Resource Usage Management System and Resource Usage Management Method

Abstract

To provide a resource consumption management system capable of appropriately managing resource consumption related to production or provision of articles.SOLUTION: A resource consumption management system stores, in a storage part 52, process management data showing a flow of a plurality of services related to production or provision of articles. The process management data includes, to each of the plurality of services: service information including information related to a service by each article related to the service; element information including information related to each of a plurality of elements associated with the services, and associated with the service information of the service; and environment information including information related to resource consumption of the element, for each of the plurality of elements, the environment information associated with the element information of the element. Furthermore, the resource consumption management system calculates resource consumption by a unit of article according to an association between information and information shown by the process management data, and provides consumption information being information based on the collected resource consumption.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates generally to techniques for managing resource usage. [Background technology]

[0002] An example of resource usage is energy usage, and a technology related to managing energy usage is known, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1. Also, with regard to information management, technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are known, for example. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-149133 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2019-153051 A [Patent Document 3] US2019 / 0271969 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a place such as a factory or an office, energy (e.g., electricity) or other resources are used for business operations. The amount of resources used affects CO2 emissions or other factors. Therefore, it is desirable for users to appropriately manage the amount of resources used in the production or provision of goods. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A resource usage management system stores process management data representing a flow of multiple tasks related to the production or provision of goods. The process management data includes, for each of the multiple tasks, task information including information about the task for each item related to the task, element information including information about each of a plurality of elements associated with the task and associated with the task information of the task, and environmental information including information about the element and associated with the element information of the element for each of the multiple elements. The resource usage management system calculates resource usage per item according to the information and information association represented by the process management data, and provides usage information that is information based on the aggregated resource usage. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the present invention, a user can appropriately manage the amount of resources used in the production or provision of an item. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example of the overall configuration of a system including a resource usage management system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 shows an example of a logical configuration of a resource usage management system. [Diagram 3] 3 shows an example of a structure of a portion of a process management model according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 shows an example of tallying resource usage. [Figure 5A] 13 shows an example of a display based on the tabulation results of resource usage. [Figure 5B] 13 shows an example of a display based on the tabulation results of resource usage. [Figure 6] 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of linking supplier process models of multiple suppliers. [Figure 7] 13 shows an example of a screen presented to a supplier. [Figure 8A] An example of reorganization of tasks is given below. [Figure 8B]An example of line concentration is shown below. [Figure 9] An example of mixed production is shown below. [Figure 10] 13 illustrates an example of a partial structure of a process management model according to a second embodiment. [Figure 11] 13A and 13B illustrate an example of processing using a process management model according to a second embodiment. [Figure 12] An example of equipment operating hours is shown below. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] In the following description, an "interface unit" may refer to one or more interface devices. The one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following: An I / O interface apparatus which is one or more I / O (Input / Output) interface devices. The I / O (Input / Output) interface devices are interface devices to at least one of an I / O device 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. A communication interface apparatus which is 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)).

[0009] In the following description, a "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.

[0010] In the following description, a "persistent storage device" may be one or more persistent storage devices, which are an example of one or more persistent 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).

[0011] Also, in the following description, "storage device" may be at least memory, including memory and persistent storage device.

[0012] Furthermore, in the following description, a "processor" may be 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 other types of processor devices 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 be a processor core. The at least one processor device may also be a broader processor device such as a circuit that is a collection of gate arrays written in a hardware description language that performs part 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)).

[0013] In the following description, functions may be described using the expression "yyy unit", but the functions may be realized by one or more computer programs being executed by a processor, or by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., FPGA or ASIC), or by a combination thereof. When a function is realized by a program being executed by a processor, the function may be at least a part of the processor, since the specified processing is performed using a storage device and / or an interface device, etc., as appropriate. Processing described with 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 program distribution computer or a storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory storage medium) that can be read by a computer. The description of each function is an example, and multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions.

[0014] In addition, in the following description, when describing elements of the same type without distinguishing between them, common reference symbols will be used, and when describing elements of the same type without distinguishing between them, reference symbols will be used.

[0015] In the following explanation, "4M" stands for the initial letters of the four elements: Man, Machine, Method, and Material. In the following explanation, the four elements that make up "4M" are written as "Man," "Machine," "Method," and "Material," and are collectively referred to as the "4M elements." [First embodiment]

[0016] FIG. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a system including a resource usage management system according to a first embodiment.

[0017] In this embodiment, the resource usage management system 1 is a physical computer system (one or more physical computers) and includes an interface device 51, a storage device 52, and a processor 53 connected thereto. The resource usage management system 1 may also be a logical computer system (for example, a virtual machine or a cloud computing system) based on the physical computer system.

[0018] The interface device 51 is connected to a network 2 (e.g., the Internet or a Wide Area Network (WAN)). One or more data generating devices 5 (e.g., data generating devices 5a to 5c) and a user device 35 are connected to the network 2. The data generating devices 5 and the user device 35 are connected to the resource usage management system 1 via the network 2.

[0019] The data generating device 5 is a device that collects or generates actual data. For example, the data generating device 5a may be a barcode reader that obtains the work log of a worker, or a PC or server that collects the work log. The data generating device 5b may be a machine that processes parts or assembles a finished product. The data generating device 5c may be a sensor that collects inspection information of an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifier) ​​attached to a part or a finished product. The actual data collected or generated by these data generating devices 5 may be transmitted to the resource usage management system 1 (and / or a storage device connected to the network 2 and located outside the resource usage management system 1) via the network 2. The "actual data" may be data generated or collected at a site (e.g., a manufacturing site), and may be, in particular, at least a part of data related to entities belonging to the 4M elements, such as data related to equipment belonging to Machine, data related to workers belonging to Man, data related to parts and products belonging to Material, and data related to procedures belonging to Method. Hereinafter, an entity belonging to a 4M element may be referred to as a "4M entity".

[0020] The user device 35 is an information processing device (computer) such as a personal computer or a smartphone. The resource usage management system 1 may be a server, and the user device 35 may be a client.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows an example of the logical configuration of the resource usage management system 1. As shown in FIG.

[0022] For example, process management data 15 and supplier management data 16 are stored in the storage device 52 of the resource usage management system 1. The process management data 15 represents a process management model, which will be described later. The supplier management data 16 includes information on one or more suppliers.

[0023] The resource usage management system 1 includes middleware 291 and an application 8, and the processor 53 executes these pieces of software. The application 8 may exist outside the resource usage management system 1.

[0024] The middleware 291 has an API (Application Programming Interface) unit 11 and a processing unit 12. The middleware 291 may communicate with the user device 35 via or without an application 8. In the latter case, the middleware 291 may have a UI (User Interface) unit (not shown), and the UI unit may communicate with the user device 35.

[0025] The API unit 11 communicates with the application 8. For example, the API unit 11 accepts a first request from the application 8, and transmits a second request (for example, a search request) based on the first request to the processing unit 12. The API unit 11 receives a response to the second request from the processing unit 12, and returns a response to the first request from the application 8 to the application 8 based on the response.

[0026] The processing unit 12 accepts a request (e.g., a second request) via the API unit 11 (or the UI unit), and based on the request, refers to or updates the process management data 15 (e.g., refers to the supplier management data 16 if necessary), and returns a response based on the result to the requestor.

[0027] FIG. 3 shows an example of a data structure of a part of a process management model represented by the process management data 15. As shown in FIG.

[0028] The process management model represents the sequence (flow) of multiple tasks and, for each of one or more 4M elements associated with each task, information about the entities belonging to that 4M element, and also represents, for each entity belonging to the 4M element, the resource usage related to that entity.

[0029] Specifically, for example, the process management model is a graph including nodes 150 and edges. The edges in the graph may include undirected edges, but are typically directed edges. The process management model may be a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).

[0030] Node 150 has information about a business, information about 4M entities, association information for linking information about a business to information about 4M entities, or information about the environment of the site. Hereinafter, node 150 having information about a business will be referred to as "business node 150A," node 150 having information about 4M entities will be referred to as "4M node 150M," node 150 having association information will be referred to as "association node 150R," and node 150 having information about the environment of the site will be referred to as "environment node 150E."

[0031] The information held by the business node 150A includes A-ID (the ID of the business corresponding to the business node 150A) and O-Info. (information on the operation of the business corresponding to the business node 150A). O-Info. may include, for example, information indicating when and what operation occurred (for example, information including information indicating the start time of product processing and the operation time for each product) and information indicating which supplier the business belongs to.

[0032] The information held by the 4M node 150M includes the ID of the 4M entity corresponding to the 4M node 150M, and O-Info. as information related to the operation of the 4M entity corresponding to the 4M node 150M. The O-Info. may include, for example, information indicating when and what operation occurred (for example, information including information indicating the operation start time and operation end time for each operation or each product) and information indicating which supplier the 4M entity belongs to. According to the example shown in FIG. 3, the 4M node 150M includes a Man node 150MW, a Machine node 150MM, a Material node 150MP, and a Method node 150MS. According to the example shown in FIG. 3, the IDs of the 4M entities include a Man-ID (worker ID), a Mac.-ID (equipment ID), a Mat.-ID (part or product ID), and a Met.-ID (procedure ID). For each 4M element, the 4M node 150M associated with one business node 150A may be one for that 4M element and may include an entity ID for each 4M entity (e.g., for each of Worker A, Worker B, ...) that belongs to that 4M element (e.g., Man), or may exist for each 4M entity that belongs to that 4M element.

[0033] The information held by the association node 150R includes at least a portion of the information about the business (e.g., at least an A-ID) and at least a portion of the information about the 4M entity linked to the information about the business (e.g., at least a 4M entity ID). Note that the 4M node 150M may be linked to the business node 150A by an edge not via the association node 150R, and the information held by the association node 150R may be associated with the edge. At least one 4M node 150M of a 4M entity can be associated with one business node 150A by at least one association node 150R.

[0034] In addition to these nodes 150A, 150M, and 150R, the process management model has an environment node 150E as described above. According to the example shown in FIG. 3, the environment node 150E is a node 150 associated with the 4M node 150M. Specifically, for example, the environment node 150E includes, for a 4M entity corresponding to the 4M node 150M with which the environment node 150E is associated, information representing the ID of the 4M entity and the resource usage of the 4M entity (the amount of resources used by the 4M entity). For each 4M entity, the value of the resource usage represented by the information held by the environment node 150E may be a value determined by the processing unit 12 in a predetermined manner (for example, a value determined by the processing unit 12 based on statistics of values ​​measured in the past as a result of the process), or may be a value input by a user from the user device 35.

[0035] Furthermore, the portion of the process management data 15 (data representing a process management model) excluding the environment node 150E and the edges connected to the environment node 150E may be constructed by the method disclosed in Patent Document 2 or 3. The environment node 150E corresponds to a leaf node, but instead of or in addition to it, an environment node 150E may be prepared as an intermediate node, and information held by the environment node 150E may be included in the 4M node 150M.

[0036] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the arrows, which are direct or broken and thick, are edges. Also, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the curved solid or dashed arrows represent examples of the direction of information tracing. For example, one business node 150A1 is associated with 4M nodes 150MP1, 150MP2, 150MW, 150MM, and 150MS through relationship nodes 150R1 to 150R5. The 4M node 150MP1 is associated with environment node 150E3. The 4M node MW is associated with environment node 150E1. The 4M node 150MM is associated with environment node 150E2. The 4M node 150MS is associated with environment node 150E4. The processing unit 12 identifies the association nodes 150R1-150R5 using the A-ID of the business node 150A1 as a key, and identifies the 4M nodes 150MP1, 150MP2, 150MW, 150MM, and 150MS using the IDs in the information of the association nodes 150R1-150R5 as a key. The processing unit 12 identifies the environment nodes 150E1-150E4 using the 4M element IDs in the identified 4M nodes 150MP1, 150MP2, 150MW, 150MM, and 150MS as a key, and identifies the resource usage for each 4M entity from the environment nodes 150E1-150E4. By performing such processing for each business node 150A, the processing unit 12 identifies the resource usage of each 4M entity for each business node 150A, and totals the resource usage in any unit or a unit specified by the user. The processing unit 12 displays the resource usage totaled in the unit on the user device 35. Examples of units include business units, 4M element units, 4M entity units (e.g., product units), and supplier units (units that group together one or more business operations (e.g., units of "manufacturing", "distribution", and "use"), which may also be called "supply chain process units" or "partner units"). For example, when aggregating the resource usage of a certain product, the processing unit 12 may calculate the total of the resource usage represented by the 4M nodes 150MP of the finished products and parts that belong to the product as the resource usage of the product. The processing unit 12 may add all or part of the resource usage represented by the nodes of the 4M elements involved in the product to the total, and calculate the result as the resource usage of the product.The unit for counting the resource usage and the method for counting the resource usage may be determined in advance or may be changed as appropriate by the user. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 4, when the processing unit 12 receives a counting unit designation through the API unit 11 (or the UI unit) (S401: YES), the processing unit 12 counts the resource usage in the designated counting unit (S402), and displays the counted resource usage for each unit on the user device 35 through the API unit 11 (or the UI unit) (S403). According to this embodiment, the resource usage for each product can be calculated based on the resource usage for each 4M element.

[0037] The user device 35 may issue a request for resource usage to the application 8, and the API unit 11 of the middleware 291 may receive the request for resource usage from the application 8 that has received the request. In response to the request received by the API unit 11, the processing unit 12 may refer to the process management data 15 and tabulate the resource usage of the specified unit or target by tracing the nodes in the process management model represented by the process management data 15 for the specified unit or according to the specified target (for example, a business, a 4M element, or a 4M entity). The processing unit 12 may return data representing the tabulated resource usage to the application 8 through the API unit 11. The application 8 may transmit data representing the resource usage to the user device 35 based on the data received through the API unit 11.

[0038] Moreover, the expression of the resource usage may be the usage amount of the resource itself (for example, energy such as electricity), or may be an amount (for example, usage amount or emission amount) obtained by a predetermined conversion method using the usage amount of the resource itself. Specifically, for example, the expression of the resource usage may be the CO2 emission amount calculated based on the aggregated usage amount of the resource itself. For this reason, for example, the user device 35 can display the CO2 emission amount for each product as shown in FIG. 5A, or display the time series of the CO2 emission amount in units of the existing 4M categories (for example, units such as Man, Machine, and Method) or in units of suppliers (for example, units such as "manufacturing", "distribution", and "use") as shown in FIG. 5B. In order to obtain the time series of the resource usage amount (CO2 emission amount), for example, the information held by each environmental node 150E may include information representing the resource usage amount for each unit time (for example, each day or each hour).

[0039] In this embodiment, for example, as shown in Fig. 6, there are multiple different suppliers A to G involved in a supply chain including procurement, production, logistics, sales, and customers. The relationships between the suppliers A to G may be serial relationships as shown in the figure, or may be relationships of a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) in which each of the multiple suppliers is a node. Also, in Fig. 6, the elements involved in the supply chain may be elements or names other than "suppliers."

[0040] The supplier management data 16 may include supplier process data that is data representing a supplier process model (a model of the process of the supplier) for each supplier. The supplier process model may also be a model (e.g., DAG) including a business node, an association node, and a 4M node. Furthermore, an association node having information representing the resource usage of a 4M entity corresponding to the 4M node may be associated with the 4M node in the supplier process model by, for example, the processing unit 12. Furthermore, for example, the supplier management data 16 may include, for each supplier, information representing the order of business performed by the supplier, and information representing the 4M entity related to the business. Furthermore, the supplier management data 16 may include, for each supplier, information representing a business connection that is a connection between the business of the supplier and the business of another supplier. The processing unit 12 may identify business connections between suppliers from the supplier management data 16, and may associate, for each supplier, a business node in the supplier process model of the supplier with a business node in the supplier process model of another supplier according to the identified business connection. In this association, business nodes in different supplier process models may be connected by multiple edges via relationship nodes and 4M nodes of parts and products. In this way, the supplier process models of different multiple suppliers A to G in the supply chain may be linked by the processing unit 12 based on the supplier management data 16, so that process management data 15 representing a process management model in which the supplier process models of the multiple suppliers A to G are linked may be prepared. Based on the resource usage represented by each environment node in the process management model represented by the process management data 15 (a model spanning multiple suppliers A to G), the processing unit 12 can calculate the resource usage (CO2 emission amount) for each product created and sold via the different multiple suppliers A to G.For example, the processing unit 12 provides a finished product manufacturer (supplier) with information indicating the amount of resources used per product provided by the finished product manufacturer based on each environmental node related to each supplier (e.g., parts manufacturer) upstream of the finished product manufacturer, thereby making it possible to inform the finished product manufacturer of how much each product provided by the finished product manufacturer is contributing to the environment.

[0041] A user device 35 may exist for each supplier. In response to a request from a supplier, the processing unit 12 may determine, for example, based on the supplier management data 16, what information to present to the supplier based on the process management data 15 and / or how to present information on resource usage amounts aggregated based on the process management data 15 to the supplier.

[0042] FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen displayed on the supplier's user device 35 by the processing unit 12 through the API unit 11 (or the UI unit).

[0043] In this example, the expression of the resource usage is CO2 emission, and for example, the supplier management data 16 or the processing unit 12 includes a Scope rule definition including definitions of Scope 1 to 3. Scope 1 includes CO2 emission directly from the company among the company's CO2 emission (and 4M elements related to the CO2 emission). Scope 2 includes CO2 emission based on electricity purchased from outside the company among the company's CO2 emission (and 4M elements related to the CO2 emission). Scope 3 includes CO2 emission of suppliers other than the company (and 4M elements related to the CO2 emission). A request from a supplier may specify which supplier is the company. The processing unit 12 may identify the supplier as the company and determine which node of the process management model represented by the process management data 15 belongs to which Scope based on the Scope rule definition. The processing unit 12 may provide the requester with a screen that displays a model based on the process management model and the relationship between the nodes in the model and the Scope, as exemplified in FIG. 7. Furthermore, although not shown, the processing unit 12 may tally up the CO2 emissions (and their breakdown) for each of Scopes 1 to 3, and provide the requester with information indicating the tally. In this way, the resource usage (CO2 emissions) for each task can be organized for each of Scopes 1 to 3, and the resource usage (CO2 emissions) for each unit, such as task, product, or lot (product lot), can be tally up. Based on the presented information, the supplier can confirm the CO2 emissions including the upstream and downstream of the company, for example, as shown in the example of FIG. 8A, and grasp or consider the impact of reorganizing the tasks or improving the tasks. Furthermore, as shown in the example of FIG. 8B, the supplier can consider concentrating production lines on lines with high resource utilization efficiency, based on the relationship between the resource usage (CO2 emissions) and the production volume of the product, or other factors.

[0044] Scope 1 to 3 are examples of categories such as resource usage (CO2 emissions) and 4M elements. Other examples of categories may include our own company, upstream, or downstream, or other categories may be adopted. [Second embodiment]

[0045] The second embodiment will be described below, focusing mainly on the differences from the first embodiment, and explanations of the points in common with the first embodiment will be omitted or simplified.

[0046] In the first embodiment, when one type of product is produced on one production line, the resource usage (CO2 emissions) per product can be calculated by dividing the total resource usage obtained for one production line by the number of products produced.

[0047] However, such calculations are difficult in a mixed-flow production system as illustrated in Fig. 9. Specifically, when different types of products are processed in one operation, it is difficult to identify the breakdown of resource usage associated with that operation (e.g., resource usage for each type).

[0048] In this embodiment, the resource usage (CO2 emission amount) required for producing or providing products produced by mixed production (mixed production in which manufacturing conditions differ for each product type) on the same production line can be calculated for each product type.

[0049] FIG. 10 shows an example of a partial structure of a process management model according to the second embodiment.

[0050] For at least some of the 4M elements or 4M entities, the entity mode is managed (e.g., the entity mode used is managed for each type (or for each product)), and the operating time length and resource usage per unit time are managed for each entity mode. The processing unit 12 can aggregate the resource usage according to the entity mode used in the production of the product belonging to that type for each type (or for each product). In other words, more accurate or detailed aggregation and management of resource usage is possible. Information representing the correspondence between types and products is included in, for example, supplier management data 16, and the processing unit 12 may identify, for each product, the type to which the product belongs from the supplier management data 16.

[0051] An "entity mode" is a mode related to a 4M entity, and the details of the entity mode vary depending on which 4M element the 4M entity belongs to (i.e., in this embodiment, "mode" is used in a broad sense). For example, if the 4M entity is a worker, an example of an entity mode may be proficiency. If the 4M entity is a procedure, an example of an entity mode may be procedure type. If the 4M entity is equipment, an example of an entity mode may be operation mode.

[0052] Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process using a process management model according to the second embodiment. Note that the relationship node 150R is omitted in Fig. 11.

[0053] The O-Info. of the business node 150A1 includes information indicating the time related to the business corresponding to the business node 150A1, for example, information indicating the operating time period (for example, start time and end time) for each product. At least some of the 4M nodes 150M have Mode (information including information indicating multiple (or one) entity modes) and O-Info. (information including information indicating one or more operating time periods for each entity mode). The environment node 150E associated with the 4M node 150M including Mode has Mode (information including information indicating multiple (or one) entity modes) and information indicating resource usage (information including information indicating resource usage per unit time for each entity mode). In mixed flow production, the production settings (entity mode) differ for each type.

[0054] The processing unit 12 identifies the time period during which the work was performed on the product represented by the Material node 150MP (hereinafter, in this paragraph, "work time period") from the work node 150A associated with the Material node 150MP. The processing unit 12 identifies the 4M node 150M of the 4M entity related to the product based on the work node 150A and the relationship node 150R. The processing unit 12 identifies the entity mode corresponding to the time period including the work time period from the 4M node 150M. The processing unit 12 identifies the resource usage corresponding to the identified entity mode from the environment node 150E associated with the 4M node 150M. The processing unit 12 calculates the resource usage of the product from the identified resource usage (resource usage per unit time) and the work time period. The processing unit 12 identifies the correspondence between the product and the product type from the supplier management data 16, and can calculate the resource usage for each product type from the resource usage for each product. More specifically, for example, it is as follows.

[0055] For example, the Mode of the Man node 150MW represents multiple proficiency levels (e.g., "High" and "Low"), and the O-Info. of the Man node 150MW represents a time period for each proficiency level. The Mode of the environment node 150E1 also represents the same multiple proficiency levels, and the information representing the resource usage includes information representing the resource usage per unit time for each proficiency level. The processing unit 12 identifies, for example, the business time period of the product A from the O-Info. of the business node 150A, and identifies the proficiency level (e.g., "High") corresponding to the time period including that time period from the Man node 150MW. The processing unit 12 identifies the resource usage per unit time (e.g., "20") corresponding to the identified proficiency level (e.g., "High") from the environment node 150E1, and calculates the resource usage of the product A for Man and the business in question from the identified resource usage per unit time and the business time period of the product A.

[0056] Also, for example, the Mode of the Machine node 150MM indicates a plurality of operation modes (e.g., "Mode P" and "Mode Q"), and the O-Info. of the Machine node 150MM indicates a time period for each operation mode. The Mode of the environment node 150E2 also indicates the same plurality of operation modes, and the information representing the resource usage includes information representing the resource usage per unit time for each operation mode. For example, the processing unit 12 identifies the business time period of the product A from the O-Info. of the business node 150A, and identifies the operation mode (e.g., "Mode Q") corresponding to the time period including that time period from the Machine node 150MM. The processing unit 12 identifies the resource usage per unit time (e.g., "50") corresponding to the identified operation mode (e.g., "Mode Q") from the environment node 150E2, and calculates the resource usage of the product A for the Machine and the business from the identified resource usage per unit time and the business time period of the product A.

[0057] Also, for example, the Mode of the Method node 150MS represents multiple procedure types (e.g., "Type M" and "Type N"), and the O-Info. of the Method node 150MS represents a time period for each procedure type. The Mode of the environment node 150E4 also represents the same multiple procedure types, and the information representing the resource usage includes information representing the resource usage per unit time for each procedure type. The processing unit 12 identifies, for example, the business time period of the product A from the O-Info. of the business node 150A, and identifies the procedure type (e.g., "Type M") corresponding to the time period including that time period from the Method node 150MS. The processing unit 12 identifies the resource usage per unit time (e.g., "20") corresponding to the identified procedure type (e.g., "Type M") from the environment node 150E4, and calculates the resource usage of the product A for the Method and the business from the identified resource usage per unit time and the business time period of the product A.

[0058] Although several embodiments have been described above, these are merely examples for explaining the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms. For example, any two or more of the above-described embodiments can be combined.

[0059] The above description can be summarized, for example, as follows. The following summary may include supplementary explanations and explanations of modifications of the above description. In the following description, the "article" may be any of a part, a semi-finished product, and a finished product.

[0060] The resource usage management system 1 includes a storage device 52 that stores process management data 15 that represents the flow of multiple tasks related to the production or provision of goods, and a processor 53 connected to the storage device 52. The process management data 15 includes, for each of multiple tasks, task information including information about the task for each item related to the task, element information including information about each of multiple elements associated with the task and associated with the task information of the task, and environmental information including information about the resource usage of each of the multiple elements and associated with the element information of the element. The processor 53 calculates resource usage per item according to the information represented by the process management data 15 and the information association, and provides usage information that is information based on the aggregated resource usage. This allows the user to appropriately manage resource usage related to the production or provision of goods.

[0061] The multiple elements may be 4M elements such as Man, Machine, Method, and Material. This makes it possible to calculate resource usage for the 4M elements (for example, resource usage for each 4M element for each task) and provide usage information representing the calculated resource usage to the user.

[0062] For a task related to multiple different kinds of items among a plurality of tasks, there may be multiple element modes that differ depending on the type for at least one 4M element associated with the task among Man, Machine, and Method, and the environmental information associated with the element information of the 4M element may include information representing the resource usage corresponding to each of the multiple element modes. The processor 53 may calculate the resource usage for each type based on the process management data 15. The element mode may be a mode (setting) according to the manufacturing conditions and delivery conditions. Even in the case of a production method such as mixed production or when the delivery conditions differ for each type on the same delivery route, it is possible to calculate the resource usage for producing or providing the item.

[0063] For a task related to a plurality of different kinds of items, the task information may include information representing a time period during which the item is operated for each item, the element information may include information representing a time period corresponding to each of a plurality of element modes, and the environment information may include information representing a resource usage per unit time for each of the plurality of element modes. The processor 53 may identify a task time period, which is a time period during which the item is operated, from the task information, identify an element mode corresponding to a time period including the identified task time period from the element information associated with the task information, identify a resource usage per unit time corresponding to the identified element mode from the environment information associated with the element information, and calculate the product of the identified resource usage per unit time and the identified task time period as the resource usage for the task of the item. Even in the case of a production method such as mixed production or when the delivery conditions are different for each type of item on the same delivery route, it is possible to calculate the resource usage for the production or provision of the item. Note that, for a task related to a plurality of different kinds of items, the following may be examples of element modes. When the element associated with the task is a machine, the element modes may be multiple operation modes. For example, air conditioning equipment may be adopted as the equipment, and the resource usage (e.g., CO2 emissions) for the entire factory may be calculated. If the element associated with the task is a Method, multiple element modes may be multiple procedure types. - If the element associated with the task is Man, the multiple element mode is Multiple.

[0064] For each of the multiple tasks, the element information of the elements associated with the task may include information representing a corresponding time period for each item, and the environmental information may include information representing a resource usage per unit time. The processor 53 may identify a time period corresponding to the item from the element information associated with the task, identify a resource usage per unit time from the environmental information associated with the element information, and calculate the product of the identified resource usage per unit time and the identified time period as the resource usage for the task of the item. Even in the case of a production method such as mixed production or when the delivery conditions differ for each product type on the same delivery route, it is possible to calculate the resource usage for producing or providing the item by a method other than the method of associating an element mode with element information or environmental information.

[0065] The resource usage represented by the usage information may be the resource usage as a result of aggregation in a predetermined unit or a unit designated by the user. This allows the user to appropriately manage the resource usage related to the production or provision of goods. For example, the display of the usage information may be switched by the processor 53 in response to a request from the user between any one of the following (A) to (E) or two or more of the following (A) to (E). The latter may be, for example, a drill-down display from a first unit (e.g., a business unit) to a smaller second unit (e.g., a 4M element unit), or a drill-up display from the second unit to a larger first unit. (A) For all or some of the items, the resource usage of at least one of a plurality of operations is represented for each of Man, Machine, and Method. (B) Representing the resource usage of at least one of the multiple operations for each of all or some of the items. (C) The resource usage of at least one of the multiple tasks is represented for each of Man, Machine, and Method. (D) Representing the resource usage of at least one of the plurality of operations for each of all or some of the product types. (E) Representing resource usage for at least some of the multiple tasks.

[0066] The multiple operations may span multiple different suppliers. The usage information may represent resource usage for each of one or more first supplier categories to which a specified supplier belongs and for each of one or more second supplier categories of one or more suppliers other than the specified supplier. For the first and second suppliers, any of the following (X) and (Y) or the following (X) and (Y) may be switched by the processor in response to a request from the supplier. This makes it possible to manage resource usage from the perspective of scope, etc. The multiple elements may be 4M elements such as Man, Machine, Method, and Material, and for at least one of (X) and (Y), the resource usage represented by the usage information for each of one or more supplier categories may be the resource usage as a result of aggregation in a predetermined unit or a unit designated by the user. (X) The one or more first supplier categories may be Scope 1 and / or Scope 2, and the one or more second supplier categories may be Scope 3. (Y) The one or more first supplier categories may be the company itself, and the one or more second supplier categories may be upstream and downstream.

[0067] For example, CO2 emissions can be used as an example of resource usage (or an example of an amount obtained based on resource usage). It is difficult to identify the amount of CO2 emissions for goods produced or provided through multiple suppliers, and it is difficult to obtain a product passport (a collective term for a group of data related to detailed environment-related information (e.g., information related to environmental load such as CO2 emissions) for each part linked to an individual goods). Therefore, the process management data 15 has information on a supply chain including multiple operations of multiple suppliers. Therefore, it is possible to visualize the amount of CO2 emissions for each supplier category such as Scope, and thus the supplier as a user can perform an appropriate analysis. Note that in a case where the process management data 15 has information representing such a supply chain, the supplier category does not necessarily have to be managed.

[0068] Furthermore, the user can consider the configuration of a process management model (e.g., a supplier process model corresponding to the user) depending on the user's position in the supply chain (e.g., consideration of configuration changes described with reference to Figs. 8A and 8B). Furthermore, the processor 53 may, for example, receive a request from the user to change the configuration of the model portion, and in response to the request, change the configuration of the process management model to match the changed configuration of the model portion (e.g., copy the process management data 15 and change the configuration of the copy). The processor 53 may calculate the CO2 emissions when the model portion is changed based on the process management model after the configuration change, and provide the user with the CO2 emissions before and after changing the configuration of the model portion.

[0069] In addition, when the supplier is a finished product manufacturer, the processor 53 may provide information indicating the amount of resources used per item provided by the finished product manufacturer based on environmental information regarding each supplier (e.g., a parts manufacturer) upstream of the finished product manufacturer, thereby informing the finished product manufacturer of how much each item provided by the finished product manufacturer is contributing to the environment.

[0070] The process management data 15 represents a model composed of multiple nodes and multiple edges, and the model may include, for each of multiple tasks, a node having task information corresponding to the task, a node having element information associated with the task information, and a node having environment information associated with the element information. This is expected to facilitate management for tallying up resource usage.

[0071] For at least one task, information on a first type of item may be associated with task information in the process management data 15. The processor 53 may refer to the process management data 15, calculate the resource usage when the first type of item is changed to a second type of item based on the resource usage corresponding to the element mode of the second type of item in the environmental information associated with the information on the first type of item, and provide information representing the resource usage for the first type and the calculated resource usage for the second type as usage information. This makes it possible to simulate how the resource usage changes when, for example, a first type of item is produced or provided but the type of the item is changed to the second type.

[0072] Furthermore, for each task, the resource usage represented by the information in the environmental information may be a value (e.g., a predicted value) calculated based on the past measured values ​​of the resource usage. Therefore, for example, even at the stage of designing a factory or an item, the resource usage of the item can be estimated based on the process management data 15 having information representing the resource usage as a predicted value.

[0073] In the process management model shown in FIG. 3, the Man node 150MW (O-Info.) may include at least a part of information representing the operation time and the skill set of the worker (e.g., years of service and qualifications). The Machine node 150MM (O-Info.) may include at least a part of information representing the operation time (e.g., time interval), information representing equipment setting values ​​(e.g., mode), information representing the equipment operation (e.g., measurement values ​​by the equipment sensor), and information representing the resource usage amount (vendor-provided value) of the equipment. The Method node 150MS (O-Info.) may include at least a part of information representing the operation time (e.g., time interval), information representing equipment setting values ​​(e.g., mode), and information representing the air conditioning setting value (in the factory). The nodes may be associated with each other without the association node 150R. A worker's skill set (e.g., a worker classification (e.g., whether the worker is an experienced worker or a new worker) identified based on the worker's skill set) may affect the resource usage represented by the environment node 150E linked to the Man node 150MW, or the resource usage of a worker identified using the resource usage. At least one of the equipment operation time, equipment setting value, and equipment operation may affect the resource usage represented by the environment node 150E linked to the Machine node 150MM, or the resource usage of a piece of equipment identified using the resource usage. At least one of the operation time, equipment setting value, and air conditioning setting value of a task may affect the resource usage represented by the environment node 150E linked to the Method node 150MS, or the resource usage of a task identified using the resource usage.

[0074] In the process management model shown in Fig. 3, a process may be created for each product or variety. Resource usage may be aggregated based on the process management model shown in Fig. 3. That is, the processing unit 12 may specify the environment node 150E by tracing the nodes and links using the ID as a key, starting from the business node 150A, and may aggregate the resource usage based on the resource usage represented by the specified environment node 150E. The ID used as the key may be a serial ID for an individual, or an ID assigned to a lot unit that includes the individual. The business node 150A and each 4M node 150MID are included, and these IDs can be used as a key to trace.

[0075] The aggregation may be performed on a product-by-product basis, and the resource usage may be displayed based on the results in any unit, such as a product unit, a variety unit, a 4M element unit, or a 4M entity unit. The aggregation may also be performed in a unit other than a product unit, and the resource usage may be displayed based on the aggregation results. For example, the resource usage may be displayed for each 4M element for each of a number of different suppliers. Furthermore, the Material node 150MP may correspond to a part that is used as material in a business operation. For the Material, the resource usage may be aggregated by tracing from the business node 150A of the business operation immediately before the product is completed to the 4M node 150M.

[0076] In addition, the correspondence between the classification of scope (or categories such as one's own company, upstream, and downstream) and the supplier changes relatively depending on which business entity is viewed from. For example, from the viewpoint of a parts manufacturer, the CO2 emissions related to the production of a certain part of the parts manufacturer (when the equipment used during production runs on electricity and the electricity is purchased from a power company) belong to Scope 2 (i.e., indirect CO2 emissions due to the use of electricity), and from the viewpoint of a finished product manufacturer that purchased the part, the CO2 emissions belong to Scope 3 (i.e., products purchased by the finished product manufacturer). This is because the part is a purchased product from the viewpoint of the finished product manufacturer. In this way, the classification of the scope of the CO2 emissions related to the production of parts by the parts manufacturer changes depending on whether it is an upstream or downstream viewpoint. In the above-mentioned embodiment, in one platform that collectively gathers multiple suppliers (e.g., multiple customers) and shares information on the environment, the correspondence between the scope and the CO2 emissions can be displayed by changing it depending on the entity to be analyzed (the entity's position in the supply chain). For example, if the data analysis entity is a parts manufacturer, the CO2 emissions can be compiled as Scope 2, and if the entity is a finished product manufacturer, the CO2 emissions can be compiled as Scope 3. [Explanation of symbols]

[0077] 1: Resource usage management system

Claims

1. A storage device for storing process management data representing a plurality of work flows related to the production or provision of an item; a processor connected to the storage device; Equipped with The process management data includes, for each of the plurality of tasks, Business information including information about the business for each item related to the business; For each of a plurality of elements associated with the business, element information including information about the element and associated with business information of the business; For each of the plurality of elements, environmental information including information regarding resource usage of the element and associated with element information of the element; Including, The processor, Calculating resource usage per item according to the information represented by the process management data and the association of information; Providing usage information, which is information based on aggregated resource usage; Resource usage management system.

2. The plurality of elements are 4M elements, such as Man, Machine, Method, and Material; The resource usage management system according to claim 1 .

3. Among the above-mentioned multiple businesses, for businesses related to multiple different types of goods, For at least one of the 4M elements, Man, Machine, and Method, associated with the task, there are a plurality of element modes that differ depending on the product type; the environment information associated with the element information of the 4M element includes, for each of the plurality of element modes, information representing a resource usage amount corresponding to the element mode; the processor calculates a resource usage amount for each product type based on the process management data; The resource usage management system according to claim 2 .

4. For business involving multiple different types of goods, The business information includes information indicating a time period during which each item is operated, the element information includes, for each of a plurality of element modes, information indicating a time period corresponding to the element mode; the environmental information includes information representing a resource usage amount per unit time for each of the plurality of element modes; The processor, Identifying a business time period for the item from the business information; Identifying an element mode corresponding to a time period including the identified business time period from element information associated with the business information; Identifying a resource usage amount per unit time corresponding to the identified element mode from environmental information associated with the element information; Calculating the product of the identified resource usage per unit time and the identified task time period as the resource usage of the item for the task; The resource usage management system according to claim 3 .

5. For business involving multiple different types of goods, When the element associated with the task is a Machine, the element modes are a plurality of operation modes; When the element associated with the task is a Method, the element modes are a plurality of procedure types; When the element associated with the task is Man, the element modes are a plurality of proficiencies. The resource usage management system according to claim 3 .

6. For each of the plurality of businesses, The element information of the element associated with the task includes information indicating a corresponding time period for each item, the environmental information includes information representing a resource usage amount per unit time, The processor, The time period for responding to the item is identified from the element information associated with the task, Identifying the resource usage per unit time from the environmental information associated with the element information; Calculating the product of the identified resource usage per unit time and the identified time period as the resource usage of the item for the task; The resource usage management system according to claim 1 .

7. The resource usage represented by the usage information is a resource usage result calculated in a predetermined unit or a unit designated by a user. The resource usage management system according to claim 1 .

8. The plurality of operations spans a plurality of different suppliers, the usage information represents resource usage for each of one or more first supplier categories to which a specified supplier belongs and for each of one or more second supplier categories of one or more suppliers other than the specified supplier; For the first and second suppliers, either one of the following (X) and (Y), or the following (X) and (Y) are switched by the processor in response to a request from the supplier. (X) the one or more first supplier categories are Scope 1 and / or Scope 2, and the one or more second supplier categories are Scope 3; (Y) the one or more first supplier categories are the company itself, and the one or more second supplier categories are upstream and downstream; The resource usage management system according to claim 1 .

9. The plurality of elements are 4M elements such as Man, Machine, Method, and Material, For at least one of (X) and (Y), the resource usage represented by the usage information for each of one or more supplier categories is a resource usage amount obtained by tallying the resource usage amount in a predetermined unit or a unit designated by a user. The resource usage management system according to claim 8 .

10. the process management data represents a model including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges; the model includes, for each of the plurality of tasks, a node having task information corresponding to the task, a node having element information associated with the task information, and a node having environment information associated with the element information; The resource usage management system according to claim 1 .

11. For at least one task, task information in the process management data is associated with information on a first item type; The processor, calculating a resource usage amount when a first type of item is changed to a second type of item by referring to the process management data, based on a resource usage amount corresponding to an element mode of the second type of item among environmental information associated with information on the first type of item; providing, as the usage information, information representing a resource usage amount for the first product type and a calculated resource usage amount for the second product type; The resource usage management system according to claim 3 .

12. The computer calculates the resource usage amount per item according to information represented by the process management data representing the flow of multiple operations related to the production or provision of the item and the association of the information; The process management data includes, for each of the plurality of tasks, Business information including information about the business for each item related to the business; For each of a plurality of elements associated with the business, element information including information about the element and associated with business information of the business; For each of the plurality of elements, environmental information including information regarding resource usage of the element and associated with element information of the element; Including, the computer providing usage information, the information being based on the aggregated resource usage; Resource usage management method.

13. Calculating resource usage per item according to information represented by process management data that represents a flow of multiple operations related to the production or provision of the item and information associations; The process management data includes, for each of the plurality of tasks, Business information including information about the business for each item related to the business; For each of a plurality of elements associated with the business, element information including information about the element and associated with business information of the business; For each of the plurality of elements, environmental information including information regarding resource usage of the element and associated with element information of the element; Including, Providing usage information, which is information based on aggregated resource usage; A computer program that causes a computer to do something.

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