Production plan and operation planning support system and control method therefor

Abstract

To assist in planning of a production plan or planning of an operation considering a plurality of evaluation indexes.SOLUTION: A production plan and operation planning support system 1 is a production plan and operation planning support system that assists in a production plan and operation planning for a production process, the production process having a plurality of evaluation indexes. The system comprises: an inter-index relation extraction unit 1216 that extracts a specific relation between evaluation indexes from a plurality of pieces of product plan information; and an index classification unit 1217 that classifies an index into a first evaluation index of the evaluation indexes which is sought to be improved by changing a production plan and a second evaluation index of the evaluation indexes which is sought to be improved by changing an operation rule, on the basis of a result of extraction by the inter-index relation extraction unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a production planning and operation planning support system and a control method thereof. [Background technology]

[0002] A technology for handling evaluation indexes for production plans is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2023-031427 (Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 states that "the evaluation indexes for the plans are displayed, a selected plan is acquired, and the selected plan and the new instruction data corresponding to the selected plan are output." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-031427 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, with growing environmental awareness, production management that takes into account environmental impacts such as reducing electricity consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has become increasingly important. Accordingly, in addition to traditional production plans aimed at improving production efficiency, production plans that take into account indicators such as environmental impact are required. However, when creating production plans for multiple evaluation indicators (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as "indicators"), trade-offs can arise between the indicators, making it difficult to simultaneously improve all indicators.

[0005] An example of a production process is a process that has a drilling process and a work-in-progress storage area. In this production process, in order to ensure that all parts that make up a product are in a single set in the work-in-progress, it is necessary to continuously input the components of the same product when inputting them into the drilling process, which is the stage before the parts are placed in the work-in-progress storage area. However, if this is done, the constraints on the production plan will increase, which could increase the operating time of the drilling equipment and worsen other indicators such as power consumption.

[0006] As a method for formulating a production plan for such multiple indexes, for example, Patent Document 1 describes the following: "Displaying the evaluation index of the plan, acquiring the selected plan, and outputting the selected plan and the new instruction data corresponding to the selected plan."

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to support the creation of a production plan or operation plan that takes into account multiple evaluation indexes. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the production planning and operations planning support system according to the present invention is a production planning and operations planning support system that supports production planning and operations planning for a production process, wherein the production process has a plurality of evaluation indexes and is equipped with an inter-index relationship extraction unit that extracts specific relationships between each evaluation index from a plurality of production plan information, and an index classification unit that classifies each evaluation index based on the extraction results by the inter-index relationship extraction unit into a first evaluation index that is intended to be improved by changing the production plan and a second evaluation index that is intended to be improved by changing the operation rules. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, multiple evaluation indexes possessed by a production process can be classified into first evaluation indexes and second evaluation indexes, and based on the classification results, changes to production plans or operations can be supported. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the present embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a functional configuration diagram of the production planning and operations planning support system. [Figure 3] 10 is an example of deadline information. [Figure 4] 10 is an example of process information. [Figure 5] 10 is an example of facility information. [Figure 6] 10 is an example of evaluation index information. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart showing the processing of the production plan and operation planning support system. [Figure 8] 10 is an example of a production planning condition. [Figure 9] This is an example of a production plan. [Figure 10] This is an example of index evaluation. [Figure 11] This is an example of correlation between indicators. [Figure 12] This is an example of the relationship between indicators. [Figure 13] This is an example of graphically representing the relationships between indicators. [Figure 14] This is an example of an index classification. [Figure 15] This is an example of classification evaluation. [Figure 16] This is an example of a screen provided by a production planning and operations planning support system. [Figure 17] 17 is another example of a screen following FIG. 16. [Figure 18] 10 is a flowchart showing the processing of the production plan and operation planning support system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 19] This is an example of a screen provided by a production planning and operations planning support system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. For example, if a production plan is generated by changing the weighting of multiple evaluation indexes that have a trade-off relationship, it is possible to create a production plan that takes multiple evaluation indexes into consideration. However, in this case, the production plan is limited to the constraints imposed when creating the production plan. To create a production plan that further improves the values ​​of the evaluation indexes, it is necessary to change the rules that act as constraints on the production plan, i.e., the operations in the production process. However, it is difficult to extract the operations (also called operation rules) that need to be changed. Therefore, the production planning and operation planning support system of this embodiment makes it possible to consider changing the operation rules that are prerequisites for creating the plan, thereby enabling the creation of better production plans and improvements to the operation rules.

[0012] As will be described later in FIG. 2 , the production plan and operation planning support system 1 of this embodiment includes a production plan planning unit 1213 that performs multiple production plan planning 1122 based on information from the storage unit 11 that includes, for example, deadline information 1111 for parts 101, process information 1112 that stores the production process and its processing time for each part, equipment information 1113 that stores information on the equipment used in each production process, and evaluation index information 1114 that stores indices for the production plan or operation of each production process or equipment, an inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215 that generates correlation information 1124 for the evaluation values ​​of the indices from the plan results 1122, an inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216 that extracts relationships 1125 between indices, such as trade-off, linkage, and independence, from the correlation information, and an index classification unit 1217 that classifies, from the inter-index relationships, the indices into those that can be improved by production planning and those that can be improved by operation.

[0013] According to the production planning and operation planning support system 1 of this embodiment, it is possible to make better plans and operation improvement measures that go beyond the constraints of the existing operation rules in the factory production line 100 shown in FIG. [Example]

[0014] A first embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 17. Figure 1 shows an overview of a production planning and operations planning support system (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as support system) 1 of this embodiment. A detailed configuration will be described later.

[0015] 1 shows a portion of a production line 100 that is the subject of this embodiment. The production line 100 produces, for example, automobiles, aircraft, ships, machine tools, transport machinery, home appliances, control panels, robots, drones, chemical products, food, etc. The type of product produced on the production line 100 is not important.

[0016] In production line 100, parts 101 are input into manufacturing equipment 102, where they are processed into parts 103 of a predetermined shape and placed in a work-in-progress area 104. Before being input into manufacturing equipment 102, parts 101 are, for example, plate material. Manufacturing equipment 102 is, for example, a punching and cutting machine. The punching and cutting machine is a multi-function machine that combines punching and cutting functions.

[0017] In the production line 100, the target indicators (evaluation indicators) are the power consumed by the manufacturing equipment 102 (hereinafter may be referred to as power), the amount of waste material from the components 101 that could not be used for parts 103 (hereinafter may be referred to as waste material amount), and the equipment operating rate (hereinafter may be referred to as equipment operating rate), which indicates the proportion of time that the manufacturing equipment 102 is used for manufacturing (processing) out of the time that it is turned on, and these indicators are improved by changing the production plan and operating rules.

[0018] A production plan refers to determining equipment allocation, i.e., which manufacturing equipment (sometimes abbreviated as equipment) 102 will be used to produce a part 103, and the production sequence, i.e., the order in which the parts 103 will be produced. A change in operation rules refers to a change in the constraints imposed on determining a production plan. Examples of changes in operation rules include lifting restrictions on the manufacturing equipment 102 that can be allocated to each part, replacing the manufacturing equipment with a different model, dividing a multifunction machine into multiple single-function machines, and building specialized production lines for each type of part.

[0019] As will be described in detail later, in the production planning and operations planning support system 1, as shown in Fig. 1, a production line 100 has multiple production processes and includes multiple evaluation indexes. An index relationship extraction unit 1216 of the production planning and operations planning support system 1 extracts relationships 1125 between the evaluation indexes (abbreviated as indexes in the figure) using a method to be described later.

[0020] The index classification unit 1217 of the production planning and operation planning support system 1 classifies the extracted inter-index relationships into first evaluation indexes that are improved by changing the production plan, and second evaluation indexes that are improved by changing the operation rules among the evaluation indexes, as shown in the classification result 1126.

[0021] The index evaluation unit 1218 of the production planning and operations planning support system 1 evaluates the classified results 1126 and provides the evaluation results to the user by displaying them on a monitor display, etc. The user is a person who uses the production planning and operations planning support system 1.

[0022] 1 is an outline, and the production planning and operations planning support system 1 of this embodiment is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1. The production planning and operations planning support system 1 may have a configuration not shown in FIG. 1 but disclosed in FIG. 2 and subsequent figures. The production planning and operations planning support system 1 may not have some of the configuration shown in FIG. 1.

[0023] 2 shows an example of the functional configuration of the production planning and operations planning support system 1 of this embodiment. The production planning and operations planning support system 1 is connected to a production management system 3 and a production instruction device 2 via a communication network CN.

[0024] The production planning and operations planning support system 1 can be connected to a storage medium MM. The storage medium MM is configured, for example, as a memory device, hard disk device, optical disk device, magneto-optical disk device, magnetic tape device, etc., and non-temporarily stores computer programs and data. The storage medium MM can transfer and store computer programs and data to the production planning and operations planning support system 1. Computer programs and data can also be transferred and stored from the production planning and operations planning support system 1 to the storage medium MM. By storing a computer program that realizes the functions of the production planning and operations planning support system 1 in the storage medium MM, connecting the storage medium MM to another computer, and installing the computer program stored in the storage medium MM on the other computer, the other computer can function as the production planning and operations planning support system 1.

[0025] The production planning and operations planning support system 1 collects design information and process information for each part model stored in the production management system 3 via the communication network CN. Based on the collected information, the user creates a production plan and operational improvement measures using the production planning and operations planning support system 1. The created production plan and operational improvement measures (changes to operational rules) are sent to the production instruction device 2 via the communication network CN.

[0026] The production instruction device 2 is a device that instructs which products to produce, at which equipment, and by when. The production instruction device 2 is a terminal used by the user. The production instruction device 2 can be configured as a general-purpose information processing device such as a personal computer or tablet computer equipped with an input device and a display device (neither of which is shown). Using the input device of the production instruction device 2, the user can display each screen described below on the display device 14, move or click the pointer on each screen, and input text into the production planning and operations planning support system 1.

[0027] The production planning and operations planning support system 1 can be configured from a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, a workstation, or the like. The production planning and operations planning support system 1 has circuits connected via a system bus (not shown) so that data can be sent and received between them. The circuits include, for example, a memory unit 11, a calculation unit 12, and an input / output unit 13. Note that terms such as "information," "unit," and "result" are omitted in the diagram.

[0028] The calculation unit 12 includes, for example, a calculation processing unit 121 and a memory unit 122. The calculation unit 12 can be configured as a computer.

[0029] The calculation processing unit 121 is a processing device such as a central processing unit (CPU). The calculation processing unit 121 includes, for example, a data acquisition unit 1211, a plan condition generation unit 1212, a production plan formulation unit 1213, a production plan evaluation unit 1214, an inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215, an inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216, an index classification unit 1217, an index evaluation unit 1218, and a display control unit 1219. Each of these functional units can be realized by software when the calculation processing unit 121 interprets and executes a computer program that realizes each function. Details of each of these functional units will be described later.

[0030] The memory unit 122 is a main storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores an OS (Operating System), computer programs, data, etc. The arithmetic processing unit 121 reads out program code of software that realizes each function according to this embodiment from the storage unit 11 and temporarily stores it in the memory unit 122. Furthermore, variables, parameters, etc. that are generated during the arithmetic processing of the arithmetic processing unit 121 are temporarily written to the memory unit 122, and these variables, parameters, etc. are read out by the arithmetic processing unit 121 as appropriate. The program may be recorded in a ROM (Read Only Memory), not shown.

[0031] The calculation unit 12 (hardware module) may include a timer (not shown) for implementing periodic operations such as data collection by software. Periodic information for periodic operations may be stored in the storage unit 11.

[0032] The storage unit 11 stores input information 111 and output information 112. The input information 111 is information input from an external device to the production planning and operations planning support system 1. In FIG. 2, the input information 111 includes, for example, deadline information 1111, process information 1112, equipment information 1113, and evaluation index information 1114. Each piece of information will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.

[0033] The storage unit 11 is configured with a large-capacity storage device or the like. For example, a hard disk drive, an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like can be used as the large-capacity storage device. The storage unit 11 stores computer programs and parameters to be executed by the arithmetic processing unit 121. The arithmetic processing unit 121 reads and executes program code of software that realizes each function according to this embodiment from the storage unit 11 or a ROM (not shown), and performs various calculations and controls. When the storage unit 11 stores programs, data, and the like necessary for the arithmetic processing unit 121 to operate, the storage unit 11 is used as an example of a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that stores a program to be executed by a computer.

[0034] FIG. 3 is an example of deadline information 1111. The deadline information 1111 stores the deadline for each part, that is, information on the production deadline. For example, the deadline information 1111 is made up of a "part ID" field and a "deadline" field. The part ID is information that identifies the part, such as the part name and part model. In the example shown, it is indicated that part Pa needs to be produced with a deadline of 2023 / 10 / 30.

[0035] FIG. 4 is an example of process information 1112. The process information 1112 stores information on the manufacturing processes (machining processes) performed for each part and the time required for those processes (machining time). For example, the process information 1112 is composed of a "part ID" field that stores the part model to be produced and a "machining time" field that stores the time required to machine that part, and the "machining time" field further stores the time required for each process, such as drilling or cutting. In the illustrated example, for part Pa, for example, process 1 (e.g., drilling) is performed for 10 minutes. Since process 2 (e.g., cutting) of part Pa is set to "0 minutes," part Pa is not machined in process 2.

[0036] 5 is an example of the equipment information 1113. The equipment information 1113 stores equipment that can be used in each process, evaluation indexes for the production plan related to the equipment, and reference values ​​for calculating the evaluation indexes.

[0037] The equipment information 1113 includes, for example, a "process" field in which information about the production process is stored, an "equipment" field in which equipment that can be used in each production process is stored, an "index" field in which indices that need to be taken into consideration during production at the equipment are stored, and an "index evaluation reference value" field in which reference values ​​for calculating evaluation values ​​for the indices taken into consideration at the equipment are stored. In the example shown, it can be seen that the drilling process can be performed at equipment Ma and equipment Mb, and that one of the indices that should be evaluated at equipment Ma for the drilling process is power, and that the index evaluation reference value for calculating power is 10 kWh per minute.

[0038] 6 is an example of evaluation index information 1114. The evaluation index information 1114 stores a method for calculating the evaluation index of a production plan. The evaluation index information 1114 includes, for example, an "index" field in which the index to be evaluated in a production process is stored, and a "calculation formula" field in which the calculation method for each index is stored. In the example shown, when calculating power, the power required to execute process m on part n is calculated, and this is summed up for all the parts and processes involved.

[0039] Returning to Fig. 2, the output information 112 is information that is output to an external device (the display device 14 in this embodiment) from the production plan and operation planning support system 1. In Fig. 2, the output information 112 includes production plan conditions 1121, production plan results 1122, index evaluation results 1123, inter-index correlations 1124, inter-index relationships 1125, index classification results 1126, and classification evaluation results 1127.

[0040] The functional units of the calculation processing unit 121 will be described below. The data acquisition unit 1211 acquires information required for processing by the calculation processing unit 121 from the input information 111 based on information such as a deadline input by the user via the input / output unit 13, and stores the information in the memory unit 122. The plan condition generation unit 1212 generates plan conditions that serve as conditions for creating data for analyzing correlation information between indices. The production plan formulation unit 1213 formulates multiple different production plans based on the conditions generated by the plan condition generation unit 1212. The production plan evaluation unit 1214 calculates evaluation values ​​for the indices stored in the evaluation index information 1114 for the production plans formulated by the production plan formulation unit 1213. The inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215 analyzes the correlation between the evaluation values ​​evaluated by the production plan evaluation unit 1214 for multiple different production plans. The inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216 extracts relationships between indices, such as trade-off, linkage, and independence, based on the correlation information calculated by the inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215. The index classification unit 1217 classifies the relationships extracted by the inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216 into whether the improvement of the index should be achieved through production planning or operation. The index evaluation unit 1218 evaluates the degree of improvement of the index in the plans classified by the index classification unit 1217. The display control unit 1219 stores the results acquired, calculated, and determined by each of the calculation units in the output information 112, and displays them on the display device 14.

[0041] The operation of each function in the production planning and operations planning support system 1 shown in Fig. 2 will be described according to the flowchart shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure for index evaluation by the production planning and operations planning support system 1. It is assumed that the input information 111 has already been acquired by the data acquisition unit 1211 of the calculation processing unit 121. The data acquisition unit 1211 acquires deadline information 1111, process information 1112, equipment information 1113, and evaluation index information 1114 from the production management system 3 at regular intervals.

[0042] In step S1, the planning condition generating unit 1212 generates production planning conditions 1121, which are conditions for creating data for analyzing correlation information between indices. FIG. 8 shows an example of planning conditions 1121 generated by the planning condition generating unit 1212. The example shown in FIG. 8 includes a "planning conditions" field that stores information about the planning conditions and a "weight of each index" field that stores information about the weight of each planning condition. The "weight of each index" field stores fields corresponding to the indices stored in the evaluation index information 1114. For example, as condition C1, the weight for power is set to "1," the weight for waste material amount is set to "1," and the weight for equipment availability is set to "1." As condition C2, the weight for power is set to "0.5," the weight for waste material amount is set to "3," and the weight for equipment availability is set to "5." Here, the number of conditions when formulating planning conditions can be set by the user, for example, using the input / output unit 13. The weight values ​​can be set to, for example, generated random numbers.

[0043] Returning to FIG. 7 , in step S2, the production planning unit 1213 creates a production plan 1122 based on the input information 111 and the production planning conditions 1121. This is also referred to as the production planning result 1122. The production plan 1122 can be created using, for example, a genetic algorithm, which is an optimization technique. For example, for condition C1 in FIG. 8, a production plan is created with weights of "power 1, waste material volume 1, and equipment operating rate 1." In other words, the production plan is created with weights that equally evaluate each indicator. By creating production plans for each of the multiple planning conditions stored in FIG. 8, multiple production plans with different weights can be created. FIG. 9 shows an example of a production plan created by the production planning unit 1213. The example shown in FIG. 9 includes a "planning conditions" field that stores the production planning conditions generated by the planning condition generation unit 1212, and "part," "process," "equipment," and "start date and time" fields that store the production planning results for each part generated by the production planning unit 1213. For example, in a production plan using the information on the weights of condition C1 in Figure 8, which are "power 1, waste material amount 1, equipment operating rate 1," it can be confirmed that the drilling process for part Pa will start at equipment Ma at "2023 / 10 / 25 9:00."

[0044] Returning to FIG. 7, in step S3, the production plan evaluation unit 1214 calculates an index evaluation result 1123 using the production plan result 1122 formulated by the production plan formulation unit 1213, the process information 1112, the equipment information 1113, and the evaluation index information 1114.

[0045] Fig. 10 shows an example in which the production plan evaluation unit 1214 calculates an evaluation value for each production plan condition 1121. The example in Fig. 10 includes a "planning condition" field that stores information about the planning conditions, and an "evaluation value of each index" field that stores evaluation values ​​corresponding to the indexes stored in the evaluation index information 1114. The "evaluation value of each index" field stores the results of the calculation of the evaluation value by the production plan evaluation unit 1214 for each evaluation index.

[0046] An example of calculating the evaluation value "power" for condition C1 will be described below. From the evaluation index information 1114, it can be confirmed that the evaluation value for power can be calculated by summing up the power required to execute process m for part n for all parts and processes. The power required for part n to execute process m is calculated from process information 1112, equipment information 1113, and production plan result 1122.

[0047] An example of calculating an evaluation value for power consumption under planning condition C1 in FIG. 8 will be described below. From FIG. 9, it can be seen that under condition C1, the drilling process for part Pa is performed at equipment Ma. From FIG. 5, it can be seen that when equipment Ma is used in the drilling process, 10 kWh of power is required for one minute of processing. From FIG. 4, which shows process information 1112, it can be seen that the processing time for the drilling process for part Pa is 10 minutes. Therefore, it can be calculated that the power consumed by part Pa in the drilling process under condition C1 is 100 kWh. By performing the above calculation for all parts included in process information 1112 and calculating the total value, it is possible to calculate the evaluation value for power consumption under condition C1. In the example shown in FIG. 10, it can be seen that the evaluation value is 10 MWh. For other conditions and indicators, the evaluation values ​​of the indicators can also be calculated based on the above information to obtain indicator evaluation results 1123.

[0048] Returning to FIG. 7 , in step S4, the inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215 calculates the inter-index correlation 1124 based on the evaluation value evaluated and calculated by the production plan evaluation unit 1214. FIG. 11 shows an example of the inter-index correlation 1124 calculated by the inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215. In the example of FIG. 11 , correlation information for indices such as "power," "waste amount," and "equipment operation rate" is stored as information about the indices stored in the evaluation index information 1114. For example, correlation information between "power" and "waste amount" can be obtained by calculating the correlation coefficient between the evaluation values ​​of power and waste amount for each plan condition shown in FIG. 10. In the example shown in FIG. 11 , it can be confirmed that the correlation coefficient is "-0.7." By calculating the correlation coefficients between all of the indices stored in the evaluation index information 1114, the inter-index correlation 1124 shown in FIG. 11 can be confirmed.

[0049] Returning to FIG. 7, in step S5, the inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216 classifies the inter-index relationship into one of "trade-off," "linkage," or "independence" based on the inter-index correlation 1124 calculated by the inter-index correlation analysis unit 1215.

[0050] A trade-off is a relationship in which an improvement in the evaluation value of one index results in a decrease in the evaluation value of the other index. A linkage is a relationship in which an improvement in the evaluation value of one index results in an improvement in the evaluation value of the other index. An independence is a relationship in which the indexes do not affect each other. Alternatively, it can be defined as a trade-off relationship indicating that one evaluation index and another evaluation index are incompatible, a linkage relationship in which one evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate simultaneously, or an independent relationship in which one evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate independently.

[0051] 12 and 13 show examples of the relationships between indices extracted by the inter-indices relationship extraction unit 1216. The example in Fig. 12 shows the relationships between indices related to "electricity," "waste material volume," "equipment operation rate," "equipment load leveling," and "production number continuity."

[0052] For example, in the inter-indicator correlation 1124, relationships can be extracted by determining whether a positive correlation is "linked," whether a negative correlation is "trade-off," and whether the remaining correlations are "independent." Furthermore, the strength of the relationship can be calculated based on the absolute value of the inter-indicator correlation 1124. The strength of the relationship may be classified as "high, medium, or low" using a threshold, for example. FIG. 12 shows an example of the inter-indicator relationship 1125. In the example of FIG. 12, the extracted results of the correlations between indicators such as "electricity," "waste material volume," and "capacity utilization rate" are stored as information about the indicators stored in the evaluation indicator information 1114. For example, in the inter-indicator correlation 1124, the correlation coefficient between electricity and waste material volume calculated to be "-0.7" is stored as a trade-off relationship, and it can be confirmed that the strength of the relationship is "medium" based on the determination result.

[0053] In the example of FIG. 13, for example, "trade-off," "interlocking," and "independence" are indicated by the type of line, and the thickness of the line indicates the strength of the relationship. This allows the user to easily understand which indicators are in a trade-off relationship and which indicators have a strong relationship when, for example, wanting to eliminate a trade-off, thereby making it possible to plan countermeasures more efficiently. For example, power and equipment load leveling are in a trade-off relationship, and furthermore, the thick line connecting power and equipment load leveling indicates that the relationship between these indicators is strong, i.e., improving one indicator will significantly decrease the other indicator.

[0054] Returning to FIG. 7, in step S6, the index classification unit 1217 creates an index classification result 1126 that indicates a proposal to classify indexes into indexes (first evaluation indexes) that are to be improved by production planning and indexes (second evaluation indexes) that are to be improved by changing the operational rules that are constraints in production planning, based on the relationships between the indexes extracted by the inter-index relationship extraction unit 1216.

[0055] 14 shows an example of the index classification 1126 created by the index classification unit 1217. The illustrated index classification 1126 includes a “classification proposal” field that distinguishes proposals classified by the index classification unit 1217, and an “index” field that stores evaluation values ​​corresponding to the indexes stored in the evaluation index information 1114.

[0056] For each index for each classification plan, if it is determined that the index should be improved by the production plan, the information "Plan" is stored. On the other hand, if it is determined that the index should be improved by changing the operation rules that are constraints in the production plan, the information "Operation" is stored.

[0057] We will explain how to classify indicators. For example, the indicator with the most trade-off relationships, or the group of indicators with the most trade-off relationships when multiple linked indicators are considered as one group of indicators, can be classified as indicators that should be improved by changing the operation rules. By classifying the indicators with the most trade-off relationships as indicators that should be improved by changing the operation rules, it is expected that many trade-offs will be resolved.

[0058] For example, in "Plan 1," if "electricity" is the indicator with the greatest trade-off relationship, the indicators to be improved through production planning would be classified as "waste material volume," "production number continuity," "equipment availability rate," and "equipment load leveling." "Electricity" would be classified as an indicator to be improved through changes to operational rules.

[0059] Furthermore, for example, when multiple candidates are proposed as indicators to be improved by changing the operational rules, the user can be assisted in making decisions when improving the indicators by setting the priority of the indicators for which the operational rules are to be changed. In the example of Figure 14, we will explain a case where "power" is determined to have a high priority as an indicator for which the operational rules are to be changed. In the classification proposals, "Proposal 1," which determines "power" as an indicator to be improved by changing the operational rules, is determined to have a high priority and is stored at the top of the display in Figure 14.

[0060] An example of a method for evaluating priority will be described below. For example, there is a method for evaluating the priority of indicators that are to be improved by changing the operation rules based on the number or strength of relationships between indicators. Alternatively, there is a method for evaluating as high priority at least one of the indicators with a large number of trade-off relationships, an indicator with a strong trade-off relationship, or an indicator with a large total value of the strength of the trade-off relationships.

[0061] Returning to FIG. 7, in step S7, the index evaluation unit 1218 generates a classification evaluation result 1127 that evaluates how much the index will improve when the index classification result 1126 generated by the index classification unit 1217 is applied.

[0062] Fig. 15 shows an example in which the index evaluation unit 1218 calculates a classification evaluation result 1127 based on the index classification result 1126. The classification evaluation 1127 shown in Fig. 15 includes an "index" field in which evaluation values ​​corresponding to the indexes stored in the evaluation index information 1114 are stored, an "actual value" field in which evaluation values ​​of the indexes when the index classification result 1126 is not applied are stored, and a "classification proposal" field in which evaluation values ​​of the indexes when the index classification result 1126 is applied are stored. The "classification proposal" field stores "Proposal 1" and "Proposal 2" as classification proposals stored in the index classification result 1126. For example, as a method for calculating the evaluation value of an index when "Proposal 1" is applied, the index to be improved by the production plan can be evaluated in the same way as the method for calculating the index evaluation result 1123 using the production plan formulation unit 1213 and the production plan evaluation unit 1214.

[0063] The indexes to be improved by changing the operation rules can be estimated by calculating, for example, how much the evaluation value of the index has improved relatively as a result of the user changing the operation rules compared to when the index classification result 1126 was not applied. For example, if the evaluation value of the "power" index has improved by 1.6 times compared to when the index classification result 1126 was not applied, the actual value of "1" multiplied by 1.6 is set as the evaluation value. This value can be entered by the user using, for example, the input / output unit 13 and stored in the classification evaluation result 1127.

[0064] Returning to FIG. 7, in step S8, the display control unit 1219 creates information to be referenced by the user when deciding on a classification plan to be applied to the factory, based on the inter-indicator relationships 1125, the index classification results 1126, the classification evaluation results 1127, and the production planning results 1122.

[0065] An example of the output display is shown in Figure 16. As output information, an index relationship 1125 and an index classification result 1126 are displayed on the overall result screen 41. On the overall result screen 41, the user can check the index relationship diagram 411 and the index classification proposal 412 to consider which proposal to adopt.

[0066] For example, in the indicator classification proposal 412, "Proposal 1" proposes improving "electricity" through "operation" and other indicators through "planning." When this is compared with the indicator relationship diagram 411, it can be seen that there are trade-offs between "electricity" and "production sequence continuity," "electricity" and "equipment load leveling," and "electricity" and "waste material volume," and that this proposal resolves these by dividing them into "planning (changes to production plans)" and "operation (changes to operation rules)."

[0067] On the other hand, "Proposal 2" proposes improving "waste volume" and "crop number continuity" through "operations," and the others through "planning." When this is compared with the indicator relationship diagram 412, it can be seen that "waste volume" and "crop number continuity" are linked, so if one is considered while focusing on operational changes, both can be improved. Because there is a trade-off relationship between "waste volume" and "electricity," and between "crop number continuity" and "electricity," it can be seen that "Proposal 2" is a proposal to resolve this by separating these into "operations" and "planning."

[0068] When the relationship between indicators is determined to be independent, one indicator does not affect the other, and so the indicator can be improved independently. For example, a production plan can improve an indicator without lowering the other indicators.

[0069] The user can decide which plan to adopt based on the overall result screen 41. For example, if it is difficult to improve "waste material amount" and "production number continuity" through "operation," but it is easy to improve "electricity" through "operation," the user can adopt "Plan 1."

[0070] The user can also quantitatively compare "Plan 1" and "Plan 2." When the user clicks the plan comparison button 413 on the overall result screen 41, the screen transitions to the result comparison screen 42 shown in FIG. 17. When the user clicks the close button 414, the overall result screen 41 closes.

[0071] On the result comparison screen 42, the classification evaluation result 1127 is displayed as the index evaluation result 421. Here, it is assumed that the indexes to be improved in "operation" are manually input by the user. The indexes to be improved in "operation" are left blank, and the indexes to be improved in "plan" are automatically output.

[0072] Furthermore, it is also possible to display the production plan results 1122 for each plan as the production plan results 422. By operating the plan selection button 423, the user can select the plan to be displayed.

[0073] Using the result comparison screen 42, the user can quantitatively compare the results and confirm the validity of the production plans. For example, if the user places importance on "equipment availability," "Plan 2" will be given priority for consideration because it shows higher results than "Plan 1." The user can check the production plan results for "Plan 2" and confirm that it is actually a feasible plan.

[0074] Users can also input and compare the evaluation values ​​of indicators to be improved through operations. For example, if "electricity" is improved through "operations" in "Plan 1," the evaluation value will be "1.6." If "amount of waste material" is improved through "operations" in "Plan 2," the evaluation value will be "1.1." Consider a case where the user makes a judgment like this and inputs the values ​​manually. In this case, "Plan 1" will be superior in both "electricity" and "amount of waste material." Based on this, if the user wants to improve "electricity" and "amount of waste material" by improving "equipment utilization rate," they will likely adopt "Plan 1."

[0075] Furthermore, for indicators to be improved through "operation," the user can input changes to the index evaluation reference value or evaluation formula for "operation," allowing for automatic calculation of the evaluation value. For example, suppose the introduction of more energy-efficient equipment is considered in order to improve "power" through operation. The user inputs this information through the index evaluation reference value change button 424 or the evaluation formula change button 425, thereby changing the evaluation index reference value in the equipment information 1113. Using the changed equipment information 1113, the production plan formulation unit 1213 formulates a production plan and updates the production plan result 1122. The production plan evaluation unit 1214 evaluates the production plan result 1122, thereby updating the classification evaluation result 1127. The updated results are displayed on the result comparison screen 42, allowing the effects of "operation" to be compared.

[0076] When the user clicks the recalculation button 426, the values ​​in the predetermined fields on the screen 42 are recalculated. When the user operates the close button 427, the screen 42 is closed.

[0077] According to the present embodiment described above, the user can visually check the power consumption for each operating state, which is necessary to identify the causes of power consumption increase. This allows the user to estimate the effectiveness of countermeasures against the causes of power consumption increase. For example, the present embodiment can be applied to optimization solutions for production planning and production line organization aimed at reducing power consumption.

[0078] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. It is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0079] The above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The above-described configurations, functions, etc. may also be implemented in software, with a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0080] Each component of the production planning system 200 (production planning and operations planning support system) according to the above-described embodiment may be implemented in any hardware as long as the respective hardware can transmit and receive information to and from each other via a network. Furthermore, the processing performed by a certain processing unit may be realized by a single piece of hardware, or may be realized by distributed processing using multiple pieces of hardware.

[0081] In the above-described embodiment, the control lines and information lines are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and not all control lines and information lines in the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are connected to each other. [Example]

[0082] A second embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 18 and 19. In the following embodiments including this embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. Figure 18 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the production plan and operation planning support system 1 of this embodiment. In this embodiment, the switching cost when at least one of the production plan or operation rules is changed from the current state is calculated and displayed on the display device 14 (S9).

[0083] 19, a column for switching costs has been added to the indicator classification proposal 412A. The switching costs when "Proposal 1" and "Proposal 2" are displayed.

[0084] The switching costs include, for example, the time required for the switching (such as the time required to install new equipment), the costs required for the switching (such as the cost of purchasing equipment), and the necessary personnel.

[0085] This embodiment configured in this manner also achieves the same effects as those of Embodiment 1. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user can compare and consider the categorized and presented proposals, taking into consideration not only the improvement effect on the evaluation index but also the switching cost required to achieve that improvement effect, further improving usability for the user.

[0086] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various additions and modifications within the scope of the present invention. The above-described embodiments are not limited to the configuration examples shown in the accompanying drawings. The configurations and processing methods of the embodiments can be modified as appropriate within the scope of achieving the object of the present invention.

[0087] Furthermore, each component of the present invention can be selected arbitrarily, and inventions incorporating selected configurations are also included in the present invention. Furthermore, the configurations described in the claims can be combined in combinations other than those explicitly stated in the claims. Part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, part of the configuration of each embodiment can be added, deleted, or replaced with other configurations.

[0088] In each embodiment, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for explanation, and not all control lines and information lines in the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. Furthermore, each embodiment can be used in appropriate combination.

[0089] The above-described embodiment includes the invention that can be expressed as follows.

[0090] (Representation 1) A production planning and operations planning support system that supports production planning and operations planning for a production process, wherein the production process has a plurality of evaluation indexes, and the production planning and operations planning support system comprises: an index relationship extraction unit that extracts specific relationships between the evaluation indexes from a plurality of production plan information; and an index classification unit that classifies the evaluation indexes into first evaluation indexes that are intended to be improved by changing the production plan and second evaluation indexes that are intended to be improved by changing the operation rules, based on the extraction results by the index relationship extraction unit.

[0091] (Representation 2) A production planning and operations planning support system as described in Representation 1, wherein the specific relationship includes at least one of a trade-off relationship indicating that a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index are incompatible, a linked relationship in which a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate simultaneously, and an independent relationship in which a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate independently.

[0092] (Representation 3) A production planning and operations planning support system described in either Representation 1 or 2, in which the specific relationship includes the trade-off relationship, and the index classification unit classifies at least one evaluation index among the evaluation indexes in the trade-off relationship as the second evaluation index.

[0093] (Representation 4) A production planning and operations planning support system described in any one of Representations 1 to 3, wherein the specific relationships include the trade-off relationships and the interlocking relationships, and the index classification unit classifies at least one evaluation index as the second evaluation index from among the evaluation index with the most trade-off relationships and a group of evaluation indexes with the most trade-off relationships when the multiple evaluation indexes in the interlocking relationships are considered as one group of evaluation indexes.

[0094] (Representation 5) A production planning and operations planning support system described in any one of Representations 1 to 4, in which the index classification unit evaluates the priority of evaluation indexes classified into the second evaluation indexes based on the number or strength of the specific relationships between the second evaluation indexes.

[0095] (Representation 6) A production planning and operations planning support system described in any one of Representations 1 to 5, wherein the specific relationships include the trade-off relationships, and the index classification unit evaluates that at least one second evaluation index has a high priority among the second evaluation index having the largest number of trade-off relationships, the second evaluation index having the strongest trade-off relationship, and the second evaluation index having the largest total value of the strength of the trade-off relationships.

[0096] (Representation 7) A production planning and operation planning support system described in any one of Representations 1-6, further comprising an index evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value of a first evaluation index included in a production plan created based on the first evaluation index.

[0097] (Representation 8) A production planning and operations planning support system according to any one of Representations 1-7, further comprising a representation control unit that graphically represents nodes representing the evaluation indexes by connecting them according to the specific relationships, and that presents the classification results by the index classification unit on the screen.

[0098] (Representation 9) A production planning and operation planning support system described in any one of Representations 1-8, in which the representation control unit calculates the cost of changing either the production plan or the operation rules or both in accordance with the classification results by the index classification unit, and displays the calculated cost on the screen.

[0099] (Representation 10) A control method for a production planning and operations planning support system that supports production planning and operations planning for a production process, wherein the production process has a plurality of evaluation indexes, and the control method for a production planning and operations planning support system executes an inter-index relationship extraction step that extracts specific relationships between the evaluation indexes from a plurality of production plan information, and an index classification step that classifies the evaluation indexes into first evaluation indexes that are intended to be improved by changing the production plan and second evaluation indexes that are intended to be improved by changing the operation rules, based on the extraction results from the inter-index relationship extraction step. [Explanation of symbols]

[0100] 1: Production planning and operation planning support system, 3: Production management system, 11: Storage unit, 12: Calculation unit, 14: Display device, 100: Production line

Claims

1. A production planning and operation planning support system that supports production planning and operation planning for a production process, the production process has a plurality of evaluation indexes, an index relationship extraction unit that extracts specific relationships between the evaluation indexes from a plurality of pieces of production plan information; an index classification unit that classifies the evaluation indexes into first evaluation indexes that are to be improved by changing a production plan and second evaluation indexes that are to be improved by changing an operation rule, based on the extraction results by the index relationship extraction unit; Production planning and operation planning support system

2. The specific relationship includes at least one of a trade-off relationship indicating that a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index are incompatible, a linked relationship in which a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate simultaneously, and an independent relationship in which a certain evaluation index and another evaluation index fluctuate independently. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 1.

3. the specific relationship includes the trade-off relationship, The index classification unit classifies at least one evaluation index among the evaluation indexes in a trade-off relationship into the second evaluation index. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 2.

4. the specific relationship includes the trade-off relationship and the interlocking relationship, The index classification unit classifies at least one evaluation index into the second evaluation index, the evaluation index having the most trade-off relationships and a group of evaluation indexes having the most trade-off relationships when the plurality of evaluation indexes in the interlocking relationships are regarded as one group of evaluation indexes. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 2.

5. The index classification unit evaluates the priority of the evaluation indexes classified into the second evaluation indexes based on the number or strength of the specific relationships between the second evaluation indexes. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 2.

6. the specific relationship includes the trade-off relationship, The index classification unit evaluates that at least one of the second evaluation indexes having the largest number of trade-off relationships, the second evaluation index having the strongest trade-off relationship, and the second evaluation index having the largest total value of the strength of the trade-off relationships has a high priority. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 5.

7. The production system further includes an index evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value of a first evaluation index included in a production plan created with the first evaluation index as a target. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 1.

8. The present invention further includes a representation control unit that connects nodes indicating the evaluation indexes in accordance with the specific relationships to graphically represent the nodes, and also presents the classification results by the index classification unit on a screen. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 1.

9. The expression control unit calculates the cost of changing either or both of the production plan and the operation rule in accordance with the classification result by the index classification unit, and displays the calculated cost on the screen. The production planning and operation planning support system according to claim 8.

10. A control method for a production planning and operations planning support system that supports production planning and operations planning for a production process, comprising: the production process has a plurality of evaluation indexes, an index relationship extraction step of extracting specific relationships between the evaluation indexes from a plurality of pieces of production plan information; an index classification step of classifying the evaluation indexes into first evaluation indexes that are to be improved by changing a production plan and second evaluation indexes that are to be improved by changing an operation rule, based on the extraction results of the inter-index relationship extraction step; A control method for a production planning and operation planning support system that executes the above.

Images