Production line design system

Abstract

To efficiently design a production line.SOLUTION: A production line design system stores: facility information indicating facilities used for a production line of target products and arrangement levels of regions, with inclusion relation, where the facilities are respectively arranged; and arrangement constraint information defining arrangement constraints of the facilities with classification into constraint levels corresponding to the regions with the inclusion relation. The production line design system extracts a possible arrangement area of the facility at each of the arrangement levels based on the facility information and the arrangement constraint information, and determines a facility arrangement pattern candidate for each of the extracted possible arrangement areas based on the facility information and the arrangement constraint information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to production line design. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 states that "The floor layout creation method sets a work area for preparatory work before working on the production equipment on the floor where the production equipment is located based on work frequency information including the frequency of work performed on the production equipment and layout information including the equipment layout of multiple pieces of production equipment (ST5), and creates a floor layout in which the production equipment and work areas are located on the floor based on the set work area (ST6)." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-123056 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology described in Patent Document 1 above can set a work area at an appropriate position on a floor where production equipment is located, but it is based on the premise that information on the configuration and layout of the production equipment is given, and it is not possible to determine the configuration of production equipment that can be placed on a floor. In other words, in order to simultaneously solve the configuration and layout of production equipment for floors where production equipment can be placed, optimization calculations for a huge number of combinations are required, which is not practical.

[0005] The present invention aims to generate process design information including the equipment configuration of a production line and layout design information including the equipment layout. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present application includes a number of means for solving at least part of the above problems, examples of which are as follows.

[0007] A production line design system according to one aspect of the present invention stores equipment information indicating equipment to be used in a production line for a target product and the placement levels of areas having an inclusion relationship in which each piece of equipment is to be placed, and placement constraint information defining placement constraints for the equipment by dividing them into constraint levels corresponding to the areas having an inclusion relationship. Based on the equipment information and placement constraint information, the production line design system extracts areas in which equipment can be placed at each of the placement levels, and determines candidate placement patterns for equipment for each of the extracted placement areas based on the equipment information and placement constraint information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a technology for easily creating a production line design plan with reduced investment costs.

[0009] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a production line design device. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of product information. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of facility information. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of work time information of component-resource candidates. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of placement constraint information. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of process design information. [Figure 7A] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of layout design information. [Figure 7B] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of layout design information. [Figure 8A]FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 8B] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 9A] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 9B] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 9C] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 9D] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating an arrangement pattern at the floor level. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a production line design apparatus. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of a production line design process. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the arrangement pattern result. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen for layout design information. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In the following embodiments, for convenience, when necessary, the description will be divided into multiple sections or embodiments, but unless otherwise expressly stated, they are not unrelated to each other, and one is a partial or complete variation, detail, supplementary explanation, etc. of the other.

[0012] Furthermore, in the following embodiments, when referring to the number of elements (including the number, numerical value, amount, range, etc.), unless otherwise specified or when it is clearly limited to a specific number in principle, it is not limited to that specific number and may be more or less than the specific number.

[0013] Furthermore, it goes without saying that in the following embodiments, the components (including element steps, etc.) are not necessarily essential unless otherwise specified or considered to be clearly essential in principle.

[0014] Similarly, in the following embodiments, when referring to the shapes, positional relationships, etc. of components, etc., it is intended to include those that are substantially similar or similar to those shapes, etc., unless otherwise specified or when it is considered that this is clearly not the case in principle. This also applies to the above numerical values ​​and ranges.

[0015] In addition, in all the drawings for explaining the embodiments, the same components are generally given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof will be omitted. However, when there is a high possibility of confusion arising from environmental changes, etc., if the same components share the same names as the components before the change, different reference numerals or names may be given to the same components. Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] Generally, when designing a production line consisting of robots, a process design is carried out to determine the work units (processes) and the equipment responsible for each work unit based on the target product and production conditions provided by the customer, and then detailed designs such as layout design, equipment design, and control design are carried out accordingly.

[0017] Generally, the above process design, layout design, control design, and equipment design are considered sequentially in a waterfall manner as independent problems.

[0018] In the design of production lines, there are many cases where a new line is constructed by updating a portion of an existing factory. In the conventional waterfall development procedure, in which layout design is performed using the equipment configuration determined by process design and the transport system connecting the equipment as input, if layout constraints are not satisfied, the process design must be reconsidered. Therefore, technology is needed that enables the generation and evaluation of optimal process design proposals that take layout constraints into account.

[0019] In this embodiment, we will explain a production line design system that generates process design information and layout design information for a production line that satisfies the constraints of the factory floor where the production line is constructed as a customer request and the target takt time of the production line, and optimizes the objective function.

[0020] In the following embodiments, the "input unit," "output unit," and "communication unit" may be one or more interface devices. The one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following:

[0021] One or more I / O (Input / Output) interface devices. The I / O interface devices are interface devices to at least one of the I / O devices and a remote display computer. The I / O interface device to the display computer may be a communications interface device. The at least one I / O device may be a user interface device, for example, either an input device such as a keyboard and a pointing device, or an output device such as a display device.

[0022] One or more communication interface devices. The one or more communication interface devices may be one or more homogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., one or more NICs (Network Interface Cards)) or two or more heterogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., a NIC and an HBA (Host Bus Adapter)).

[0023] In the following description, "memory" refers to one or more memory devices, which are an example of one or more storage devices, and may typically be a primary storage device. At least one memory device in the memory may be a volatile memory device or a non-volatile memory device.

[0024] In the following description, an "external storage device" may be one or more persistent storage devices, which are an example of one or more storage devices. A persistent storage device may typically be a non-volatile storage device (e.g., an auxiliary storage device), and more specifically, may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a non-volatile memory express (NVME) drive, or a storage class memory (SCM).

[0025] In the following description, the term "storage unit" or "external storage device" may refer to either a memory or a persistent storage device, or both.

[0026] Also, in the following description, a "processing unit" or a "processor" may refer to one or more processor devices. The at least one processor device may typically be a microprocessor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also be another type of processor device such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The at least one processor device may be a single-core or multi-core. The at least one processor device may also be a processor core. The at least one processor device may also be a processor device in a broader sense, such as a circuit that is a collection of gate arrays written in a hardware description language that performs some or all of the processing (e.g., an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)).

[0027] Furthermore, in the following description, functions may be described using the expression "yyy unit." However, the functions may be realized by one or more computer programs executed by a processor, by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., FPGAs or ASICs), or by a combination thereof. When a function is realized by a program executed by a processor, the specified processing is performed using a storage device and / or an interface device, etc., as appropriate, and therefore the function may be considered to be at least a part of the processor. Processing described using a function as the subject may be processing performed by a processor or a device having the processor. A program may be installed from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a computer from which the program is distributed or a computer-readable recording medium (e.g., a non-transitory recording medium). The description of each function is merely an example; multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions.

[0028] In the following description, processing may be described using a "program" or a "processing unit" as the subject, but processing described using a program as the subject may also be processing performed by a processor or a device having that processor. Two or more programs may be realized as one program, or one program may be realized as two or more programs.

[0029] In the following description, information that provides an output for an input may be described using expressions such as "xxx table," but this information may be a table of any structure, or may be a neural network that generates an output for an input, or a learning model such as a genetic algorithm or random forest. Therefore, the "xxx table" may be referred to as "xxx information." In the following description, the structure of each table is an example, and one table may be divided into two or more tables, or all or part of two or more tables may be one table.

[0030] In the following description, the production line design system may be a system configured with one or more physical computers, or may be a system (e.g., a cloud computing system) implemented on a group of physical computing resources (e.g., a cloud platform). When the production line design system "displays" display information, it may mean displaying the display information on a display device possessed by the computer, or it may mean that the computer transmits the display information to a display computer (in the latter case, the display information is displayed by the display computer).

[0031] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a production line design system. In the example configuration shown in Fig. 1, the production line design system is made up of a production line design device 100. The components of the production line design system are installed at the manufacturing site (area) or in a facility outside the manufacturing site. The production line design system may include a group of devices according to the usage environment, such as a display computer connected so as to be able to communicate via a network (not shown).

[0032] Although not shown, the network may be, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a VPN (Virtual Private Network), a communication network that uses a general public line such as the Internet in part or in whole, a mobile phone communication network, or a combination of these. Note that the network may also be a wireless communication network such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or 5G (Generation).

[0033] The production line design device 100 allocates work processes relating to the assembly of assembled products to each piece of production equipment, and determines the configuration and layout of the production equipment.

[0034] The production line design device 100 includes the following logical components: a storage unit 110 , a processing unit 120 , a communication unit 130 , an input unit 140 , and an output unit 150 . <Storage section>

[0035] The storage unit 110 stores product information 111, production condition information 112, equipment information 113, placement constraint information 114, process design information 115, placement design information 116, and part-resource candidate work time information 117.

[0036] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of product information 111. Product information 111 holds, in a table format, the component configuration, component specifications, and production specifications of products produced on a production line. Component name 211 of each component is stored as the component configuration. Component specifications include classification based on the shape of each component, i.e., component type 212, and component weight 213. For an assembled product, component assembly sequence 214 is stored as a production specification. The production specification may include information on the type of work, such as machining or welding, and the order of such work, in addition to assembly. The production specification may also be held independently from the product information.

[0037] The production condition information 112 indicates the required specifications of the production line to be designed. For example, the target takt time of the target product is stored as the required specifications. The required values ​​for the number of production equipment that make up the production line and their capacity change depending on the target takt time. Instead of the target takt time, the target production volume and the operating time of the production line may be stored, and the target takt time may be calculated by dividing the target production volume by the operating time.

[0038] Furthermore, as the required specifications, for example, the objective function of the production line is stored. For example, the objective function can be defined as minimum investment cost, minimum takt time, minimum takt time variation between processes, etc.

[0039] Furthermore, the required specifications may include, for example, the size of the factory floor on which the production line will be placed. The size and number of pieces of equipment that can be placed vary depending on the floor size. Placement constraints that define areas on the floor where existing equipment or safety passages cannot be placed are included in the placement constraint information 114.

[0040] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the equipment information 113. The equipment information 113 holds, in a table format, equipment specifications for equipment candidates that make up a production line and hierarchical information on the levels at which the equipment can be placed. As equipment specifications, equipment type 232, a classification based on the equipment's use, equipment name 233, investment cost 234, which is the cost of purchasing the equipment, and equipment size 235, which indicates the area required for placing the equipment, are stored. In this example, equipment size 235 specifies only the vertical and horizontal dimensions (length and width) when viewed from above. Height may also be specified accordingly.

[0041] The relationship between equipment may be stored as equipment information. For example, equipment types such as ROBOT and TOOL_STOCKER are placed on BASE_CELL. An equipment type ROBOT_TOOL is connected to the tip of the ROBOT. Furthermore, if a ROBOT uses multiple ROBOT_TOOLs interchangeably, a TOOL_STOCKER is required as equipment to store unused tools, and the ROBOT_TOOLs are stored in the TOOL_STOCKER.

[0042] In addition, a placement level 231 is stored as hierarchical information on where equipment can be placed. Each piece of equipment is placed in an area indicated by its placement level. The placement levels form a hierarchical structure of areas where equipment is placed. The hierarchical structure changes in stages from the placement level of a larger area (higher hierarchy) to the placement level of a smaller area (lower hierarchy). A smaller area is included in a larger area (there is an inclusion relationship). A larger area can contain one or more smaller areas. In this specification, two placement levels are described as examples: the floor level and the cell level. Each piece of equipment is placed on either a floor or a cell.

[0043] Other placement levels may be added to these, or some may be omitted. For example, a line level may be defined between the floor level and the cell level, and frames may be provided to be placed at the line level. The shape and size of the frame may define the spatial outline of the line. Alternatively, a level of equipment to be installed within a cell, such as a robot level, may be defined as a level below the cell level, and several parts may be provided as equipment to be placed within the robot. From the top level to the bottom level, the area of ​​the placement levels becomes progressively smaller. In other words, the area of ​​the cell level is included in the area of ​​the floor level.

[0044] 3 indicates, as an arrangement level, for example, the floor level of a factory where a production line is constructed. BASE_CELL is an equipment type that can be arranged at the floor level. BASE_CELL can include, for example, one or more racks that are prepared as standard equipment for a cell.

[0045] A cell is an example of a unit that makes up a production line. Taking assembly as an example, in a series of assembly work, a unit that groups together multiple assembly work is a process. For example, in the product information 111 shown in Figure 2, the assembly sequence 214 indicates the order of assembly work, and each entry corresponds to one work. One or more consecutive entries make up one process. It is important that the time for each process does not exceed the target takt time, and that the time between processes is leveled as much as possible. If the time is not leveled, waiting will occur in some processes, resulting in waste. The unit of equipment that corresponds to a process is a cell. The equipment size 235 of BASE_CELL matches the size of the cell.

[0046] The placement level of the equipment candidate group that can be placed in a cell is the cell level. One cell includes, for example, standard equipment, a main robot or dedicated equipment (such as inspection equipment), and multiple pieces of equipment (such as tools and stockers) that are required in conjunction with the main equipment. Note that the standard equipment of a cell can also include the main equipment and its associated equipment.

[0047] 4 is a diagram showing an example of part-resource candidate work time information 117. The part-resource candidate work time information 117 stores at least part names 271 and assembly sequences 272 as information common to the product information 111. Furthermore, tools 273 required to perform work (here, assembly) for each part are stored.

[0048] In the example of robot assembly, the tool 273 is selected from the equipment name 233 of the entry where the equipment type 232 of the equipment information 113 is classified as "ROBOT_TOOL". Furthermore, the operation time for each candidate resource (here, a robot) that can perform the work of each part is stored. In the example shown in FIG. 4, there are three types of resource candidates, "RO100", "RO50", and "RO30", whose equipment type 232 of the equipment information 113 is classified as "ROBOT", and information on the operation times 274, 275, and 276 for each of them is stored.

[0049] Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the placement constraint information 114. The placement constraint information 114 holds, in tabular form, information on constraints related to the layout of the factory floor for which the production line is designed and the equipment candidate group that constitutes the production line. Constraint level 241 is stored as information indicating the hierarchy of the placement constraint, constraint type 242 is information indicating the type of placement constraint, and constraint content 243 and constraint position 244 are information indicating the details of the placement constraint. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the constraint level 241 indicates the line level and robot level in addition to the two hierarchies of floor level and cell level included in the placement level.

[0050] The line level is defined as a hierarchy between the floor level and the cell level. By defining the line level, it is possible to define line shape constraints, such as a straight I-shaped line or a circular O-shaped line.

[0051] The robot level is defined as a layer below the cell level. By defining the robot level, it is possible to define the standard arrangement of the robot's accompanying equipment. In addition, it is possible to define a constraint level for the equipment installed in the cell that is different from the robot.

[0052] In the constraint level, other levels may be defined, such as a dedicated equipment level or a transport level, and some levels, such as a line level and / or a robot level, may be omitted.

[0053] The constraint level 241 corresponds to the area level that imposes constraints on the placement of equipment. As with the placement level 231, the constraint level changes in stages from a larger area (higher hierarchy) to a smaller area (lower hierarchy). A smaller area is included in the larger area. A wider area can include one or more narrower areas. The constraint level indicates the area that serves as the basis for constraints on the placement of equipment.

[0054] The constraint level 241 includes some or all of the hierarchies indicated by the placement level 231 of the facility information 113. In this specification, three constraint levels are described as an example: the floor level, the cell level, and the robot level. Other constraint levels may be added to these, or some may be omitted. From the highest level to the lowest level, the area of ​​the constraint level becomes smaller in stages. In other words, the area of ​​the cell level is included in the area of ​​the floor level, and the area of ​​the robot level is included in the area of ​​the cell level.

[0055] Constraint types 242 include, for example, obstructions, fixing methods, and transportation methods. Obstacles at the floor level (within the floor) include factory pillars and air conditioning equipment. Areas where movement is not permitted, such as safety passages, can also be considered obstructions. Obstacles at the cell level (within the cell) include frames on the cell's rack.

[0056] The placement constraints for the floor-level fixing method include aligning with anchor holes installed at equal intervals on the floor. The placement constraints for the cell-level fixing method include fixing equipment to align with fastening holes or rails on the top surface of the frame. The installation range of TOOL_STOCKER and PARTS_STOCKER is specified for the robot-level fixing method.

[0057] As placement constraints for floor-level transport methods, the entrance and exit of the line in the target area are specified as input in accordance with the transport route within the factory. As placement constraints for floor-level transport methods, the line shape, that is, the shape type and the start and end points are specified. Examples of line shapes are I-shape, U-shape, and O-shape. As placement constraints for cell-level transport methods, when products flow within the line on a conveyor or the like, there is a constraint that the range of movement of a robot or the like must be in a position that can reach the conveyor.

[0058] The constraint content 243 stores the specific content of the constraint. The constraint position 244 stores information related to the specific numerical value of the constraint. For example, a factory pillar X is an interfering object at the floor level, and the interference range is from the start coordinate (0,0) to the end coordinate (300,300) of the target area, meaning that there is a 300mm square pillar, and equipment cannot be placed. As described above, the same constraint level as the placement level and lower constraint levels can be constraints on equipment placement. For example, the placement level of TOOL_STOCKER and PARTS_STOCKER is cell, and these are subject to cell-level and robot-level constraints. There may also be equipment that is not related to lower-level constraints. For example, the placement level of ROBOT is cell, and placement within the cell is not subject to robot-level constraints, but only cell-level constraints.

[0059] 6 is a diagram showing an example of the process design information 115. The process design information 115 is one form of output information of the production line design device 100, and stores process numbers 251 that constitute the production line, assembly sequences 252 that indicate the work that each process is responsible for, floor-level equipment names 253 that constitute each process, and cell-level equipment names 254.

[0060] Here, the assembly sequence 252 corresponds to the assembly sequence 214 in the product information 111 in Fig. 2. In other words, the assembly sequence is an example of the work to be performed on the production line, and may be information on the order of work such as welding or processing. Furthermore, the floor-level equipment name 253 and the cell-level equipment name 254 correspond to the equipment name 233 in the equipment information 113 in Fig. 3. The number of items in the process design information 115 may change according to the number of hierarchical levels of the arrangement level.

[0061] 7A is a diagram showing an example of layout design information. The layout design information 116 is one form of output information of the production line design device, and stores a process number 261 corresponding to the process number 251 stored in the process design information 115, a layout level 262 of the component equipment, an equipment name 263, and layout coordinates 264 as the starting point coordinates for arranging the equipment.

[0062] Process 001 in the process design information 115 is composed of five pieces of equipment, of which VACCUM_GRIPPER does not need to be placed in a cell because it is directly connected to the robot RO100. Therefore, in the layout design information 116, information on the four pieces of equipment excluding VACCUM_GRIPPER is stored as the equipment for process 001.

[0063] 7B shows an example of a floor-level placement layout 361 and a cell-level placement layout 362. The floor-level placement layout 361 indicates that BC002, which is a BASE_CELL, is placed at coordinates (1000, 0) relative to the origin (white circle) 365 of the floor level.

[0064] The cell-level placement layout 362 indicates that, relative to a cell-level origin (black circle) 366, CONV002 is placed at coordinates (0, 0), RO100 at coordinates (0, 500), and TS001 at coordinates (0, 1500). <Processing section>

[0065] Returning to FIG. 1, the processing unit 120 includes an arrangement possible area extraction unit 121, an arrangement pattern calculation unit 122, and an equipment configuration optimization unit 123.

[0066] The allocable area extraction unit 121 extracts an area in which allocatable elements can be placed at each layer of the placement level 231 based on the placement constraints. The allocable area is determined from the outline of the placement level and the constraint level corresponding to (the same as) the placement level. For example, the outline of the floor is included in management information (not shown), and the outline of the cell can be determined from the size of BASE_CELL.

[0067] Here, floor-level placement constraints must be processed for each target project. On the other hand, cell-level placement constraints, which are standardized for each cell, can be processed once and then additionally recorded, eliminating the need for reprocessing. In other words, if the cell type and equipment to be placed in a new cell are the same as in a previous cell, the placement layout of the previous cell can be used. In this way, reusing past processing results as standard information has the effect of reducing processing load.

[0068] The placement pattern calculation unit 122 calculates a combination pattern of a group of facilities that can be placed based on information about the placement area extracted by the processing of the placement area extraction unit 121 and information about the group of candidate facilities that can be placed on the corresponding floor.

[0069] 8A to 9D are diagrams showing examples of calculation of placement patterns at the floor level. Fig. 8A shows an example of a possible placement area at the floor level. Floor 500 has placement constraints for a line entrance 512 and exit 513, a pillar 511, and a transport system 514, and floor placement areas 501 and 502 are extracted.

[0070] 8B shows cell A 550 and cell B 560 of different sizes as a group of equipment candidates that can be placed on a floor. Cell-level placement constraints include constraints on cell size and constraints on transportation systems 551 and 561.

[0071] 9A to 9D show different patterns of cells that can be arranged on floor 500. The possible cell arrangement patterns are narrowed down to the four patterns shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D. From these figures, it can be seen that the number of cells to be installed, i.e., the number of processes, is a maximum of four. This maximum number of processes allows the equipment configuration optimization unit 123 to narrow down the number of combination candidates when determining the equipment configuration, which has the effect of reducing the processing load.

[0072] Similarly, even at the cell level, it is possible to extract an arrangement pattern for a group of candidate facilities that can be arranged in a cell, which has the effect of reducing the processing load on the facility configuration optimization unit 123.

[0073] The facility configuration optimization unit 123 generates process design information 115 and layout design information 116 that satisfy various conditions of the product information 111, production condition information 112, facility information 113, part-resource candidate work time information 117, layout constraint information 114, and combination pattern information calculated by the layout pattern calculation unit 122 and maximizes the objective function. <Communication section, input section, output section>

[0074] The communication unit 130 transmits and receives various types of information to and from other devices via a network. The input unit 140 receives input information that is displayed and operated on a screen, and is input by operating a keyboard or a mouse, for example.

[0075] The output unit 150 creates screen information including information to be output as a result of performing a predetermined process, and outputs the screen information to a display computer or a display device of the production line design device 100 via the communication unit 130. <Hardware configuration>

[0076] 10 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the production line design device 100. The production line design device 100 can be realized, for example, by a general computer 200. The computer 200 includes a processor (e.g., a CPU or a GPU) 201, a memory 202 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), and an auxiliary storage device 203 such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or an SSD (Solid State Drive).

[0077] The computer 200 further includes a reading device 205 that reads information from a portable storage medium 204 such as a CD or DVD, an input device 206 such as a keyboard, mouse, barcode reader, or touch panel, an output device 207 such as a display, and a communication device 208 that communicates with other computers via a communication network such as a LAN or the Internet.

[0078] The production line design device 100 can be realized by a network system including a plurality of computers 200. It goes without saying that the reading device 205 may be capable of not only reading from the portable storage medium 204 but also writing to it.

[0079] For example, the possible placement area extraction unit 121, placement pattern calculation unit 122, and facility configuration optimization unit 123 included in the processing unit 120 can be realized by loading a predetermined program stored in the auxiliary storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it on the processor 201.

[0080] The input unit 140 can be realized by the processor 201 using the input device 206. The output unit 150 can be realized by the processor 201 using the output device 207 or the communication device 208. The communication unit 130 can be realized by the processor 201 using the communication device 208. The storage unit 110 can be realized by the processor 201 using the memory 202 or the auxiliary storage device 203.

[0081] This predetermined program may be downloaded to the auxiliary storage device 203 from the portable storage medium 204 via the reading device 205 or from a network via the communication device 208, and then loaded onto the memory 202 and executed by the processor 201. Alternatively, the predetermined program may be directly loaded onto the memory 202 from the portable storage medium 204 via the reading device 205 or from a network via the communication device 208, and then executed by the processor 201. <Production line design processing>

[0082] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a flow of a production line design process. The production line design process starts when a start instruction is received from a user via an interface device.

[0083] First, the input unit 140 receives input of product information for which the production line to be designed is a target (step S001). The received product information is stored in the product information 111. The product information 111 is defined and stored for each product to be designed.

[0084] The input unit 140 accepts input of production condition information (step S002). The accepted production condition information is stored in the production condition information 112. All subsequent processes are executed to satisfy the target takt time set here. If the production line is made up of multiple processes, the maximum value of the takt time of each process becomes the takt time of the entire assembly line. In other words, the takt time of the production line coincides with the takt time of the bottleneck process. Furthermore, all subsequent processes are executed to optimize the objective function set here.

[0085] The input unit 140 accepts input of equipment information (step S003). The accepted equipment information is stored in the equipment information 113. The equipment information 113 is defined and stored for each product to be designed. Alternatively, the equipment information 113 may be stored in advance in the storage unit 110 of the production line design device 100 as common information regardless of the product to be designed. Furthermore, a selection input may be accepted as designated equipment information from the pre-stored information.

[0086] The input unit 140 further receives work time information of the part-resource candidate as facility information, and stores it in the work time information 117 of the part-resource candidate. This information may be stored in advance in the storage unit 110 of the production line design device 100. Furthermore, the input unit 140 may receive a selection input as facility information designated from the information stored in advance.

[0087] The input unit 140 accepts input of placement constraint information (step S004). The accepted placement constraint information is stored in the placement constraint information 114. The placement constraint information 114 is defined and stored for each product to be designed. Alternatively, the placement constraint information 114 may be stored in advance in the storage unit 110 of the production line design device 100 as common information regardless of the design target. Furthermore, a selection input may be accepted as designated placement constraint information from the pre-stored information.

[0088] Then, the allocable area extraction unit 121 extracts the allocable areas for each level of placement using the input information (step S005). The allocable area extraction unit 121 determines the allocable areas for each placement level indicated by the placement level 231 of the equipment information 113 based on the constraint level 241 corresponding to each placement area.

[0089] The arrangement pattern calculation unit 122 initializes a variable I (I is an integer) for selecting a hierarchy of an arrangement level to be processed, and sets I=1 (step S006).

[0090] Next, the arrangement pattern calculation unit 122 initializes a variable J (J is an integer) for selecting an arrangement possible area to be processed in the hierarchy of the selected arrangement level, setting J=1 (step S007).

[0091] Next, the placement pattern calculation unit 122 generates a placement pattern for the placement area J of placement constraint level I using the various pieces of information that have been received as input and the placement area information extracted by the placement area extraction unit 121 (step S008). In generating an equipment placement pattern for each level, constraint levels below the constraint level corresponding to that level are referenced. In the above example, in generating an equipment placement pattern within a cell, constraints at the cell level and robot level are referenced.

[0092] The placement pattern calculation unit 122 determines whether placement patterns for all placement possible areas have been calculated (step S009). If unprocessed candidates remain ("NO" in step S009), the placement pattern calculation unit 122 adds 1 to the variable J (step S010), returns control to step S007, and selects the next placement possible area.

[0093] If there are no unprocessed candidates remaining ("YES" in step S009), the placement pattern calculation unit 122 determines whether placement patterns for all placement constraint levels have been calculated (step S011). If there are unprocessed candidates remaining ("NO" in step S011), the placement pattern calculation unit 122 adds 1 to the variable I (step S012), returns control to step S006, and selects the next placement constraint level.

[0094] If there are no unprocessed candidates remaining ("YES" in step S011), the facility configuration optimization unit 123 generates process design information and layout design information (step S013) using each piece of information that has been received as input, the layout area information extracted by the layout area extraction unit 121, and the layout pattern information generated by the layout pattern calculation unit 122. The generated information is stored in the process design information 115 and the layout design information 116, respectively.

[0095] The above is an example of the flow of the production line design process. <Example of output display>

[0096] Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the arrangement pattern results calculated by the arrangement pattern calculation unit 122. Fig. 12 shows the four arrangement patterns described with reference to Figs. 9A to 9D. The arrangement pattern calculation unit 122 may display an arrangement pattern for each different arrangement level, or may display a combination of patterns for different associated arrangement levels.

[0097] Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of layout design information calculated by the facility configuration optimizing unit 123. Fig. 13 shows the layout design information described with reference to Figs. 7A and 7B. The facility configuration optimizing unit 123 may display process design information such as that shown in Fig. 6 instead of or in addition to the layout design information.

[0098] The above is an example of the configuration of a production line design system according to this embodiment. The production line design system makes it possible to create process design information and layout design information for a production line that does not rely on engineer know-how, eliminates rework, satisfies customer specifications in a short time, and optimizes the objective function. In other words, it is possible to easily create a production line design plan that keeps investment costs down.

[0099] The above-described embodiment has been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to a configuration including all of the described configurations. It is possible to replace part of the configuration of the embodiment with another configuration. It is also possible to delete part of the configuration of the embodiment.

[0100] Furthermore, some or all of the above-described units, configurations, functions, processing units, etc. may be implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Furthermore, the above-described units, configurations, functions, etc. may be implemented in software by 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 a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk, or a storage medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0101] It should be noted that the control lines and information lines in the above-described embodiments are those considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are interconnected. The present invention has been described above, focusing on the embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0102] 1: Production line system, 100: Production line design device, 110: Memory unit, 111: Product information, 112: Production condition information, 113: Equipment information, 114: Placement constraint information, 1141: Floor level, 1142: Cell level, 115: Process design information, 116: Placement design information, 120: Processing unit, 121: Placement possible area extraction unit, 122: Placement pattern calculation unit, 123: Equipment configuration optimization unit, 130: Communication unit, 140: Input unit, 150: Output unit.

Claims

1. A production line design system, a processor; a storage device, The storage device Equipment information indicating equipment used in the production line of the target product and the placement level of the area having the inclusion relationship in which each of the equipment is placed; and storing placement constraint information that defines the placement constraints of the equipment by dividing them into constraint levels corresponding to areas having an inclusion relationship; The processor: extracting areas where equipment can be placed at each of the placement levels based on the equipment information and placement constraint information; determining equipment placement pattern candidates for each of the extracted placement possible areas based on the equipment information and placement constraint information; Production line design system.

2. 2. The production line design system according to claim 1, the placement level and the constraint level each include a floor level where a production line is placed and a cell level included in the production line; Production line design system.

3. 2. The production line design system according to claim 1, The storage device Information about the target product; production condition information indicating the required specifications for the production of the target product; and information on the working time of the target product by the equipment; the processor determines a combination of equipment configurations of the production line based on the placement pattern candidates, the production condition information, and the work time information. Production line design system.

4. 2. The production line design system according to claim 1, The production line design system defines the placement constraint information as interferences, a method for fixing equipment, and a method for transporting target products.

5. 3. The production line design system according to claim 2, The production line design system, wherein the placement constraint information defines constraints based on the shape of a line at the floor level.

6. 3. The production line design system according to claim 2, The placement constraint information defines a constraint level for equipment to be placed within the cell as a lower level than the cell level.

7. 3. The production line design system according to claim 2, The production line design system, wherein the placement constraint information includes past processing results as standard information in addition to the cell-level constraint information.

8. A production line design method executed by a system, comprising: The system comprises: Equipment information indicating equipment used in the production line of the target product and the placement level of the area having the inclusion relationship in which each of the equipment is placed; and storing placement constraint information that defines the placement constraints of the equipment by dividing them into constraint levels corresponding to areas having an inclusion relationship; The production line design method, extracting areas where equipment can be placed at each of the placement levels based on the equipment information and placement constraint information; determining candidate facility layout patterns for each of the extracted possible layout areas based on the facility information and layout constraint information.

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