Machining order determination device, machining order determination method, and computer program

Abstract

To quickly determine machining order that shortens the time required to complete machining even if there is no past performance data.SOLUTION: A machining order determination device includes an acquisition unit that acquires the machining time required to process the first product, the machining time required to process the second product, quantity information, and constraint information related to the machining order, an extraction unit that extracts specific information, and a determination unit that determines the machining order for the first half and the machining order for the second half in the production line by different processes. The determination unit determines, as the first half of the processing, a machining order in which one machining of the second product outside group and machining of the first product group are alternately performed until the out-time required for the out-work is reached, and as the second half of the processing, divides or combines the first product outside groups or inside groups so that the number of first product outside groups and the number of inside groups are the same, and determines a machining order in which one of the first product outside groups and one of the inside groups are alternately processed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a machining sequence determination device, a machining sequence determination method, and a computer program. [Background technology]

[0002] A method for optimizing the processing order when processing multiple types of materials on a single line is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the rolling assistance device described in Patent Document 1, when rolling multiple metal materials, a machine learning model trained based on past performance data of rolling processes determines the order of future rolling processes. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-60668 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In order to build the machine learning model described in Cited Document 1, a large amount of processing performance data is required as past performance data. Furthermore, the calculation time required to build the machine learning model is long. Furthermore, for example, if the order volume distribution or operation pattern differs significantly from the past performance data, an optimal processing sequence may not be obtained even if the machine learning model is used. In contrast, if new training data with a different order volume distribution or operation pattern is created and the machine learning model is updated, it may take a long time to determine the processing sequence.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve at least part of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to quickly determine a machining sequence that shortens the time until machining completion even when past performance data is not available. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve at least part of the above-mentioned problems, and can be realized in the following forms.

[0007] (1) According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including multiple types of first products and a second product group including multiple types of second products on the production line by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group. This determination device comprises an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the multiple types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the multiple types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; and a determination unit that determines a first half processing order and a second half processing order on the production line by different processes using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit, wherein the constraint information includes constraints on a first processing order which is the processing order of the first product group, constraints on a second processing order which is the processing order of the second product group, and constraints on an internal time required for internal work performed within the production line out of the working time required to change products processed on the production line, and constraints on external work which can be performed within and outside the production line. The extraction unit extracts, as the specific information, the maximum value of the external time for the first product group and a separator group, which is the second product group to be processed earliest in the second processing order, from among the second product group consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without the external operation, and the total processing time of the second product group is equal to or greater than the maximum value; the determination unit determines, as the process for determining the first half of the processing order, a processing order in which, after processing the first product group on the production line until the maximum value is reached, one of the second product group's second processing order is processed according to the second processing order until processing of the separator group is completed, and the first product group's processing according to the first processing order is performed alternately on the production line until the external time required for the earliest outside operation among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing order is reached; and as the process for determining the second half of the processing order,Among the first product groups, the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation is compared with the number of ingroups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product groups, the number of which has not been determined in the processing to determine the first half of the processing order on the production line, and the first product outgroups or the ingroups are divided or combined so that the number of each compared group is the same, and if the number of each compared group is the same, a processing order is determined in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the ingroups are processed alternately on the production line.

[0008] According to this configuration, the processing sequence for the first half and the processing sequence for the second half of the production line for the first product group and the second product group are determined by different processes. In the process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, the processing sequence is determined based on the maximum value of the external time for the first product group and the boundary group for the second product extracted using this maximum value. The processing time for the second product on the production line is determined based on the completion of processing of the second product external group. In the process for determining the processing sequence for the second half, the processing sequence for the first product and the processing sequence for the second product on the production line are determined for each group, with the number of first product external groups and the number of second product internal groups being equal. As described above, with this configuration, the processing sequence for the first half is determined by focusing on the processing time, and the processing sequence for the second half is determined by focusing on the number of groups. This allows a processing sequence that shortens the time required to complete processing of all products on the production line to be determined in a short time, even without past performance data.

[0009] (2) In the determination device of the above aspect, in the process of determining the latter half of the processing order, if the number of first product out-groups for which the processing order in the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing order is greater than the number of inner groups, the determination unit divides the inner group for which the minimum value of the processing time among the second products constituting the inner group is the longest among the multiple inner groups into two inner groups until the number of the first product out-groups and the number of the inner groups are the same; and if the number of first product out-groups for which the processing order in the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing order is less than the number of inner groups, the determination unit combines the two inner groups that will be processed earliest in the second processing order into one inner group until the number of the first product out-groups and the number of the inner groups are the same. According to this configuration, in the process of determining the second half of the machining sequence, if the number of first product outgroups for which the machining sequence has not been determined is greater than the number of second product ingroups, the ingroup for which the minimum machining time of the second product ingroup is greater than the minimum of the other ingroups is divided into two groups. This division increases the number of second product ingroups and makes them equal to or approach the number of first product outgroups. On the other hand, if the number of first product outgroups for which the machining sequence has not been determined is less than the number of second product ingroups, the two second product ingroups that are to be machined first according to the second machining sequence are combined into one group. This combination increases the number of second product ingroups and makes them equal to or approach the number of first product outgroups. In this configuration, by increasing or decreasing the number of second product ingroups as described above, the first product and the second product are machined alternately on the production line in the process of determining the second half of the machining sequence, thereby determining a machining sequence that further shortens the time to complete machining.

[0010] (3) According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including multiple types of first products and a second product group including multiple types of second products on the production line by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group.This determination device comprises an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the multiple types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the multiple types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; and a determination unit that determines the processing order on the production line using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit, wherein the constraint information is information that associates constraints on a first processing order that is the processing order of the first product group, constraints on a second processing order that is the processing order of the second product group, and, of the work time required to change products to be processed on the production line, internal time required for internal work performed within the production line and external time required for external work that can be performed within and outside the production line, and the extraction unit extracts the specific information from the The determination unit extracts the maximum value of the external time in one product group and a dividing group, which is the second product group to be processed first in the second processing order, from among the second product group whose total processing time of the second product group consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without the need for external work is equal to or greater than the maximum value, and the determination unit compares the number of first product group whose processing order in the production line has not been determined and which is made up of one or more types of first products that can be processed without the need for external work, with the number of internal groups whose processing order in the production line has not been determined and which is made up of one or more types of second products that can be processed without the need for internal work, and divides or combines the first product group or the internal group so that the number of each compared group is the same, and if the number of each compared group is the same, determines a processing order in which one of the first product group and one of the internal group are processed alternately on the production line. According to this configuration, the processing order of the first product and the processing order of the second product on the production line are determined for each group, with the number of out-groups of the first product being equal to the number of in-groups of the second product. With this configuration, the processing order on the production line is determined with a focus on the number of groups. This allows a processing order that shortens the time required to complete processing of all products on the production line to be determined in a short time, even without past performance data.

[0011] The present invention can be realized in various forms, for example, in the form of a processing order determination device, a processing device, a manufacturing device, a processing order determination method, a processing method, a control method for these devices and systems, a computer program executed in these devices and systems, a server device for distributing this computer program, a non-temporary storage medium on which a computer program is stored, etc. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram of a machining sequence determination system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time of a first product and the processing time of a second product. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of internal work constraints. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of outside work constraints. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the production numbers of the first product and the second product. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time per product. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time for each product and the outside time required for outside work. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time of the second product and the internal time required for internal work. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart of a method for determining a machining order according to the present embodiment. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart of a method for determining a machining order according to the present embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the processing order of a first product and a second product processed on a production line. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] <Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a machining sequence determination system (determination device) 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The machining sequence determination system 100 processes a first group of products and a second group of products on a production line by switching between a first jig for machining a first group of products including multiple types of first products and a second jig for machining a second group of products including multiple types of second products. Because only one of the first and second jigs can be used on a production line, it is necessary to switch between the first and second jigs used on the production line in order to process the first and second groups of products. The machining sequence determination system 100 acquires information about the first and second groups of products and information about the number of each product to be machined on the production line, and uses the acquired information to quickly determine a machining sequence that minimizes the time required to complete machining of all products on the production line.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 1, the machining sequence determination system 100 of this embodiment includes a control device 10, a storage device 20 that stores information about a first product and a second product, an input unit 30 that accepts input of various information, and an output unit 40 that outputs various information. In this embodiment, the control device 10 is configured as a personal computer. Details of the control device 10 will be described later. The input unit 30 is configured by a keyboard, a mouse, and a microphone. The output unit 40 is configured by a monitor that displays various images and a speaker.

[0015] The storage device 20 is configured with a hard disk drive (HDD: Hard Disk Drive), etc. The storage device 20 includes a first processing time database (first processing time DB) 21 that stores information on the processing time (first processing time) required to process each of a plurality of types of first products, a second processing time database (second processing time DB) 22 that stores information on the processing time (second processing time) required to process each of a plurality of types of second products, and constraint information (constraint information DB) 23 that stores constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first products and the second products.

[0016] Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the machining time for a first product and the machining time for a second product in this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, in this embodiment, there are 37 types of first products machined by the first jig, numbered b1 to b37. There are 25 types of second products machined by the second jig, numbered a1 to a25. Fig. 2 shows the machining time for machining one product. For example, the machining time for one product with number b1 is 5 minutes, and the machining time for one product with number a5 is 2.5 minutes.

[0017] The constraint information stored in the constraint information DB23 associates constraints on the first machining order, which is the machining order for the first product group, constraints on the second machining order, which is the machining order for the second product group, with the work time required when changing products machined on the production line. Work time is divided into internal time required for internal work performed within the production line and external time required for external work that can be performed both inside and outside the production line. In this embodiment, for example, internal work related to the first jig is performed within the production line, and external work related to the second jig is performed outside the production line, so that the work times required for the first jig and the second jig can be performed in parallel. The machining order determination system 100 of this embodiment determines a machining order on a production line that efficiently performs internal work and external work and shortens the time required to complete machining of all products.

[0018] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of internal work constraints, which associate a first processing order constraint, a second processing order constraint, and internal time constraints. The matrix table shown in FIG. 3 shows the internal time required when a product with a number listed in a column is processed after a product with a number listed in a row is processed. The internal time shown in FIG. 3 is the time (minutes) required when a product with the same number a2 is processed after the processing of the next product. For example, when a product with the same number a2 is processed after the processing of the same product, the internal time is 3 minutes. When a product with the same number a2 is processed after the processing of the same product, the internal time is 9 minutes. When a product other than a2 or a3 is processed after the processing of the product with the number a2, the internal time is 18 minutes. For example, when a product with the number a8 or a9 is processed after the processing of the product with the number a8 or a9, the internal time is 3 minutes. The table in FIG. 3 shows that when products with the same number are processed consecutively, the internal time tends to be shorter. The minimum value of the time between the first product and the second product is 3 minutes, and the maximum value is 18 minutes.

[0019] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of external work constraints that associate a first processing order constraint, a second processing order constraint, and external time. The matrix table shown in FIG. 4 shows the external time required when a product with a number listed in a column is processed after a product with a number listed in a row is processed. The external time shown in FIG. 4 differs from the internal time shown in FIG. 3 in that it represents the time (minutes) required when a different type of product is processed after one type of product is processed. For example, the external time required when one type of product with numbers a4 to a25 is processed after a product with numbers a2 or a3 is processed is 60 minutes. In this embodiment, due to the constraints shown in FIG. 4, both the first product and the second product are processed starting with the product with the smallest number. For convenience, in FIG. 4, 999 minutes is listed as the first processing order constraint and the second processing order constraint in a table in which the processing orders must not be reversed. For example, after processing product number a2 or a3, product number a1 will not be processed, and the off-time when product number a2 or a3 is processed is 0 minutes. Note that because different jigs are used to process the first and second products, in FIG. 4, 999 minutes is entered in the corresponding column to exclude the processing order in which first products numbered b1 to b37 are processed after second products numbered a1 to a25. That is, in this embodiment, due to the constraint of the first processing order, first products included in the first product group are processed in order of increasing numbers, starting with number b1. Similarly, due to the constraint of the second processing order, second products included in the second product group are processed in order of increasing numbers, starting with number a1.

[0020] 1 functions as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and deploys a computer program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory), not shown, into a RAM (Random Access Memory) and executes it. As a result, the control device 10 not only controls each unit of the control device 10 but also functions as an acquisition unit 11, an extraction unit 12, a first determination unit (determination unit) 13, and a second determination unit (determination unit) 14.

[0021] The acquisition unit 11 acquires the processing time of the first product from the first processing time DB 21, the processing time of the second product from the second processing time DB 22, and the constraint information from the constraint information DB 23 in the storage device 20. The acquisition unit 11 further acquires information on the number of each of the first product and the second product to be processed on the production line, which information is input by the user via the input unit 30.

[0022] 5 is an explanatory diagram of the production numbers of the first product and the second product in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the production number of the first product numbered b1 is 12. The production number of the second product numbered a1 is 13.

[0023] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time per product. FIG. 6 shows a table listing the time required to process one product, separated into first products and second products. The processing time per first product is stored in a first processing time DB 21. The processing time per second product is stored in a second processing time DB 22.

[0024] The extraction unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 uses various information acquired by the acquisition unit 11 to create information used to determine the processing order of products to be processed on the production line. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time for each product and the external time required for external work. FIG. 7 shows a table listing the total processing time and external time required when processing the number of products to be produced according to the processing order. The extraction unit 12 creates the table shown in FIG. 7 using the processing time for each product (FIG. 2), the number of products produced (FIG. 5), and the external time (FIG. 4). For example, the processing time for the first product numbered b1 is 5 minutes and the number of products produced is 12. Therefore, in FIG. 7, the processing time for the product numbered b1 is 60 minutes. Note that the processing time shown in FIG. 7 does not include the internal time. The extraction unit 12 further uses information on the external time (FIG. 4) to create the table shown in FIG. 7, inserting the external time between the processing times of each product. In this embodiment, the processing order of the first product and the processing order of the second product are determined so as to minimize the internal time.

[0025] The extraction unit 12 defines an outgroup consisting of one or more types of products that can be processed without requiring an outside operation. Using the created FIG. 7, the extraction unit 12 defines one or more types of products sandwiched between two outside operations as one outgroup. Specifically, for the first products, for example, four products numbered b1 to b4 are defined as one outgroup (first product outgroup), and four products numbered b5 to b8 are defined as one outgroup. Furthermore, for the second products, for example, product numbered a1 is defined as one outgroup (second product outgroup), and products numbered a2 and a3 are defined as one outgroup. Therefore, the first product group is divided into 16 outgroups by the outside operations. The second product group is divided into 11 outgroups by the outside operations.

[0026] The extraction unit 12 uses the created table of FIG. 7 to extract the maximum outside time required for outside operations occurring during the processing of the first product group. As shown in FIG. 7, the outside time for the first product is either 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes. Therefore, the maximum outside time for the first product is 120 minutes. In this embodiment, the only outside operation with an outside time of 120 minutes is one outside operation (hatched in FIG. 7) that occurs after the processing of product number b4 and before the processing of product number b5. Therefore, the extraction unit 12 extracts this outside operation as the maximum outside time operation. The extraction unit 12 also identifies the number m3 of outside groups to be processed after the outside groups numbered b5 to b8 that are processed after the maximum outside time operation. The identified number m3 of outside groups is used in the second half of the processing order determination process described below. The number m3 of outside groups shown in FIG. 7 is 14. In another embodiment, if there are multiple outside work tasks that require the maximum amount of outside time and are candidates for the maximum outside work time, the extraction unit 12 extracts the outside work task that is to be performed first in accordance with the first processing order.

[0027] Next, the extraction unit 12 extracts a dividing group r from among the 11 outgroups consisting of one or more types of second products. The dividing group r is an outgroup whose total processing time is equal to or longer than the maximum overtime work time and which is processed first in the second processing order. As shown in FIG. 7, the total processing time of the first outgroup, which is processed first in the second processing order, is 39 minutes, which is the processing time for product number a1, and is less than 120 minutes, which is the maximum overtime work time. The total processing time of the second outgroup, which is numbers a2 and a3, is 48 minutes (= 30 minutes + 18 minutes), which is less than 120 minutes. The total processing time of the third outgroup, which is numbers a4 and a5, is 50 minutes (= 45 minutes + 5 minutes), which is less than 120 minutes. The total processing time of the fourth outgroup, which is numbers a6 and a7, is 124 minutes (= 30 minutes + 94 minutes), which is greater than 120 minutes. Therefore, the extraction unit 12 extracts the fourth outer group consisting of the products with the fourth numbers a6 and a7 as the delimiting group r.

[0028] The extraction unit 12 identifies the number m1 of outside groups of the second product that are executed before the delimiting group r as the first half groups to be processed in the first half of the processing order. Because the delimiting group r is the fourth outside group of the second product, the extraction unit 12 identifies the first to third outside groups in total as the number m1 (=3) of outside groups. In FIG. 7, the outside times of the outside operations immediately following the outside groups that are processed before the delimiting group r in the second processing order are hatched.

[0029] The extraction unit 12 calculates a first total processing time, which is the total processing time for all of one or more types of first products processed before maximum overtime work is performed. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the first total processing time is the total time for processing products numbered b1 to b4, and is 460 (= 60 + 320 + 30 + 50) minutes. The extraction unit 12 also calculates a second total processing time, which is the sum of the total processing time for all second products executed before delimiter group r and the total outside work time executed before delimiter group r. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the total processing time for all second products executed before delimiter group r is 137 (= 39 + 30 + 18 + 45 + 5) minutes, which is the total processing time for second products numbered a1 to a5. In addition, the total outside work time executed before delimiter group r is 270 (= 120 + 90 + 60) minutes. Therefore, the second total processing time is 407 (= 137 + 270) minutes.

[0030] When the first total processing time is equal to or greater than the second total processing time, the processing order of the first half group of the identified second products and the multiple first products that are processed before the outside work that is one outside work after the maximum overtime work (the outside work performed after the product numbered b8) is determined in a process for determining the processing order of the first half. After that, the processing order of the products numbered a6 and a7 that make up the division group r of the second products is determined, and then the processing order of the first and second products whose processing orders have not yet been determined is determined in a process for determining the processing order of the second half. When the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time, the processing for determining the processing order of the first half is not performed, and a process for determining the processing order of the second half is performed. Note that hereinafter, the "process for determining the processing order of the first half" will also be simply referred to as the "process for the first half," and the "process for determining the processing order of the second half" will also be simply referred to as the "process for the first half."

[0031] As the first half of the process, the first determination unit 13 shown in FIG. 1 determines the processing order for processing the first product group on the production line until the maximum overtime required for overtime work (120 minutes) is reached. Then, the first determination unit 13 determines a processing order for the production line to alternate between processing one of the outgroups of the second product according to the second processing order and processing the first product group according to the first processing order until processing of the delimiting group r is completed. The alternating processing of the first product group continues until the overtime required for the earliest outgroup work of the second product, the processing order of which has not yet been determined according to the second processing order, is reached. If the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time, the first half of the process by the first determination unit 13 is not performed, and the second half of the process by the second determination unit 14, described below, is performed.

[0032] In this embodiment, the first determination unit 13 first processes the first product group until the maximum overtime work time of 120 minutes is reached. Note that in this case, the internal work time is not included in the processing time. The first determination unit 13 processes 12 units of the first product numbered b1, which is the required production quantity. In this case, the processing time is 60 minutes, as shown in FIG. 7. Because the total processing time for the first product numbered b1 has not yet reached the maximum overtime work time of 120 minutes, the first determination unit 13 processes the first product numbered b2 until it reaches 120 minutes. Since the processing time per unit of the first product numbered b2 is 8 minutes (FIG. 6), if eight units of the required production quantity of 40 units (FIG. 5) are produced, the processing time for the first product numbered b2 will be 64 minutes. As a result, the total of the 64-minute processing time for the eight first products numbered b2 and the 60-minute processing time for the first product numbered b1 is 124 minutes, which is the maximum overtime work time of 120 minutes. In this case, the first determination unit 13 changes the jig used on the production line from the first jig to the second jig, and starts processing the second product group.

[0033] The first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for the second product group on the production line until processing of one out-group is completed. As shown in Figure 7, the only product that constitutes the out-group that is processed first according to the second processing order is product number a1. Therefore, the first determination unit 13 processes the second product number a1 using the second jig, and then changes the jig used on the production line from the second jig to the first jig to determine the processing order for processing the first product group.

[0034] Here, the outside work to be performed first in the second processing sequence is the outside work after processing the second product numbered a1, and the outside time required for this outside work is 120 minutes. Therefore, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing sequence for processing the first product group on the production line until 120 minutes is reached after processing the second product numbered a1. Specifically, the first determination unit 13 processes 15 of the remaining 32 units (40 units - 8 units) of the first product numbered b2. When 15 first products numbered b2 have been processed, the processing time reaches 120 minutes (= 8 minutes / unit x 15 units), which is the outside time required for the outside work after processing the second product numbered a1.

[0035] The first determination unit 13 then changes the jig used on the production line to the second jig and determines the processing order for processing the second products numbered a2 and a3, which constitute the second outgroup, in accordance with the second processing order. The out-time required for out-working after processing the second products numbered a2 and a3 is 90 minutes. Therefore, after processing the second products numbered a2 and a3, the first determination unit 13 processes 12 of the remaining 17 units (32 units - 15 units) of the first product numbered b2. If 12 units of the first product numbered b2 are processed, the processing time will be 96 minutes (= 8 minutes / unit × 12 units), and the out-time for the second products will reach 90 minutes.

[0036] As described above, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order in the production line that alternately processes the first product and the second product in the first half of the processing, and then determines the processing order for the products numbered b5 to b8 that constitute the outgroup of the first product that is processed after the maximum overtime work. Note that if there are other first or second products whose processing order is determined in the first half of the processing before processing the first products numbered b5 to b8, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for the products numbered b5 to b8 after processing the remaining products. Then, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for the second products in the delimiting group r after processing the first products numbered b1 to b4.

[0037] The second determination unit 14 shown in Fig. 1 determines the processing order of the first product and the second product by a process different from the process for determining the processing order in the first half of the process. In the second half of the process, the second determination unit 14 first divides the second product into internal groups divided by internal operations, and specifies the number of internal groups for which the processing order is determined in the second half of the process. An internal group is a group consisting of one or more types of products that are processed without requiring internal operations.

[0038] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the processing time and the internal time for the second product. FIG. 8 shows a table listing the total processing time and internal time when processing the second product in accordance with the processing order for the number of units to be produced. The second determination unit 14 creates the table shown in FIG. 8 using the total processing time (FIG. 7) and internal time (FIG. 3) for each product. The second determination unit 14 identifies the number m4 of internal groups for the second product to be processed after the processing of the products with numbers a6 and a7 belonging to the delimiting group r. The number m4 of internal groups to be processed after the delimiting group r is a total of 11 internal groups, including the internal groups with numbers a8 and a9, the internal groups with numbers a10 and a11, ..., the internal groups a24 and a25, etc. Note that if the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time and the first half of the processing by the first determination unit 13 has not been performed, the second determination unit 14 determines the total number of internal groups for all second products as the number m4 of internal groups.

[0039] The second determination unit 14 compares the number m3 of outgroups of a first product, whose machining order has not been determined in the first half of the processing (FIG. 7), with the number m4 of ingroups of a second product, whose machining order has not been determined in the first half of the processing (FIG. 8). The second determination unit 14 divides or combines the outgroups of the first product or the ingroups of the second product so that the compared number m3 of outgroups of the first product and the number m4 of ingroups of the second product are the same. In this embodiment, if the number m3 of outgroups of the first product is greater than the number m4 of ingroups of the second product, the second determination unit 14 divides one of the ingroups into two groups until the number m3 of outgroups and the number m4 of ingroups are the same. As a division method, the ingroup of the second product whose minimum machining time is the longest among the multiple ingroups is divided into two groups. On the other hand, when the number of outgroups m3 for the first product is smaller than the number of ingroups m4 for the second product, the second determination unit 14 combines two ingroups into one group until the number of outgroups m3 for the first product and the number of ingroups m4 for the second product become the same. As a combining method, the two ingroups that are to be processed first in the second processing order are combined into one ingroup. When the number of outgroups m3 for the first product and the number of ingroups m4 for the second product are the same, the second determination unit 14 determines a processing order in which one of the outgroups for the first product and one of the ingroups for the second product are processed alternately on the production line.

[0040] As shown in Fig. 7, the extraction unit 12 extracts a total of 14 outgroups consisting of products numbered b9 and onwards as the number m3 of outgroups of first products whose processing order has not been determined in the first half of the processing. Furthermore, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the second determination unit 14 extracts 11 ingroups consisting of products numbered a8 and onwards as the number m4 of ingroups of second products whose processing order has not been determined in the first half of the processing. Note that when the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time and the first half of the processing has not been performed by the first determination unit 13, the second determination unit 14 determines the total number of outgroups of all first products as the number m3 of outgroups.

[0041] In this embodiment, in the latter half of the processing, the number m3 (=14) of outgroups of first products whose processing order has not been determined is greater than the number m4 (=11) of ingroups of second products whose processing order has not been determined. Therefore, the second determination unit 14 extracts the minimum value of each of the processing times of the second products that make up the ingroups among the 11 ingroups of second products. In addition, the second determination unit 14 calculates the difference between the number m3 (=14) of outgroups of first products whose processing order has not been determined and the number m4 (=11) of ingroups of second products whose processing order has not been determined, which is 3.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 8, for example, the minimum processing time of the in-group consisting of products numbered a8 and a9 is 90 minutes for product number a8. The minimum processing time of the in-group consisting of products numbered a10 and a11 is 90 minutes for product number a10. The second determination unit 14 extracts one in-group having the largest minimum value from the 11 minimum values ​​extracted from each of the 11 in-groups for which the processing order has not been determined. Note that the second determination unit 14 extracts in-groups consisting of two or more types of second products, but does not extract in-groups consisting of only one type of second product. The second determination unit 14 divides one extracted in-group into two in-groups. The second determination unit 14 repeats the process of dividing one extracted in-group into two in-groups until the number m3 of out-groups of first products and the number m4 of in-groups of second products after division become the same. In this embodiment, the second determination unit 14 first extracts 100 minutes, which is the processing time of the second product numbered a14, as the processing time with the largest minimum value. Note that if there are two or more internal groups that make up processing times with the same minimum value, the second determination unit 14 preferentially extracts the second product that makes up the internal group that is processed first according to the second processing order.

[0043] The second determination unit 14 divides each of the internal groups made up of the three extracted second products into two. For example, an internal group made up of the second products numbered a13 and a14 is divided into two groups: an internal group made up of the second product numbered a13 and an internal group made up of the second product numbered a14. Furthermore, if the internal group extracted to be divided is made up of an odd number of types of second products, the types of second products to be included in the two internal groups after division are determined so that the processing times of the two internal groups after division are as similar as possible.

[0044] When the number m3 of outer groups of the first product and the number m4 of inner groups of the second product after division become the same, the second determination unit 14 determines a processing order in which one of each of the outer groups of the first product and the inner groups of the second product is processed alternately on the production line until processing is completed.

[0045] 9 and 10 are flowcharts of a method for determining a machining order according to this embodiment. In the determination flow shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, first, the acquisition unit 11 executes an acquisition step of acquiring various information (step S1). The acquisition unit 11 acquires the machining time of the first product, the machining time of the second product, constraint information for determining the machining order, and information on the number of units to be produced on the production line. In the determination flow shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, determining the machining order is also simply expressed as "machining."

[0046] The extraction unit 12 uses the information acquired by the acquisition unit 11 to extract the outside time required for the maximum overtime work, which is the outside work performed earliest in the first processing order, from the maximum outside time required for the outside work of the first product (step S2). As shown in Fig. 7, the extraction unit 12 extracts 120 minutes as the maximum outside time required for the maximum overtime work performed after the processing of the first product numbered b4 and before the processing of the first product numbered b5.

[0047] The extraction unit 12 extracts a delimited group r from the outgroups of the second products, the total processing time of which is equal to or longer than the outtime required for the maximum overtime work and which will be processed first in accordance with the second processing order (step S3). As shown in Fig. 7, the extraction unit 12 extracts the delimited group r consisting of the second products with numbers a6 and a7 whose outtime for the maximum overtime work is equal to or longer than 120 minutes. The processing of steps S2 and S3 corresponds to an extraction process.

[0048] The extraction unit 12 determines whether the first total processing time is equal to or longer than the second total processing time (step S4). If it is determined that the first total processing time is shorter than the second total processing time (step S4: NO), the latter half of the process from step S15 onward in FIG. 10, which will be described later, is performed. If it is determined that the first total processing time is equal to or longer than the second total processing time (step S4: YES in FIG. 9), the extraction unit 12 identifies the number m1 (=3) of outgroups of the second product to be processed before the extracted delimiter group r according to the second processing order (step S5). The first determination unit 13 determines the processing order in which the first products are processed on the production line in order according to the first processing order until the maximum overtime time of 120 minutes is reached (step S6). FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the processing order of the first and second products processed on the production line. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 11, the first determination unit 13 processes the first product numbered b1 for 60 minutes, and then processes the product numbered b2 for 64 minutes (8 minutes per product x 8 products).

[0049] The first determination unit 13 determines whether the number of outgroups m1 identified by the extraction unit 12 is an integer equal to or greater than 1 (step S7 in FIG. 9). If the number of outgroups m1 is less than 1, that is, if the number of outgroups m1 is zero (step S7: NO), the process of step S11, which will be described later, is performed. If the number of outgroups m1 is an integer equal to or greater than 1 (step S7: YES), the first determination unit 13 determines a processing sequence for processing all of the second products included in the outgroup of the second product that is to be processed first according to the second processing sequence on the production line (step S8). The first determination unit 13 determines a processing sequence for processing all of the production quantities of the second product numbered a1.

[0050] The first determination unit 13 processes the first product on the production line until the outside time required for the outside operation to be performed first in the second processing sequence is reached (step S9). The outside time for the outside operation after processing the second product numbered a1 is 120 minutes, as shown in Figure 7. Therefore, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing sequence on the production line to process the first product numbered b2 for 120 minutes (= 8 minutes / piece x 15 pieces) until 120 minutes is reached.

[0051] The first determination unit 13 determines whether there is an outgroup of the second product that will be processed before the delimiting group r (FIG. 7) according to the second processing order (step S10 in FIG. 9). If it is determined that there is an outgroup (step S10: YES), the processing from step S8 onwards is repeated. Here, the outgroups with numbers a2 and a3 and the outgroups with numbers a4 and a5 exist as outgroups that will be processed before the delimiting group r according to the second processing order. Therefore, in the processing of step S8, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for processing the second products with numbers a2 and a3 on the production line. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11, the processing order is determined in which 12 first products with number b2 are processed and the second products with numbers a4 and a5 are processed.

[0052] In the process of step S10, if it is determined that there is no outgroup of second products to be processed before the delimiting group r in the second processing order (step S10: NO), the first determination unit 13 determines whether or not there are any first products remaining other than the delimiting group r, the processing order of which is to be determined in the first half of the process (step S11).If it is determined that there are no first products remaining (step S11: NO), the process of step S13 is performed.

[0053] If it is determined that first products remain (step S11: YES), the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for processing all of the remaining first products on the production line. In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 8 and 10, first products with numbers b2 to b4 remain, so the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for processing the remaining first products with numbers b2 to b4 on the production line (step S12).

[0054] Thereafter, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for processing the second products numbered a6 and a7 that constitute the delimiter group r (step S13). Thereafter, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for processing all of the second products that constitute the outer group numbered b5 to b8 after the maximum overtime work that is performed after the processing of the first product numbered b4 and before the processing of the first product numbered b5 (step S14). Note that the above processing shown in FIG. 9 is the first half of the processing executed by the first determination unit 13.

[0055] In the latter half of the processing performed after step S14, the extraction unit 12 identifies the number of outgroups m3 (=14) of first products for which the processing order has not been determined, as shown in FIG. 7 (step S15 in FIG. 10). If the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time (step S4: NO) and the first half of the processing has not been performed, the total number of outgroups for all first products is determined as the number of outgroups m3. Furthermore, the second determination unit 14 identifies the number of ingroups m4 (=11) of second products for which the processing order has not been determined, as shown in FIG. 8 (step S16 in FIG. 10). If the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time (step S4: NO) and the first half of the processing has not been performed, the total number of ingroups for all second products is determined as the number of ingroups m4.

[0056] The second determination unit 14 determines whether the identified number of outgroups m3 of the first product is greater than the identified number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S17). If it is determined that the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is less than or equal to the number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S17: NO), it determines whether the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S20). If it is determined that the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S20: YES), the process of step S22, which will be described later, is performed.

[0057] In the process of step S20, if it is determined that the number of outer groups m3 of the first product and the number of inner groups m4 of the second product are not the same, that is, the number of outer groups m3 of the first product is smaller than the number of inner groups m4 of the second product (step S20: NO), the second determination unit 14 combines, into one group, two inner groups that are to be processed first according to the second processing order among the inner groups of the second product whose processing order has not been determined (step S21). Note that in the subsequent processes, the second determination unit 14 treats the combined groups as one inner group. Therefore, the process of step S21 reduces the number of inner groups m4 of the second product by one.

[0058] The second determination unit 14 determines whether the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product after the combination (step S20). If it is determined that the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is different from the number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S20: NO), the second determination unit 14 performs the process of step S21 again. By repeating the processes of steps S20 and S21, the second determination unit 14 makes the number of outgroups m3 of the first product the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product after the combination.

[0059] If it is determined in the process of step S17 that the number of out-groups m3 for the first product is greater than the number of in-groups m4 for the second product (step S17: YES), the second determination unit 14 divides the in-group with the longest minimum machining time among the second products constituting the in-group whose machining order has not yet been determined into two groups (step S18). Note that the two groups after division are each regarded as an in-group in the subsequent processes. Therefore, the process of step S18 increases the number of in-groups m4 for the second product by one. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the machining time of 100 minutes for the in-group number a14 composed of the second products numbered a13 and a14 is the longest among the minimum machining times of the in-groups. Therefore, the second determination unit 14 divides the in-group numbered a13 and a14 into an in-group composed of the second products numbered 13a and an in-group composed of the second products numbered 14a. As a result, the number of in-groups m4 for the second product increases by one to 12.

[0060] Next, the second determination unit 14 determines whether the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product after division (step S19). If it is determined that the number of outgroups m3 of the first product is different from the number of ingroups m4 of the second product (step S19: NO), the second determination unit 14 performs the process of step S18 again. The number of ingroups m4 of the second product after division is 12, which is different from the number of outgroups m3 of the first product, which is 14. Therefore, in the process of step S18, the second determination unit 14 identifies the machining time of 90 minutes for number a8 of the ingroups numbered a8 and a9 as the maximum of the minimum machining times of the ingroups, as shown in FIG. 8. Note that the machining time of 90 minutes for number a10 is also the same value, but if there are two or more identical values, in this embodiment, the machining time of the one that is machined first according to the second machining order is identified as the maximum.

[0061] The second determination unit 14 repeats the processes of steps S18 and S19 to set the number of outgroups m3 of the first product to be the same as the number of ingroups m4 of the second product after division. If it is determined in the process of step S19 that the number of outgroups m3 of the first product and the number of ingroups m4 of the second product are the same (step S19: YES), the second determination unit 14 determines a processing order in which the outgroups of the first product and the ingroups of the second product, whose processing orders have not been determined, are processed alternately on the production line according to the processing order of each product (step S22). Thereafter, the processing order determination flow ends. The processing order on the production line shown in FIG. 11 is determined by the determination flow shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The processing from step S6 to step S22 corresponds to the determination process. The processing from step S15 to step S22 corresponds to the processing for determining the latter half of the processing order.

[0062] As described above, in the machining sequence determination system 100 of this embodiment, the acquisition unit 11 acquires the machining time of the first product, the machining time of the second product, constraint information, and information on the number of each of the first and second products to be machined on the production line. The constraint information associates constraints on the first machining sequence, constraints on the second machining sequence, and the work time required when changing products to be machined on the production line. The work time is divided into internal time required for internal tasks performed within the production line and external time required for external tasks that can be performed both inside and outside the production line. The extraction unit 12 extracts the maximum external time required for external tasks that occur when machining the first product group. Furthermore, the extraction unit 12 extracts, from among the 11 external groups of the second product shown in FIG. 7, a delimiting group r whose total machining time for the external group is equal to or greater than the external time required for the maximum external task and that is to be machined first in the second machining sequence. In the first half of the process, the first determination unit 13 determines the processing order for the first product group on the production line until the maximum overtime required for overtime work (120 minutes) is reached. Then, the first determination unit 13 determines a processing order for the production line to alternate between processing one of the outgroups of the second product according to the second processing order and processing the first product group according to the first processing order until processing of the delimiting group r is completed. The alternating processing of the first product group continues until the overtime required for the earliest outgroup operation of the second product, whose processing order has not yet been determined according to the second processing order, is reached. In the second half of the process, the second determination unit 14 compares the number m3 of outgroups of the first product, whose processing order has not yet been determined in the first half of the process (FIG. 7), with the number m4 of ingroups of the second product, whose processing order has not yet been determined in the first half of the process (FIG. 8). The second determination unit 14 divides or combines the outgroups of the first product or the ingroups of the second product so that the number m3 of outgroups of the compared first product is the same as the number m4 of ingroups of the second product. When the number m3 of outgroups of the first product is the same as the number m4 of ingroups of the second product, the second determination unit 14 determines a processing sequence in which one of the outgroups of the first product and one of the ingroups of the second product are processed alternately on the production line. In this embodiment, the processing sequences for the first and second product groups in the production line are determined by different processes.In the first half of the process, the processing sequence on the production line is determined based on the maximum overtime work outside the first product group and the division group r of the second product extracted using the maximum overtime work outside the first product group. The processing time for the second product on the production line is determined based on the completion of processing of the second product's outgroup. In the second half of the process, the processing sequence for the first product and the processing sequence for the second product on the production line are determined for each group, with the number of outgroups m3 for the first product and the number of ingroups m4 for the second product being equal. That is, in this embodiment, the processing sequence on the production line is determined in the first half of the process with a focus on processing time, and the processing sequence on the production line is determined in the second half of the process with a focus on the number of groups. As a result, even without past performance data, a processing sequence that shortens the time required to complete processing of all products on the production line can be determined in a short time.

[0063] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the number of outgroups m3 for the first product is greater than the number of ingroups m4 for the second product, the second determination unit 14 divides one of the ingroups into two groups until the number of outgroups m3 and the number of ingroups m4 become the same. As a division method, the ingroup having the longest minimum machining time among the second products constituting the ingroup of the second product is divided into two groups. On the other hand, when the number of outgroups m3 for the first product is less than the number of ingroups m4 for the second product, the second determination unit 14 combines two ingroups into one group until the number of outgroups m3 for the first product and the number of ingroups m4 for the second product become the same. As a combination method, the two ingroups that are machined earliest in the second machining order are combined into one ingroup. In this embodiment, in the latter half of the processing, if the number m3 of outgroups for the first product, whose processing order has not yet been determined, is greater than the number m4 of ingroups for the second product, the ingroup for which the minimum processing time of the ingroup for the second product is greater than the minimum values ​​of the other ingroups, is divided into two groups. This division increases the number m4 of ingroups for the second product, becoming equal to or approaching the number m3 of outgroups for the first product. On the other hand, if the number m3 of outgroups for the first product, whose processing order has not yet been determined, is less than the number m4 of ingroups for the second product, the two ingroups for the second product that are to be processed first according to the second processing order are combined into one group. This combination increases the number m4 of ingroups for the second product, becoming equal to or approaching the number m3 of outgroups for the first product. In other words, in this embodiment, by increasing or decreasing the number m4 of ingroups for the second product, the first product and the second product are processed alternately on the production line in the latter half of the processing, thereby determining a processing order that further shortens the time until processing is completed.

[0064] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if it is determined in the processing of step S4 in Fig. 9 that the first total processing time is less than the second total processing time (step S4: NO), the first half of the processing is not performed, and the second half of the processing from step S15 onwards in Fig. 10 is performed to determine the processing sequence for all products. In this embodiment, the processing sequence for the production line is determined with a focus on the number of groups in the second half of the processing. As a result, even if there is no past performance data, a processing sequence that shortens the time until processing of all products on the production line is determined in a short time.

[0065] <Modifications of the embodiment> The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention, including, for example, the following modifications: In the above-described embodiment, part of the configuration realized by hardware may be replaced by software, and conversely, part of the configuration realized by software may be replaced by hardware.

[0066] In the above embodiment, an example of the machining sequence determination system 100 that determines the machining sequence when a first product group machined by a first jig and a second product group machined by a second jig are machined on one production line has been described, but the device and system for determining the machining sequence can be modified. The machining sequence determination system 100 does not need to include the input unit 30, the output unit 40, and the storage device 20. The machining sequence determination system 100 may obtain various information required to determine the machining sequence via wireless communication or the like.

[0067] In the above embodiment, the processing order of the first product and the processing order of the second product were determined so as to minimize the internal time required for the internal operations shown in Fig. 3, but the determination of the processing order of each product can be modified using known methods. In other embodiments, the processing order of the first product and the processing order of the second product determined using a method different from that of this embodiment may be used to create a table corresponding to Figs. 7 and 8, and the processing order of all products on the production line may be determined.

[0068] In the above embodiment, in the latter half of the process of determining the machining order on the production line, the number of in-groups m4 and the number of out-groups m3 of the first product are set to be equal by dividing or combining the in-groups of the second product, whose machining order has not yet been determined. However, the method of making the number of in-groups m4 and the number of out-groups m3 equal can be modified. For example, instead of dividing or combining the in-groups of the second product, the out-groups of the first product may be divided or combined. In the above embodiment, when combining two in-groups of the second product, the two groups that are processed first according to the second machining order are identified as the groups to be combined. However, in other embodiments, for example, two in-groups that are processed consecutively via a single internal operation and that have the shortest total machining time for the second products that make up the two in-groups may be selected from the in-groups of the second product, whose machining order has not yet been determined.

[0069] In the above embodiment, if the total processing time of the outgroups is equal to or greater than the maximum out-of-hours working time and the separator group r to be processed first in the second processing order is not extracted, the processing order of the first product group and the second product group may be determined only by the latter processing without performing the first processing. For example, in the example shown in Figure 7, if the processing time of all the outgroups of the second product group is less than 120 minutes, which is the maximum out-of-hours working time, the processing order of all products may be determined by the latter processing.

[0070] In the above embodiment, the extraction unit 12 may divide each of the first product group and the second product group into pre-processing groups to be processed in the first half and post-processing groups to be processed in the second half based on the number of outgroups into which the product group is divided. When the number of outgroups is even, the extraction unit 12 divides the product group so that the number of groups divided into pre-processing groups and post-processing groups is the same. When the number of outgroups is odd, the extraction unit 12 divides the product group so that the number of pre-processing groups is one more than the number of post-processing groups. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 7, the eight groups from the outgroups numbered b1 to b4 to the outgroups b18 to b20 correspond to the pre-processing groups of the first product group. The eight groups from the outgroups numbered b21 and b22 to the outgroups b34 to b37 correspond to the post-processing groups of the first product group. The six groups from the outgroup numbered a1 to the outgroups a12 to a14 correspond to the pre-processing groups of the second product group. The five groups from the outer group numbered a15 to the outer groups numbered a24 and a25 correspond to the post-processing groups of the second product group. In a modified example, the first determination unit 13 may not perform the first half of the processing when the maximum overtime work of the first product is an outside work that belongs to the post-processing group. Alternatively, the first determination unit 13 may perform the first half of the processing as in the above embodiment when the maximum overtime work of the first product belongs to the post-processing group and the separator group r of the second product belongs to the post-processing group.

[0071] This aspect has been described above based on embodiments and modifications. However, the above-described embodiments are intended to facilitate understanding of this aspect and are not intended to limit this aspect. This aspect may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims, and equivalents thereof are included in this aspect. Furthermore, if a technical feature is not described as essential in this specification, it may be deleted as appropriate.

[0072] The present invention can also be realized in the following forms. [Application example 1] A device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the multiple types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the multiple types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; a determination unit that determines a processing order for a first half and a processing order for a second half in the production line by different processes using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit; Equipped with The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction unit may include, as the specific information: the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second product non-group that is processed first in the second processing order, from among the second product non-groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determination unit As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; A determination device that, as a process for determining the latter half of the processing order, compares the number of first product outer groups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the outer operation among the first product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, with the number of inner groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the inner operation among the second product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, and divides or combines the first product outer groups or the inner groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and, if the numbers of each compared group are the same, determines a processing order in which one of the first product outer groups and one of the inner groups are processed alternately on the production line. [Application example 2] The determination device according to Application Example 1, The determination unit, as the process of determining the latter half of the machining order, When the number of the first product out-groups for which the processing order in the production line has not been determined in the first half of the processing order determination process is greater than the number of the in-groups, the in-group for which the minimum value of the processing time of the second products constituting the in-group is the longest among the plurality of in-groups is divided into two in-groups until the number of the first product out-groups becomes the same as the number of the in-groups, A determination device that, when the number of first product outgroups for which the processing order in the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the first half of the processing order is smaller than the number of ingroups, combines two of the ingroups that are to be processed earliest in the second processing order into one ingroup until the number of the first product outgroups and the number of the ingroups become the same. [Application example 3] A device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the multiple types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the multiple types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; a determination unit that determines a processing order in the production line using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit; Equipped with The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction unit may include, as the specific information: the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second product non-group that is processed first in the second processing order, from among the second product non-groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determination unit compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product group, for which the processing order on the production line has not been determined, with the number of internal groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product group, for which the processing order on the production line has not been determined, and divides or combines the first product outgroups or internal groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and if the numbers of each compared group are the same, determines a processing order in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the internal groups are processed alternately on the production line. [Application example 4] A method for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second jig that processes the second product group, the method comprising: an acquisition process for acquiring a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction step of extracting specific information from the acquired information; a determination step of determining a processing order for a first half of the production line and a processing order for a second half of the production line by different processes using the acquired information and the extracted specific information; Run The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, In the extraction step, the specific information is the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second product non-group that is processed first in the second processing order, from among the second product non-groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determining step As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; A determination method in which, as a process for determining the latter half of the processing order, the number of first product outer groups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, is compared with the number of inner groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, and the first product outer groups or inner groups are divided or combined so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and if the numbers of each compared group are the same, a processing order is determined in which one of the first product outer groups and one of the inner groups are processed alternately on the production line. [Application example 5] A computer program for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition function for acquiring a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction function for extracting specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition function; a determination function that determines a processing order for a first half and a processing order for a second half in the production line by different processes using the information acquired by the acquisition function and the specific information extracted by the extraction function; This is realized by a computer, The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction function includes, as the specific information, the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second product non-group that is processed first in the second processing order, from among the second product non-groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The decision function is As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; A computer program that, as a process for determining the latter half of the processing order, compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, with the number of ingroups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product group, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, divides or combines the first product outgroups or ingroups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and, if the numbers of each compared group are the same, determines a processing order in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the ingroups are processed alternately on the production line. [Explanation of symbols]

[0073] 10...Control device 11…Acquisition part 12...Extraction part 13...First decision unit (decision unit) 14...Second decision unit (decision unit) 20…Storage device 30...Input section 40...Output section 100...Processing order determination system (determination device) 21...1st machining time database 22...Second processing time database 23...Constraint information database m1: Number of outgroups for the second product m3: Number of outgroups of the first product m4: Number of groups in the second product r...separator group

Claims

1. A device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; a determination unit that determines a processing order for a first half and a processing order for a second half in the production line by different processes using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit; Equipped with The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction unit may include, as the specific information: the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second non-product group that is processed first in the second processing order, from the second non-product groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determination unit As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; In the process of determining the latter half of the processing sequence, the determination device compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product groups, whose processing sequence on the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing sequence, with the number of internal groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product groups, whose processing sequence on the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing sequence, and divides or combines the first product outgroups or internal groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and if the numbers of each compared group are the same, determines a processing sequence in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the internal groups are processed alternately on the production line.

2. 2. The determination device of claim 1, The determination unit, as the process of determining the latter half of the processing order, When the number of the first product out-groups for which the processing order in the production line has not been determined in the processing for determining the processing order in the first half is greater than the number of the in-groups, the in-group for which the minimum value of the processing time of the second products constituting the in-group is the longest among the plurality of in-groups is divided into two in-groups until the number of the first product out-groups becomes the same as the number of the in-groups, When the number of first product outgroups for which the processing order has not been determined in the production line in the process of determining the first half of the processing order is smaller than the number of ingroups, a determination device combines two of the ingroups that are to be processed earliest in the second processing order into one ingroup until the number of the first product outgroups and the number of ingroups become the same.

3. A device for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition unit that acquires a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction unit that extracts specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition unit; a determination unit that determines a processing order in the production line using the information acquired by the acquisition unit and the specific information extracted by the extraction unit; Equipped with The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction unit may include, as the specific information: the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second non-product group that is processed first in the second processing order, from the second non-product groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determination unit compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product groups, for which the processing order on the production line has not been determined, with the number of internal groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product groups, for which the processing order on the production line has not been determined, and divides or combines the first product outgroups or the internal groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same.If the numbers of each compared group are the same, the determination device determines a processing order in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the internal groups are processed alternately on the production line.

4. A method for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, the method comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction step of extracting specific information from the acquired information; a determination step of determining a processing order for a first half of the production line and a processing order for a second half of the production line by different processes using the acquired information and the extracted specific information; Run The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, In the extraction step, the specific information is the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second non-product group that is processed first in the second processing order, from the second non-product groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The determining step As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; In the process of determining the latter half of the processing sequence, the method compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product groups, whose processing sequence on the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing sequence, with the number of internal groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product groups, whose processing sequence on the production line has not been determined in the process of determining the former half of the processing sequence, and divides or combines the first product outgroups or internal groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same.If the numbers of each compared group are the same, the method determines a processing sequence in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the internal groups are processed alternately on the production line.

5. A computer program for determining a processing order on a production line when processing a first product group including a plurality of types of first products and a second product group including a plurality of types of second products by switching between a first jig that processes the first product group and a second product group on the production line, an acquisition function for acquiring a first processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of first products, a second processing time required to process each of the plurality of types of second products, information on the number of products to be processed on the production line, and constraint information related to the processing order when processing the first product group and the second product group; an extraction function for extracting specific information from the information acquired by the acquisition function; a determination function that determines a processing order for a first half and a processing order for a second half in the production line by different processes using the information acquired by the acquisition function and the specific information extracted by the extraction function; This is realized by a computer, The constraint information is A constraint on a first processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the first product group; A constraint on a second processing sequence, which is a processing sequence of the second product group; The information associates, among the work time required to change the product processed on the production line, the internal time required for internal work performed on the production line and the external time required for external work that can be performed on and outside the production line, The extraction function includes, as the specific information, the maximum value of the external time for the first product group; extracting a separator group, which is the second non-product group that is processed first in the second processing order, from the second non-product groups that are made up of one or more types of the second products that can be processed without requiring the external work and whose total processing time is equal to or greater than the maximum value; The decision function is As a process for determining the processing sequence for the first half, a processing sequence is determined in which the first product group is processed on the production line until the maximum value is reached, and then one of the second product outside groups is processed according to the second processing sequence until the processing of the dividing group is completed, and the first product group is processed according to the first processing sequence until the outside time required for the outside operation that is to be performed earliest among the outside operations that have not yet been performed according to the second processing sequence is reached; A computer program that, as a process for determining the latter half of the processing order, compares the number of first product outgroups consisting of one or more types of first products that can be processed without requiring the external operation among the first product groups, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, with the number of internal groups consisting of one or more types of second products that can be processed without requiring the internal operation among the second product groups, whose processing order on the production line has not been determined in the process for determining the former half of the processing order, divides or combines the first product outgroups or internal groups so that the numbers of each compared group are the same, and, if the numbers of each compared group are the same, determines a processing order in which one of the first product outgroups and one of the internal groups are processed alternately on the production line.

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