the present invention provides a method of controlling process comprising: (a) receiving event information transmitted from a passing signal transmission device, notifying that a product being produced in a production line including a plurality of production processes passes a predetermined location, the event information including an ID of the product and controls status of current location and sequence order of the product on the basis of the event information transmitted from the passing signal transmission device; (b) determining a process that corresponds to the ID of the product in the event information received at the tracking control unit and generating a request for performing the determined process; (c) issuing the work instruction for the product being produced in the production line in response to the request generated in step (b); and (d) storing and controlling information of sequence order of the issued work instructions into the work instruction sequence order storage unit; and (e) receiving a reissue request notification of the work instruction from a user, and reissuing the work instruction with reference to information of the work instruction sequence order storage unit.
A third aspect of the present invention provides a process control system comprising: a passing signal transmission device that transmits event information notifying that a product being produced in a production line including a plurality of production processes passes a predetermined location, the event information including an ID of the product; a process control device that receives the event information transmitted by the passing signal transmission device and issues a predetermine work instruction in accordance with the ID of the product; a work completion transmission device that notifies that the work instruction from the process control device has been received; a reissue requesting device that transmits event information that notifies a reissue request for reissuing the work instruction in response to a user, wherein the process control device stores and controls a status that it has been confirmed that the work instruction information has been received.
The object and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The same or corresponding elements or parts are designated with like references throughout the drawings.
Prior to describing an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned related art will be further explained.
In the above-mentioned related art production process for vehicles, etc., controlling the location of the body and the sequence order is carried out in real time, and the corresponding production instruction and the work instruction are carried out. In order to detect the location of the product, current location of the product can be detected by putting RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags which store information for identifying the product onto the product, and by reading the tag information with tag readers installed at places such as exit points of a plurality of work zones in the manufacturing line. The information regarding the location of the product in this case is called “tracking data”.
Conventionally, the work instruction sheets utilized in the production process were issued based on the tracking data representing the location of the product. Furthermore, the work instruction sheets for the work in the sub-line where the production is performed in cooperation with the main production line for bodies, etc., were also issued based on the tracking data of the product in the main production line.
However, if the sequence order of the product is changed by a determination in the field site in the main production line, there is a case where the work is performed in an initially planned sequence order in the sub-line production process. In such a case, when a work instruction sheet is issued in a sequence order based on the tracking data, since it is different from the sequence order of actual work, the worker needs to confirm the product corresponding to the work instruction sheet individually. Therefore, it causes a problem in the work process. In order to resolve this problem, there is a need to issue the work instruction sheet with a different sequence order of the product in the sub-line production line from the sequence order in the main production line (tracking data).
Moreover, in a situation such as loss of, or damage to, the issued work instruction sheet, or a printing failure or issue error due to a malfunction of the printing device, there is a need for the field worker to easily reissue the work instruction sheet. Conventionally, it may be possible to reissue the work instruction sheet by requesting the issue individually for each item but it may not be possible to reissue the work instruction sheets for a selected range of products at one time.
In a device for modifying vehicle tracking data described in JP6-144318 A, the device resolves the control and display of the location and the sequence order of the product in the work process. However, the device cannot issue the work instruction, etc., in the original sequence order in addition to the tracking data in the case where the sequence order of the product is switched or for the product which has changed the sequence order after moving to the next process.
The present invention was achieved in view of the aforementioned problems, and the objective of the present invention is to provide a process control system that can issue a work instruction sheet in the initially planned sequence order in the sub-line production process, even if the sequence order of the product in the main production line is changed. Furthermore, the objective of the present invention is to provide a process control system that can issue a work instruction sheet with a sequence order which a worker requested.
In accordance with the present invention, in a case where reissue of the work instruction that was previously issued is requested when the product has already proceeded to the next process, it has become possible to reissue the work instruction in the same sequence order with the previously issued work instruction. Moreover, even if the sequence order of the product in the main production line is changed compared with the sub-line which performs work in cooperation with the main production line, since the information of the sequence order before the change can be controlled, it has become possible to issue the work instruction in the sub-line in the sequence order of the product in the main-line before the change. Furthermore, by the work instruction sequence order control unit, it has become possible to store in the work instruction sequence order storage unit and control that the work instruction has been received, together with to the sequence order of the work instruction, as the instruction acknowledgement status. Thereby, it has become possible to have knowledge of until which work instruction sheet was received at the field site, upon a replacement and an addition of a printing device, etc., that issue the work instruction sheet. Therefore, the discontinuation of the work can be reduced to a minimum at the field site.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The parts (products) to be manufactured in the sub-line 60 are manufactured in phase with the location, etc., of the body in the main-line 50 to be used in a predetermined manufacturing process 51, 52, or 53 in the main-line 50. Moreover, the sequence order of the parts to be manufactured in the sub-line 60 is based on the sequence order of the body flowing in the main-line 50. For example, if the sequence order of the body in a zone mz1 is body A, followed by body B, the sequence order of the manufacture of the parts in the sub-line 60 is parts for body A, followed by parts for body B. Here, we suppose that the sequence order of the body changed when the body moved into a zone mz2, which is the next process in the main-line 50, and the sequence order became body B, followed by body A. In this case, if the work in the sub-line 60 is performed after the body moved into the zone mz2, the sequence order of the work in the sub-line 60 is often unchanged and the work is done in the original sequence order as originally planned. This is because if the sequence order of the body in the main-line is changed, it is difficult to change the sequence order of the work in accordance with the sequence order in the mail line 50, since the preparation for manufacturing the parts is done in advance in the sub-line 60 also.
Next, the process control system 10 which controls the vehicle manufacturing process described above will be described with reference to
The process control device 1 controls the product production processes 51 to 53, and issues work instructions based on the location and the sequence order of the product in the production line. The details of the process control device 1 will be described later.
The passing signal transmission device 2 reads with the reader 55 (56, 57) the information in the RFID tag attached to the body A, B, etc., and converts the information in the RFID tag to the passing signal to transmit the passing signal to the process control device 1 as an event. The passing signal transmission device 2 is installed for each process at discretionally selected locations in the production line to read the body information when the body A (B) passes through and transmits the passing signal.
The printing device 3 issues the details of the work instruction as the work instruction sheet 7 by a request from the process control device 1. A plurality of printing devices 3 are installed in accordance with the work processes in the production line. Although the work instruction from the process control device 1 is printed as a work instruction sheet and the field worker receives the work instruction in an arrangement of the present embodiment, a display device such as a terminal may be installed at the field site and the content of the work instruction may be displayed on the screen. Furthermore, robots may be installed to perform product assembly work or manufacturing work and the details of the work instruction may be provided to the robots directly.
The work completion transmission device 4 is a device for transmitting an event which notifies the process control device 1 that the worker who works in the production line at the field site has completed the work. When receiving a work instruction sheet issued from a printing device 3, the worker starts the work after attaching the work instruction sheet on the body, etc, to be worked on in order to avoid mistakes in the work. During the work, upon the completion of predetermined actions, such as receiving and attaching the work instruction sheet and finishing the work, the worker reports the work completion to the process control device 1 by manipulating devices installed in the field site, such as buttons. Although the work completion transmission device 4, which has a push button for the field worker to notify upon the work completion, is installed near the field worker in the present embodiment, it may have other notification means. For example, a symbol on a screen may be selected for the notification in a case where the work instruction is displayed in the screen of the display device.
The reissue request device 5 is a device for the worker to transmit to the process control device 1 an event for notifying a request to reissue the work instruction sheet. The worker requests the reissue of the work instruction sheet 7 to the process control device 1 in such a case where the worker could not receive the work instruction sheet 7 due to a malfunction of the printing device 3, etc., the worker lost the received work instruction sheet 7, or the worker was unable to read the work instruction sheet 7 due to damage, etc. As to the reissue request device 5, a device having a push button for the worker to use upon requesting a reissue may be installed near the field worker or the printing device 3. The device requests a reissue of a work instruction sheet that was issued immediately before, and requests a reissue of a plurality of work instruction sheets of work which has not yet been completed. However, the device may include other notification unit. For example, the reissue of the work instruction sheet may be requested by a user, such as a worker or a system manager by selecting and instructing an item name to be reissued after displaying it on, for example, a screen or a menu in a personal computer, etc.
The system maintenance device 6 is a device for the system manager, etc., to perform operations, such as changing the specifications of the process control system, enhancing system capability or refurbishing the system in accordance with, for example, addition of a printing device or a change in the number of process lanes. Furthermore, the system maintenance device 6 performs manipulations such as adding, updating, and deleting information in the storage unit housed in the process control device 1. The system maintenance device 6 is a device including a terminal for connecting to the process control device 1 and performing maintenance of the process control device 1 by implementing a program, etc., for accomplishing the maintenance function in a personal computer, etc.
The network 8 includes communication lines such as an intranet which connects devices installed in an operation room, devices installed in a field site, etc. The data communication between the devices may be wireless, and communication devices for wireless communications may be included in each device instead of the network 8.
Next, an exemplary internal arrangement of the process control device 1 will be further described with reference to
The tracking control unit 11 receives an event of the passing signal transmitted from the passing signal transmission device 2 in the process line, updates tracking information that represents the location and the sequence order of the body in the process line based on the received passing signal, and controls the progress of the process. The collected tracking information is stored in the tracking storage unit 16.
The conductor unit 12 issues the work instruction in accordance with the progress of the process, which is controlled by the tracking control unit 11, and records and controls the relationship between the zone which indicates the control segment of the process and events concerning, for example, a passing signal, completion notification, and a reissue request, which are transmitted from the process. Furthermore, it receives each event and executes a process in accordance with the event. The information which the conductor unit 12 refers to is stored in the event definition storage unit 17. Examples of the information include information which defines a relationship between the events reported from the process and the tracking zone that shows the control segment of the process, and the information which defines a relationship between the transmitted event and the type of the process which instructs the conductor unit 12.
The work instruction sequence order control unit 13 controls the issue sequence order of the work instruction in addition to the progress of the process for controlling the tracking control unit 11. Furthermore, the work instruction sequence order control unit 13 controls the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 which stores the work instruction sequence order and the work instruction situation for each zone.
The work instruction unit 14 creates the work instruction sheet in a predetermined format according to the sequence order of the work instruction in response to the request from the conductor unit 12, and requests for printing the work instruction sheet are sent to a preset printing device. Moreover, the event of the reissue request transmitted from the reissue request device 5 is forwarded to the conductor unit 12 via the tracking control unit 11, and the work instruction unit 14 reissues the work instruction sheet in response to a request from the conductor unit 13. Upon creating the work instruction sheet, the specification information storage unit 19, which stores the specifications of the bodies, is referenced to create an instruction sheet based on the specifications of the body.
When the work instruction unit 14 issues a work instruction sheet, the work instruction past record control unit 15 controls the past record and stores the past record information of the work instruction to the work instruction storage unit 20. The event of the work completion notification issued from the work completion transmission device 4 is forwarded to the conductor unit 12 via the tracking control unit 11, and the work instruction past record control unit 15 stores the work completion information into the work instruction past record storage unit 20.
Now, an exemplary data arrangement in each storage unit of the process control device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
In the production process, the sequence order number of the body may be changed upon moving the zone by the determination of the field worker. For example, there is a case where the sequence order of body E and body F changes when the tracking zone moves from zone mz1 to zone mz2, from an order in zone mz1, body E, followed by body F to an order in zone mz2, body F, followed by body E. No matter how the sequence order changes, it becomes possible to know correctly the current location of the body located in the zone by moving the body information between the tracking zones.
If it is assumed that only the tracking control unit 11 and tracking storage unit 16 are provided, since only the information for the current residing location information of the body is held, if the sequence order, etc., of the body changed, the work instruction sheet cannot be issued again in the same sequence order as issued previously. On the other hand, because in the present embodiment, the past sequence order information for the body which passed each zone can also be maintained by including the work instruction sequence order control unit 13 and the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18. For example, if the tracking movement completion flag 183 of the work instruction sequence order information is “completed”, the work instruction sequence order information of the body is maintained. Therefore, in a case where the work instruction sheet is to be reissued, it can be issued in a similar sequence order to the sequence order issued previously.
Furthermore, the instruction acknowledgement completion flag 184 becomes “completed” by the field worker notifying the work completion with the work completion transmission device after receiving the work instruction sheet. Thereby, those that have not completed the issue of the work instruction sheet can be easily determined. Therefore, if there is a work instruction sheet which could not be issued due to a reason such as a malfunction of the printing device 3 and a replacement of the device, the work instruction sheet for the currently working vehicle can be determined and issued in the same sequence order with the work instruction.
An example of the event information is shown in event e1—event e4 in
For example, when the sequence order of body E and body F is changed upon moving from zone mz1 to zone mz2, the line order of the body in the tracking zone mz2 is body F, followed by body E. Here, upon event e4, if the work instruction sheet during the period when the body is located in zone mz1 is to be reissued, the work instruction sheet cannot be issued in the original sequence order since the tracking information to be referred is moved. The sequence order of the body at the time of the reissue can be guaranteed by retaining the condition prior to the movement continually in the work instruction zone.
Further in a case where
The above description describes an example of data structures in respective storage units which are the database of the process control device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Next, the details of the processing units of the process control device 1 will be described.
Next, it is determined whether there is information for the matched event ID and whether its process pattern is zone movement or not, as a result of the search (step S303). As a result of the determination, if there is matched information, the body number identification process is performed by the body number identification unit 112 (step S304). The detail of the body number identification process is shown in
Next, from a result of the search, whether there is a matched body number or not is determined (step S503). If there is a body number, the information related to the matched body number, that is, the record that includes the corresponding body number, is deleted from the tracking information that matches with the movement origin zone ID (step S504). Then, the information for the corresponding body number is added to the end of the tracking information for the zone that matches with the acquired movement destination zone ID. The serial number 161 of the record to be added is a value obtained by adding one to a maximum value of the current serial numbers (step S505). After ending the processing, the process returns to step S305 for the tracking control process, which required the present process. As a result of the determination made in step S503, if there is no corresponding number, abnormal termination processing is performed (step S506), and the process ends.
As a result of the determination made in step S703, if there are one or more processes that correspond with the matched ID, the initial value for the loop count is set to 0 (step S704). Then, in order to perform the matched processes one by one according to the sequence order for the acquired process, one process having the lowest sequence order number is selected among the processes of the matched ID (step S705). Next, whether the selected process is “work instruction sequence order update” or not is determined (step S706), and if the selected process is “work instruction sequence order update”, a process for “work instruction sequence order update” is requested to the work instruction sequence order control unit 13 (step S707). Then, whether the selected process is “work instruction usual issue” or not is determined (step S708), and if the selected process is “work instruction usual issue”, a process for “work instruction usual issue” process is requested to the work instruction unit 14 (step S709). Then, whether the selected process is “work instruction reissue” or not is determined (step S710), and if the selected process is “work instruction reissue”, a process for “work instruction reissue” is requested to the work instruction unit (step S711). Next, whether the selected process is instruction acknowledgement completion flag update or not is determined (step S712). If the selected process is instruction acknowledgement completion flag update, a process for instruction acknowledgement completion flag update is requested to the work instruction sequence order control unit 13 (step S713). In other words, the process control device 1 stores and controls a status that it has been confirmed that the work instruction information has been received. If the selected process does not match with either of the above, no processing is performed and the process proceeds to the next step. After the processing is completed, the count is incremented as in [loop count]=[loop count]+1 (step S714), and whether the loop count is greater than or equal to N, which is the number of processes acquired in step S702, or not is determined (step S715). If the loop count is less than N, the process returns to step S705 and repeats the processing. If the loop count is greater than or equal to N, the process ends.
Here, as shown in
As a result of the determination, if there is a matched body number, the tracking movement completion flag 183 of the matched body number for the work instruction sequence order information in the zone that matches with the movement origin zone ID in the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 is updated to “completed” (step S105). Then, information for the matched body number is added at the end of the work instruction sequence order information for the zone that matches with the movement destination zone ID. As for the sequence order number 181, a value that added one to the maximum value of the sequence order number in the zone which is “registration-completed” is set (step S106). As a result of the determination made in step S104, if there is no matched body number, abnormal terminal processing is performed (step S107) and the process ends.
As a result of that determination, if there is a matched body number, the instruction acknowledgement completion flag 184 of the matched body number for the work instruction sequence order information of the zone that matches with the tracking zone ID in the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 is updated to “completed” (step S115). Then, a registration of the past record is requested to the work instruction past record control unit 15 (step S116). As a result of the determination made in step S114, if there is no matched body number, abnormal termination processing is performed (step S117), and the process ends.
Next, the processing of the work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (normal) 133 will be described. The work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (normal) 133 replies with a matched body number in response to a request from the work instruction unit 14 to acquire the body number which should be issued by the work instruction sheet next. The work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (normal) 133 first refers to the last work instruction completion sequence order number information 136 to acquire the value of the last work instruction completion sequence order number of the matched work instruction sequence order zone ID. Then, the work instruction sequence order information of the matched work instruction sequence order zone ID of the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 is searched for in an ascending order of the sequence order number. Then afterwards, a body number having a lowest sequence order number is acquired among those having a value greater than or equal to the acquired last work instruction completion sequence order number+1, and information having the instruction acknowledgement completion flag as not “completed”, and replies to the work instruction unit 14.
Next, processing of the work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (reissue) 134 will now be described. The work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (reissue) 134 receives a request to acquire the body number which should be reissued from the work instruction unit 14, and replies to the matched body number. The work instruction sequence order confirmation unit (reissue) 134 first refers to the last work instruction completion sequence order number storage unit 136 to acquire a value of the last work instruction completion sequence order number of the work instruction sequence order zone ID. Then, the work instruction sequence order information of the matched work instruction sequence order zone ID of the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 is searched for in an ascending order of the sequence order number. Thereafter, a body number which has a value less than or equal to a value of the last work instruction completion sequence order number, and which has the instruction acknowledgement completion flag as not “completed” is acquired, and is replied to the work instruction unit 14. Here, the matched item may be more than one, so that all of the body numbers which match with the condition are acquired and if they are more than one, the body numbers are sorted in an ascending order of the sequence order number to be replied.
Now, the processing of the work instruction sequence order deletion unit 135 will be described. The work instruction sequence order deletion unit 135 deletes information which is requested to be deleted from the work instruction sequence order storage unit 18 in response to a request from the system maintenance device 6 via the network 8 to delete the work instruction sequence order information which became unneeded. The work instruction sequence order deletion unit 135 deletes information having the instruction acknowledgement completion flag as “completed” among the requested information. Here, those which are “completed” are presumed to be not subjected to the reissue of the work instruction sheet. Since there are cases where the reissue is requested even if the instruction acknowledgement completion flag is “completed”, the determination as to whether it is subjected to the reissue of the work instruction sheet or not will be performed by the field worker or the system manager. Therefore, the deletion of the information is performed manually from the system maintenance device 6 by user determination, not by automatically by the system. The deletion request from the system maintenance device 6 may be performed as needed, and the actual deletion process may be performed by the work instruction sequence order deletion unit 135 at timing when the production line is stopped, such as during lunch recess or at night.
The details of the work instruction point information 145 will be described with reference to
The details of the work instruction format information 146 will be described with reference to
The details of the printing device setting information 147 will be described with reference to
As a result of the determination, if there is a matched body number, the specification information storage unit 19 is referred to acquire the specification information that corresponds to the matched body number (step S145). Next, the work instruction point information 145 is referred to acquire the printing device ID 1453 that corresponds to the acquired work instruction sequence order zone ID, and the format ID 1454 (step S146). Next, the work instruction format information 146 is referred to acquire the format file 1463 that matches the acquired format ID to create the work instruction sheet data (step S147). Then, the created work instruction sheet data and the printing device ID are set to the work instruction issue unit 143, to request the work instruction issue process (step S148). As a result of the determination made in step S144, if there is no matched body number, the process ends.
As a result of the determination, if there are one or more matched body numbers, the initial value of the loop count is set to 0 (step S155). Then, in order to perform the matched processes one by one for the acquired body number, one item is selected from the matched body numbers (step S156). Next, the specification information storage unit 19 is referred to acquire the specification information that corresponds to the body number (step S157). Then, the work instruction point information 145 is referred to acquire the printing device ID 1453 which corresponds to the acquired work instruction sequence order zone ID, and the format ID 1454 (step S158). Next, the work instruction format information 146 is referred to acquire the format file 1463 which matches the acquired format ID and to create the work instruction sheet data (step S159). Then, the created work instruction sheet data and the printing device ID are sent to the work instruction issue unit 143 to request the work instruction issue process (step S160). After the process is completed, the count is incremented as in [loop count]=[loop count]+1 (step S161), and whether the loop count is greater than or equal to N, which is the number of items acquired in step S153, is determined (step S162). If the loop count is less than N items, the process returns to step S156 and repeats the processing. If the loop count is greater than or equal to N items, the process ends.
Now, the processing of the work instruction definition modification unit 144 will be described. The work instruction definition modification unit 144 controls the content of the information defined in a storage unit 140 of the work instruction unit 14. The work instruction definition modification unit 144 modifies the work instruction point information 145, the work instruction format information 146, and the printing device setting information 147 by the user, such as a system manager, manipulating with the system maintenance device 6 and requesting via the network 8.
For example, in the case where the printing device 3 is to be replaced, the work instruction usual issue can be stopped temporarily by modifying the process mode 1725 of the event-process definition storage unit 172 from “OPERATING” to “WAIT” 1726. Accordingly, the replacement of the printing device is made possible during the time when temporarily stopping the issue of the work instruction sheet. Furthermore, at this time, the information of the printing device in the printing device setting information 147 which needs to be replaced can be modified. Moreover, in the case where a printing device is to be added, a printing device can be added and printing can be started again by directing the new printing device to the work instruction point information 145 as an issue destination.
Accordingly, in accordance with the present embodiment, if performing an extension, etc., of the facility such as a printing device, the production processing can be performed without stopping and the influence to the worker can be reduced to the minimum.
In the present invention, by providing with the work instruction sequence order control unit 13, the work completion transmission device 4, and the reissue request device 5, which did not exist conventionally, the work instruction sequence order information can be controlled separately from the tracking information and the reissue of the work instruction sheet which is needed for the field worker can be easily done. Furthermore, it has become possible to control information such as the issue sequence order of the work instruction sheet and the instruction receipt situation of the worker. Therefore, the addition of a printing device and the control of the reissue of the work instruction sheet, such as when reissuing during a malfunction, can be easily done, the influence on the production process can be made small, and the operation rate can be improved.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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| 2008-201102 | Aug 2008 | JP | national |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20100030353 A1 | Feb 2010 | US |
