Process planning device

Abstract

To provide a process planning device with which, even when resources are preliminarily set to each process, it is possible to determine the start time of each process so that the entire construction schedule is minimized.SOLUTION: A process planning device 1 according to the present disclosure comprises: a storage unit 11 for storing a plurality of processes, required times each required for each of the plurality of processes, and resources each allocated to each of the plurality of processes in association with one another; and a computation unit 12 for computing and generating an execution plan of the plurality of processes so that resources are not used overlapping another process at a same time point. Here, the storage unit 11 further stores constraint conditions for define an anteroposterior relation of the plurality of processes. The computation unit 12 determines candidate order of process execution for each resource on the basis of the constraint conditions and determines an optimal solution for order of process execution of the plurality of processes on the basis of the candidate order of process execution for each resource and execution order of the entire process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a process planning device that creates a work schedule for production, civil engineering and construction work, etc. [Background technology]

[0002] When creating a work schedule (construction schedule) for production, civil engineering, or construction work, there is a demand to create the work schedule by specifying resources (a combination of workers, equipment, heavy machinery, etc.: plural of resource) for each process of the construction, etc. Here, a system is known that can create a production schedule by appropriately selecting from a plurality of processes and a plurality of resources (for example, see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6706169 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the system of Patent Document 1, the user cannot specify which resource is to be allocated to which process, and the resources used in each process depend on the optimization results determined by the system. Therefore, there is a problem that the system is difficult to use for users who want to specify resources for each process.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a process planning device that can determine the start time of each process so as to minimize the overall construction schedule, even if resources are set in advance for each process. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The process planning device of the present disclosure is a storage unit that stores a plurality of processes, a required time for each of the plurality of processes, and resources allocated to each of the plurality of processes in association with each other; a calculation unit that calculates and generates an execution plan for the plurality of processes so that each of the resources is not used in duplicate in different processes at the same time; Equipped with the storage unit further stores a constraint condition for determining a sequence of the plurality of processes; The calculation unit determines process execution order candidates for each of the resources based on the constraint conditions, and determines an optimal solution for the process execution order of the multiple processes based on the process execution order candidates for each of the resources and the execution order of the processes as a whole between each of the multiple processes. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a process planning device that can determine the start time of each process so as to minimize the overall construction schedule, even if resources are set in advance for each process. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a process planning apparatus according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a network process chart including a plurality of processes and a plurality of resources according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network schedule and a construction schedule according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] (Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the invention according to the claims is not limited to the following embodiment. Furthermore, not all of the configurations described in the embodiment are necessarily essential as means for solving the problem. For clarity of explanation, the following description and drawings have been omitted and simplified as appropriate.

[0010] <Consideration of issues> When scheduling tasks such as production or civil engineering / construction work, where resources (workers, equipment, etc.) are specified for each of multiple processes, various constraints can be limiting, such as the requirement that experienced workers be paired with new workers, or the requirement that the equipment used for construction be fixed to the ground in civil engineering work, etc. In particular, in the latter case, it is difficult to move both the things being constructed (the ground or buildings) and the equipment (including heavy machinery, etc.) to other locations, and it may not be possible to repurpose the equipment for work or other processes in another location.

[0011] When the resources to be used for each process are determined by such conditions, it is necessary to create a schedule that does not use the same resources at the same time. In other words, there is a need to set fixed resources for each process and determine the start time of each process so that the resources are not used simultaneously.

[0012] In the system described in Patent Document 1, a construction schedule is also created so that resources are not used simultaneously. However, in a situation where resources overlap, the type of resource assigned to each process is changed so that the resources are not used simultaneously. In such a process plan, the user cannot specify which resource is assigned to which process, and the resources used in each process end up depending on the optimization results determined by the system.

[0013] <Outline of the process planning device> First, an overview of the process planning device will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the process planning device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the process planning device 1 includes a storage unit 11 and a calculation unit 12. Here, the process planning device 1 is a device that plans (creates) a construction period (construction schedule) of a predetermined construction or the like based on a plurality of processes, each of which has a predetermined required time for the work, and a plurality of resources that can be allocated to each process. However, although not shown in the figure, the process planning device 1 may be configured to further include a setting unit that allows a user to set resources to be allocated to each process, for example, and to store information on the resources set by the setting unit in the storage unit 11.

[0014] The process planning device 1 of the present embodiment is a device that optimizes a process plan for a task (construction) consisting of multiple processes using linear programming, and is configured to generate a process plan that shortens a construction period, for example. Specifically, the process planning device 1 is configured to execute an optimization calculation for optimizing the process plan using a linear programming algorithm (hereinafter, optimization algorithm).

[0015] The storage unit 11 is configured to store a plurality of processes, the required time for each of the processes, and resources allocated to each of the processes in association with each other. In this embodiment, one resource is allocated to each process. Here, the resource means a combination of a worker or a group of workers, a facility to be subjected to construction or the like, and a machine such as heavy machinery used in the process. For example, a type of worker, a work location, a type of heavy machinery, etc. are allocated to one process.

[0016] The storage unit 11 is further configured to store constraint conditions for determining the chronological relationship between a plurality of processes. The chronological relationship between a plurality of processes means the path between processes in the construction, for example, a relationship such as "process B is carried out after process A." Constraint conditions are conditions used in an optimization algorithm in linear programming, and are expressed by inequality conditions, equality conditions, etc. regarding the construction period and the start time of each process.

[0017] The calculation unit 12 is a means for solving (calculating) a linear programming method for a construction period consisting of a plurality of processes and a plurality of resources, and is configured to assign (set) conditions for work start dates to a plurality of processes so as to satisfy the constraint conditions stored in the storage unit 11, based on data on a plurality of processes including required times and the like stored in the storage unit 11, and an optimization algorithm. In this embodiment, the calculation unit 12 is configured to calculate and generate an execution plan for a plurality of processes so that each resource is not used in an overlapping manner in different processes at the same time. "The resources are not used in an overlapping manner in different processes at the same time" means that processes using the same resource cannot be performed in parallel, and those processes are serial.

[0018] The calculation unit 12 is also configured to find process execution order candidates for each resource based on the constraint conditions stored in the storage unit 11, and to find an optimal solution for the process execution order of the multiple processes based on the process execution order candidates for each resource and the execution order of the multiple processes as a whole. For example, assume that a resource is assigned to three processes X, Y, and Z, and constraint conditions are set for the context of each process, but either of the two processes Y and Z can be selected after process X. In this case, the process execution order candidates are X→Y→Z and X→Z→Y.

[0019] On the other hand, the optimal solution for the process execution sequence of multiple processes means the process execution sequence of all processes that minimizes the construction period among all combinations of candidate process execution sequences for each resource. The optimal solution for the process execution sequence of multiple processes will be described later with reference to Figure 2.

[0020] In this way, the process planning device 1 of this embodiment solves linear programming using the calculation unit 12 to find an optimal solution for the process execution order of multiple processes. In this case, the process planning device 1 formulates the sequence of events of all the processes, which is a constraint condition to be applied to the linear programming, creates a process schedule for each resource, converts the process schedules into a serial format, and then formulates the sequence of events as a constraint condition to be applied to the linear programming. Then, the process planning device 1 provides the sequence of events of all the processes, together with the sequence of events of each resource, to the calculation unit 12 as a constraint condition.

[0021] Therefore, according to the process planning device 1 of this embodiment, the order of the processes is not changed for the entire process by formulating the order of the processes for each resource. By formulating the order of the processes for each resource, the same resource is not used at the same time. Furthermore, according to the process planning device 1 of this embodiment, by creating a schedule for each resource and converting the processes into a series, it is possible to reduce the calculation time compared to the case where the series processes are separated for each resource after serializing the entire process without creating a schedule for each resource. Furthermore, an optimal solution for each combination is obtained by linear programming for all combinations of the order of the entire process and the serialized processes for each resource. Furthermore, the solution with the shortest construction period is selected from the optimal solutions for each combination.

[0022] Next, an example of a network schedule will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a network schedule consisting of a plurality of processes and a plurality of resources according to this embodiment. In this example, as shown in FIG. 2(a), the process includes five processes A to E, and the number of resources used in each of the processes A to E is two types, a and b. The time required (number of working days) for each of the processes A to E is T A ~T E It is.

[0023] Here, Fig. 2(a) shows a network schedule consisting of five processes A to E and two resources a and b, Fig. 2(b) shows the network schedule for resource a, and Fig. 2(c) shows the network schedule for resource b. As shown in Fig. 2(b), there are two ways to serialize resource a: A → B → D and A → D → B, and as shown in Fig. 2(c), there is one way to serialize resource b: C → E.

[0024] Then, the schedule for each process is determined from the network process chart shown in Fig. 2(a), but the start time of each process is not specified and can be set freely in principle. The process planning device 1 of this embodiment determines the start time of each process so that processes using the same resource are not performed at the same time while satisfying the process sequence, and so that the time from start to finish of all processes is minimized. A specific example will be shown in the following example.

[0025] In addition, in order to create the final construction schedule, it goes without saying that the sequential relationships between processes that involve different resources must also be taken into account, such as the sequential relationships between process A and process C, between process C and process D, and between process B and process E.

[0026] (Example) An example of creating a construction schedule will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a network schedule and a construction schedule (graph) according to an embodiment. Here, the T shown in FIG. A ~T E We will explain the cases where are 1, 3, 2, 3, and 2, respectively.

[0027] In the case of the process schedule of Fig. 3(a), the execution order of the entire processes, i.e., the execution order of the entire processes among the multiple processes A to E, is A → B, A → C, C → D, B → E, and D → E. The process planning device 1 determines the start times (start dates) of all processes A to E so as to satisfy all of the execution orders of the entire processes and the process execution order of the serialized processes of resource a and resource b (see Figs. 2(b) and (c)), and so as to prevent the processes using resources a and b from overlapping with each other.

[0028] As a result, the process planning device 1 creates a construction schedule as shown in Fig. 3(b), and in this example, the shortest construction period is 9 days. Here, resource a is used in processes A, B, and D in that order from the 1st to the 7th day without overlapping construction periods, and resource b, although its construction period is far apart due to the constraints of the context, is used in process C on the 2nd and 3rd days and in process E on the 8th and 9th days.

[0029] As described above, the process planning device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a storage unit 11 that stores a plurality of processes, the required time for each of the processes, and resources allocated to each of the processes in association with each other, and a calculation unit 12 that calculates and generates an execution plan for the plurality of processes so that each resource is not used in another process at the same time. The storage unit 11 further stores constraint conditions for determining the chronological relationship between the plurality of processes, and the calculation unit 12 is configured to obtain candidates for the process execution order for each resource based on the constraint conditions, and to obtain an optimal solution for the process execution order of the plurality of processes based on the candidates for the process execution order for each resource and the execution order of the entire process between each of the plurality of processes. By configuring the process planning device 1 in this way, even if resources are set in advance for each process, it is possible to determine the start time of each process so as to minimize the overall construction schedule. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1 Process planning device 11 Storage section 12 Arithmetic section

Claims

[Claim 1] a storage unit that stores a plurality of processes, a required time for each of the plurality of processes, and resources allocated to each of the plurality of processes in association with each other; a calculation unit that calculates and generates an execution plan for the plurality of processes so that each of the resources is not used in duplicate in different processes at the same time; Equipped with the storage unit further stores a constraint condition for determining a sequence of the plurality of processes; the calculation unit determines candidates for process execution orders for each of the resources based on the constraint conditions, and determines an optimal solution for the process execution order of the plurality of processes based on the candidates for process execution orders for each of the resources and an execution order of the plurality of processes as a whole. Process planning device.

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