Manufacturing line design device, manufacturing line design system, manufacturing line design method, and computer program

Abstract

To shorten a preparation time for a process organization when a plurality of products are manufactured by a plurality of manufacturing lines.SOLUTION: A manufacturing line design device includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires manufacturing information including the number of products to be manufactured, a process load indicating a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the products, the number of possessed facilities used to perform each of the processes, and a facility capacity indicating a processing capacity in each facility; a classification unit that classifies the products into clusters through clustering the products by using at least one of the number of products to be manufactured, the process load, and each facility capacity; and a design unit that designs a manufacturing line by using a classification result obtained by the classification unit. The design unit distributes the products to any one of a plurality of manufacturing lines in accordance with the classification result and, for each of the manufacturing lines after the distribution, optimizes the number of the facilities allocated to the manufacturing lines, by using the manufacturing information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for designing a manufacturing line. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known a technology for manufacturing products using a production line consisting of multiple processes (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The work organization device described in Patent Document 1 assigns workers, tasks to be performed by the workers, and jigs, tools, and equipment required for the tasks to the production line. After the assignment, the work organization device optimizes the production line by evaluating it using an objective function with variables including the depreciation costs of the jigs, tools, and equipment, and labor costs. As such, there are known technologies for optimizing production lines that use various algorithms, such as evaluation using objective functions and design based on the experience of skilled process organization personnel.

[0003] The line production support system described in Patent Document 2 classifies multiple types of work pieces into groups smaller than the number of types, using information about work elements, information about work equipment, and auxiliary equipment for the work equipment as classification indices. Depending on the total number of work pieces to be produced in each group, the work pieces are organized into production units consisting of a fixed number of pieces, and the production sequence is determined so that the execution sequence of the same work elements is continuous. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-116507 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 05-257947 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When optimizing a production line, as the number of lines and manufactured products increases, the number of combinations can become enormous, even if the number of equipment is limited. With a large number of combinations, it takes a long time to find an optimal solution using an exhaustive search. Furthermore, in response to demand fluctuations due to factors such as an increase or decrease in the number of manufactured products, it may not be possible to quickly replace an existing production line with a new one. In particular, when quickly changing production lines in response to demand fluctuations, it may be difficult to reduce the portion of production costs related to processing costs. Regarding this issue, Patent Document 1 describes a work organization that assumes an exhaustive search, leaving room for improvement in reducing the time required for production line optimization. Patent Document 2 considers a single production line and does not consider the case where products are manufactured on multiple production lines. These challenges are not limited to production line optimization, but are also common to production line optimization.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve at least part of the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to reduce the time required to create a process organization when a plurality of products are manufactured using a plurality of production lines. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve at least part of the above-mentioned problems, and can be realized in the following forms. A manufacturing line design device that designs a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products comprises: an information acquisition unit that acquires manufacturing information including at least the number of units of each type of product to be manufactured, a process load representing the load at each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product, the number of one or more types of equipment owned to perform each of the processes, and an equipment capacity representing the processing capacity of each of the equipment; a classification unit that classifies all of the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using the number of units of each type of product to be manufactured, the process load, and each equipment capacity; and a design unit that designs the manufacturing line using a classification result by the classification unit, wherein the design unit allocates all of the products to any of a plurality of manufacturing lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters according to the classification result, and when the total number of units of each type of equipment used in all of the manufacturing lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective owned numbers, allocates the products to each of the manufacturing lines according to the classification result. and when the total number of the equipment units of at least one type among the total numbers of the equipment units of each type used in all of the production lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the owned number, the classification unit changes the clustering conditions and reclassifies all of the products, the manufacturing information further includes at least one of equipment cost, which is the cost required to perform each of the processes, labor cost, which is the cost required to perform each of the processes, and production time, which is the time required to manufacture each of the products, the design unit determines the number of the equipment units to be allocated to each of the production lines so as to minimize an objective function in the manufacturing information, the objective function including a variable representing at least one of the equipment cost, the labor cost, and the production time, thereby optimizing the number of equipment units, and when the value of the objective function calculated to minimize the number of equipment units exceeds a predetermined target value, the classification unit changes the clustering conditions and reclassifies all of the products.

[0008] (1) According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manufacturing line design device for designing a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products. The manufacturing line design device includes manufacturing information The system comprises an information acquisition unit that acquires manufacturing information including at least the number of units of each type of product to be manufactured, a process load representing the load at each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product, the number of one or more types of equipment owned to perform each of the processes, and an equipment capacity representing the processing capacity of each of the equipment; a classification unit that classifies the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using at least one of the number of units of each type of product to be manufactured, the process load, and each equipment capacity; and a design unit that designs the manufacturing line using the classification results by the classification unit, wherein the design unit allocates all of the products to any of a plurality of manufacturing lines according to the classification results, and uses the manufacturing information to optimize the number of units of equipment to be allocated to each manufacturing line after the products have been allocated.

[0009] According to this configuration, products manufactured in each production line are allocated according to the classification results of the classification unit. After allocation, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line is optimized. That is, in this configuration, the number of pieces of equipment is not optimized for all production lines, including product allocation, but is optimized for each production line after product allocation. Therefore, compared to optimization including product allocation for all production lines, the number of variables to be changed for optimization is reduced in this configuration. Furthermore, in this configuration, the allocation of products manufactured in each production line is performed according to multiple clusters classified by clustering, so the product combinations allocated to each production line are close to the overall optimal solution. That is, in this configuration, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line for each process is optimized using a solution close to the optimal solution obtained by allocation of products to the production lines. As a result, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line is optimized using a solution close to the optimal solution obtained by allocation of products to the production lines and the reduced number of parameters. This reduces the time required to create a process organization when multiple products are manufactured using multiple production lines.

[0010] (2) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the classification unit may classify all of the products into the plurality of clusters by the clustering, and the design unit may assign all of the products to any of a plurality of manufacturing lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters according to the classification results. With this configuration, each product is classified into one of the clusters. In other words, there is no product that is not classified into any cluster, leading to a single classification result. Because there is only one classification result, the time required to create a process organization by optimizing the number of equipment units can be further reduced.

[0011] (3) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the classification unit may create multiple types of patterns in which the products that were not classified into any of the clusters by the clustering are classified into any of the clusters, and the design unit may allocate all of the products to any of multiple manufacturing lines according to each of the multiple types of patterns created. According to this configuration, multiple types of patterns are created in which products that were not classified into any cluster are classified into any cluster. The number of pieces of equipment allocated to the production line is optimized for the multiple types of patterns. In other words, by creating patterns in which products that were not classified by clustering are classified into any cluster, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to the production line can be further optimized compared to the case in which no patterns are created.

[0012] (4) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the manufacturing information includes the number of pieces of equipment owned for each type of equipment, and the design unit allocates the equipment for performing each of the processes of one of the manufacturing lines using the number of pieces of equipment owned as a constraint, and each time the equipment is allocated, the design unit allocates the products that can be manufactured on the manufacturing line, and allocates at least one of the products to the manufacturing line. If the allocation is made, the process may be transitioned to the next manufacturing line, and the minimum number of manufacturing lines required may be determined by allocating the equipment and allocating the products. With this configuration, the minimum number of required production lines is determined by assigning equipment to each production line and allocating products to each production line in turn, with the number of owned equipment of each type as a constraint. The total number of pieces of equipment in each designed production line does not exceed the number of owned pieces of equipment, so the created process schedule is a feasible schedule. This eliminates the need for an unrealizable process schedule that does not allow for limitations on the number of owned pieces of equipment, as in the past. This shortens the calculation time for the process schedule of production lines, speeding up the process schedule. Furthermore, the number of production lines can be appropriately increased from the minimum required number depending on the surplus in the number of owned pieces of equipment, further optimizing the process schedule.

[0013] (5) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the manufacturing information may further include at least one of equipment costs, which are the costs required to perform each of the processes, labor costs, which are the costs required to perform each of the processes, and manufacturing time, which is the time required to manufacture each of the products, and the design department may optimize the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to each of the manufacturing lines so as to minimize an objective function in the manufacturing information that includes a variable representing at least one of the equipment costs, the labor costs, and the manufacturing time. According to this configuration, an objective function is used that uses at least one of equipment costs, labor costs, and production time as a feature quantity to optimize the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line. By shortening production time, the production cost of the product decreases. In other words, the objective function includes a variable for the production cost of the product. Therefore, according to this configuration, a process organization that suppresses production costs is created. Furthermore, particularly when changing the equipment allocated to the production line in response to fluctuations in demand for the number of products to be manufactured, the processing costs within the product production cost can be effectively reduced.

[0014] (6) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the design unit may optimize the number of pieces of equipment by minimizing the objective function and ensuring that the total manufacturing time of the products manufactured on each of the manufacturing lines does not exceed a predetermined upper limit time. With this configuration, because an upper limit on the manufacturing time is imposed as a constraint, the total manufacturing time in the designed process organization is equal to or less than the upper limit. In other words, with this configuration, a manufacturing line that can efficiently manufacture products while satisfying the manufacturing time constraint is designed. This reduces product manufacturing and capital investment costs and increases profits.

[0015] (7) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, if the total number of units of the equipment of each type used in all of the manufacturing lines after the allocation of the products is less than or equal to the respective stock numbers, the design unit may optimize the number of units of the equipment assigned to each of the manufacturing lines in accordance with the classification results, and if the total number of units of at least one type of the equipment of each type used in all of the manufacturing lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the stock number, the classification unit may reclassify all of the products with the clustering conditions changed. With this configuration, if the total number of pieces of equipment assigned to at least one production line exceeds the number of units in stock, i.e., if an unrealizable production line is designed, classification is performed again with modified clustering conditions. Therefore, with this configuration, the number of pieces of equipment assigned to the production line can be optimized for only feasible process organization.

[0016] (8) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, when the total number of the equipment units of each type used in all the manufacturing lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective stock numbers, the design unit extracts the manufacturing lines to which the equipment units of the type with a surplus in the stock number are assigned, and assigns the range of the surplus in the stock number to the extracted manufacturing lines. The number of the equipment may be optimized by allocating additional equipment within the range. According to this configuration, if there is a surplus of equipment in the inventory, additional equipment is allocated to the production line to which the extracted equipment type with the surplus is assigned, within the range of the surplus of the same type of equipment. When additional equipment is allocated, the work time of the process using that equipment is shortened. In other words, the number of equipment units is optimized at the stage when the equipment is allocated to the production line. As a result, according to this configuration, by further optimizing the number of equipment units using the optimized number of equipment units as the initial solution, each production line can be brought closer to an optimal process organization.

[0017] (9) In the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect, the design unit may allocate additional equipment to the extracted manufacturing line to reduce the longest cycle time among the cycle times of the plurality of processes performed in the manufacturing line, thereby leveling the cycle times of the plurality of processes, and optimize the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated for the manufacturing line whose cycle times have been leveled, using the number of pieces of equipment allocated after leveling, so as to minimize an objective function including at least one variable representing one of the variables included in the manufacturing information. This configuration reduces the maximum cycle time among the processes performed on the extracted production line, i.e., reduces cycle times that could become bottlenecks and exceed the takt time, thereby leveling the cycle times of multiple processes. This ensures that the time required to manufacture products on the production line falls within the takt time. The number of pieces of equipment assigned to a production line with a leveled cycle time is the number of pieces of equipment that approach the optimal solution. This configuration determines the number of pieces of equipment assigned to the production line so as to minimize the objective function, using the number of pieces of equipment that approach the optimal solution as the initial solution. This reduces the time required to create a process organization when manufacturing multiple products, and enables the creation of a more optimized process organization.

[0018] (10) According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manufacturing line design system comprising the manufacturing line design device of the above aspect and the equipment having a driving unit for movement, wherein the design unit further generates position information specifying a position where the equipment is to be placed according to the manufacturing line to which the equipment is assigned, and transmits the position information to the equipment, and the driving unit of the equipment moves the equipment to the position indicated by the received position information. According to this configuration, the equipment to be allocated to the production line is automatically moved by the driving unit to the position indicated by the position information generated by the design unit, so that the equipment to be allocated to the production line can be easily positioned.

[0019] The present invention can be realized in various forms, for example, in the form of a manufacturing line design device, a process organization device, a manufacturing line design system, a line manufacturing support system, a control method for these devices and systems, a computer program executed in these devices and systems, a server device for distributing this computer program, a non-transitory storage medium on which a computer program is stored, etc. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic block diagram of a manufacturing line design system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 10 is a table showing process load information according to the present embodiment. [Figure 3] 10 is a table showing process capability information according to the present embodiment. [Figure 4] This is a table showing the number of units manufactured for each product. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of product classification results. [Figure 6] 1 is a flowchart of a manufacturing line design method. [Figure 7] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the effects of the line design device of the present embodiment. [Figure 8]10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the effects of the line design device of the present embodiment. [Figure 9] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the effects of the line design device of the present embodiment. [Figure 10] 10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating the effects of the line design device of the present embodiment. [Figure 11] 10 is a table showing process load information according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] 10 is a table showing process load information after allocation of equipment to lines. [Figure 13] 10 is a table showing process load information after allocation of equipment to lines. [Figure 14] 10 is a table showing process capability information according to the second embodiment. [Figure 15] This is a table showing the number of units manufactured for each product. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of product classification results. [Figure 17] 10A to 10C are explanatory diagrams of product allocation results in each allocation pattern. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating optimization of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each pattern. [Figure 19] 10 is a flowchart of a manufacturing line design method according to a second embodiment. [Figure 20] 10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams of allocation patterns as an embodiment and objective functions as a comparative example. [Figure 21] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the production time per day for each production line in the examples and comparative examples. [Figure 22] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 23] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 24] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 25] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 26] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 27] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in an example and a comparative example. [Figure 28] 10 is a flowchart of a modified manufacturing line design method. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a manufacturing line design system 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A line design device (manufacturing line design device) 100 included in the manufacturing line design system 300 of this embodiment designs multiple manufacturing lines for manufacturing multiple types of products. The line design device 100 organizes processes by separating the allocation of products to be manufactured on the manufacturing lines from the allocation of the number of pieces of equipment used to perform the multiple processes required to manufacture the products on each manufacturing line. After the product allocation is completed, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each manufacturing line is optimized. This reduces the number of variables to be optimized compared to when the product allocation and the equipment allocation are not separated. This allows the line design device 100 to shorten the time required to create a process organization compared to when both the product allocation and the equipment allocation on each manufacturing line are optimized.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, the manufacturing line design system 300 includes a line design device 100 and a plurality of pieces of equipment 201 to 20x having drive units for movement. The line design device 100 of this embodiment is a personal computer that processes various types of information. As shown in FIG. 1, the line design device 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The device includes a data processing unit (DCU) 10, a storage device 20, an input unit 30, an output unit 40, and a communication unit 50 that transmits and receives various information via wireless communication.

[0023] The input unit 30 has a keyboard and a mouse. Input information input by a user via the input unit 30 is processed by the CPU 10. The output unit 40 has a monitor for displaying images and a speaker for outputting audio. The output unit 40 displays images on the monitor and outputs audio from the speaker in accordance with output information from the CPU 10. The communication unit 50 transmits control information to each of the facilities 201 to 20x.

[0024] The storage device 20 is composed of a hard disk drive (HDD) and the like. The storage device 20 is equipped with a process load information database (process load information DB) 21 that stores process load information, and a process capacity information database (process capacity information DB) 22 that stores process capacity information. The process load information is data that associates multiple processes required to manufacture a product, the process load in each process, and the number of one or more types of equipment owned to perform each process. The process capacity information is data that associates multiple processes, the number of equipment owned to perform each process, equipment capacity that represents the processing capacity of each piece of equipment, and the equipment cost required to operate one piece of equipment on a production line.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a table showing process load information according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 shows, in a table format, the "number of equipment units," which indicates the number of pieces of equipment owned to perform each process, and the process loads required to manufacture a product. The "number of equipment units" column pre-stores the number of pieces of equipment available for each corresponding process. For example, there is one piece of equipment for performing process 1, and similarly, there is one piece of equipment for each of processes 2 to 8. Furthermore, there are four pieces of equipment for performing process 9, and ten pieces of equipment for performing process 10. The number of pieces of equipment required to perform process 9 is four. In this embodiment, one piece of equipment is used to perform one process. Therefore, in this embodiment, since there is one piece of equipment for performing processes 1 to 8, it can be assigned to only one production line. On the other hand, there are four pieces of equipment used to perform process 9, so it can be assigned to a maximum of four production lines. Note that assigning more than one piece of equipment of the same type to one production line shortens the cycle time of the process performed by that equipment.

[0026] In the process load information, the cells for each product 1 to y (y = 1, 2, . . . , 18) corresponding to a process contain the load applied to a single piece of equipment to manufacture that product as a numerical value. The numerical values ​​entered are standardized values ​​with a reference value of 100. For example, to manufacture product 1, equipment that performs processes 9 to 15, 17 to 18, and 20 to 25 must be included in one production line. Similarly, to manufacture product 2, the same equipment as that used to manufacture product 1 must be included in one production line. If the load on each piece of equipment when product 1 is manufactured is 100, the load on each piece of equipment when product 2 is manufactured will be the same as the load on product 1 when processes 9, 10, 12, 14, 17 to 18, and 21 are performed. On the other hand, the load for Product 2 is 118.7 at process 11, 107.5 at process 13, 112.5 at process 15, 104.5 at process 20, 120.2 at process 22, 108.9 at process 23, 98.4 at process 24, and 106.0 at process 25, which is different from the load on the equipment when each process for Product 1 is carried out.

[0027] FIG. 3 is a table showing process capacity information of this embodiment. For processes 1 to 25, FIG. 3 shows, as a table, the "number of equipment units" representing the number of pieces of equipment owned, the equipment capacity per piece of equipment performing each process, and the equipment cost incurred when one piece of equipment is assigned to a production line. The "equipment capacity" may be, for example, the processing speed of the workpieces to be processed. The "equipment cost" is the cost required to operate one piece of equipment per unit time when performing each process. The line design device 100 organizes processes using the process load information shown in FIG. 2 and the process capacity information shown in FIG. 3.

[0028] The CPU 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a R It is connected to an AM (Random Access Memory) and executes computer programs stored in the ROM by expanding them into the RAM. As shown in Figure 1, the CPU 10 functions as an information acquisition unit 11 that acquires process load information and process capability information, a classification unit 12, and a design unit 13 that organizes the processes of each production line.

[0029] The information acquisition unit 11 acquires the number of units of each type of product manufactured input via the input unit 30, in addition to the process load information and process capacity information. FIG. 4 is a table showing the number of units of each product manufactured. FIG. 4 shows the number of units manufactured for each product. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the number of units manufactured of product 1 is 8,975, and the number of units manufactured of product 2 is 7,702. The number of units manufactured of each product, the process load information, and the process capacity information correspond to manufacturing information.

[0030] The classification unit 12 classifies all products 1 to 18 into multiple clusters by clustering using the number of manufactured units of each product, the process load included in the process load information, and the equipment capacity included in the process capacity information. As a clustering method, for example, well-known methods such as hierarchical clustering, non-hierarchical clustering, and algorithms derived from these can be used.

[0031] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the classification results for products 1 to 18. FIG. 5 shows product positions I1 to I18, which represent the positions of the clustered products 1 to 18. In this embodiment, the classification unit 12 classifies products 1 to 18 into five clusters. As shown in FIG. 5, the classification unit 12 classifies products 1 to 5 into cluster 1, products 8 to 10 into cluster 2, products 16 to 18 into cluster 3, products 11 to 15 into cluster 4, and product 6 into cluster 5. Note that in FIG. 5, the distance between product positions is expressed in two dimensions for convenience. Therefore, the distance between the data of products 1 to 5 classified into cluster 1 and products 7 to 10 classified into cluster 2 is close, but in three dimensions the distance between the data is greater than the distance criterion, which is a threshold value. As a result, the classification unit 12 classified products I1 to I5 and products I7 to I10 into different clusters.

[0032] The design unit 13 allocates all of the products 1 to 18 to one of a plurality of production lines corresponding to a plurality of clusters 1 to 5, respectively, according to the classification results of the classification unit 12. Specifically, the design unit 13 allocates each of the clusters 1 to 5 as a product to be manufactured on each of the production lines 1 to 5. For example, the design unit 13 allocates the products 1 to 5 classified in cluster 1 as products to be manufactured on production line 1, and allocates the products 7 to 10 classified in cluster 2 as products to be manufactured on production line 2.

[0033] The design unit 13 determines whether the total number of each type of equipment used in all production lines after product allocation is equal to or less than the respective owned units. If the design unit 13 determines that the total number is equal to or less than the respective owned units, it optimizes the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line according to the classification results of the classification unit 12. On the other hand, if the design unit 13 determines that the total number of pieces of equipment of at least one type exceeds the owned units, it causes the classification unit 12 to reclassify all products by changing the clustering conditions. In this way, if the total number of pieces of equipment of even one type allocated to a production line exceeds the owned unit, it is not possible to manufacture all products. Therefore, in this case, the classification unit 12 reclassifies the products into multiple clusters. Examples of clustering conditions to be changed include the distance criterion between data, the method for calculating the distance between clusters, and the clustering algorithm.

[0034] Once the allocation of all products to production lines capable of manufacturing all products has been completed, the processes that make up each production line are determined according to the allocated products. The type of equipment to be allocated to the production line is determined according to the determined processes. The design department 13 determines the equipment required to carry out the determined processes. The minimum number of pieces of equipment required is allocated to each production line. In this embodiment, the design unit 13 allocates one piece of equipment of the determined type to each production line. If the total number of pieces of equipment of each type used in all production lines after product allocation is equal to or less than the number of pieces of equipment in stock, the design unit 13 extracts production lines to which equipment of a type with a surplus in stock is allocated. The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated by allocating additional equipment to the extracted production lines within the range of the surplus in stock. For example, equipment used in process 10 ( FIG. 2 ) required to manufacture all products 1 to 18 is allocated to all five production lines corresponding to clusters 1 to 5. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the number of pieces of equipment required to perform process 10 is 10, so the design unit 13 extracts all production lines that make up process 10 and optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to each production line.

[0035] The design unit 13 allocates additional equipment to the extracted production line, thereby shortening the longest cycle time among the cycle times of the multiple processes performed on the production line and leveling the cycle times of the multiple processes. The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to the production line whose cycle time has been leveled, using the number of pieces of equipment allocated after leveling so as to minimize an objective function. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , processes and the equipment required to perform the processes are associated one-to-one. Therefore, the design unit 13 can optimize each production line individually, rather than as a whole. In this embodiment, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated by minimizing an objective function KPI (Key Performance Indicator) using the number of pieces of equipment optimized by leveling as an initial solution. The objective function KPI is a function whose variables are equipment cost, cycle time, the number of products produced, and the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line. The design unit 13 terminates the optimization when the objective function KPI meets a preset target value. On the other hand, if the objective function KPI does not satisfy the target value, the optimization ends without satisfying the target value, or the classification unit 12 performs clustering again. Note that well-known methods such as a genetic algorithm, an approximation algorithm, or a simulated annealing method can be used as the optimization algorithm.

[0036] The design unit 13 generates position information that identifies the positions at which the facilities 201-20x are to be placed, depending on the production lines to which the facilities 201-20x are assigned. The design unit 13 transmits the generated position information to each of the facilities 201-20x corresponding to the positions at which the facilities are to be placed, via the communication unit 50. In this embodiment, the communication unit 50 and the design unit 13 can be collectively regarded as the "design unit."

[0037] 2 includes a drive control unit (drive unit) 221 that controls the movement of the facility 201, and a moving unit (drive unit) 211 that is driven under the control of the drive control unit 221. The moving unit 211 has four wheels that move in a predetermined direction in response to a control signal from the drive control unit 221. The drive control unit 221 includes a battery for operating the moving unit 211, a receiving unit for receiving position information transmitted from the design unit 13, and a control unit for controlling the moving unit 211 to move to a position indicated by the received position information. Note that other facilities (for example, facility 20x) also include a similar drive control unit 221 and moving unit 211. Therefore, each of the facilities 201 to 20x in this embodiment automatically moves to a position indicated by the position information transmitted from the design unit 13.

[0038] Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a manufacturing line design method. In the line design flow shown in Fig. 6, first, the information acquisition unit 11 performs an information acquisition step of acquiring process load information, process capacity information, and the number of units manufactured of each product (step S1). The classification unit 12 classifies products 1 to 18 into a plurality of clusters by clustering using the process load information, process capacity information, and the number of units manufactured of each product (step S2).

[0039] The design unit 13 allocates all of the products 1 to 18 to one of the multiple production lines corresponding to the multiple clusters 1 to 5 according to the classification results of the classification unit 12 (step S3). The design unit 13 determines whether the total number of pieces of equipment for each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is less than or equal to the respective owned number (step S4). If it is determined that the total number of allocated pieces of equipment is greater than the owned number (step S4: NO), the classification unit 12 reclassifies all of the products 1 to 18 with the clustering conditions changed (step S2).

[0040] If it is determined in the processing of step S3 that the total number of allocated pieces of equipment is equal to or less than the number of owned pieces of equipment (step S4: YES), the design unit 13 extracts production lines to which equipment of a type that has a surplus in the number of owned pieces of equipment is assigned (step S5). The design unit 13 allocates additional equipment to the extracted production lines to reduce the longest cycle time among the cycle times of the multiple processes performed on the production line, thereby leveling out the cycle times of the multiple processes (step S6). The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment so as to minimize the cycle time of the process with the longest cycle time among the processes that make up each production line.

[0041] The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to each production line so as to minimize the objective function KPI for each production line using the initial solution for the number of pieces of equipment obtained by leveling the cycle time and the process capacity information shown in FIG. 3 (step S7). The design unit 13 determines whether the value of the objective function KPI meets a preset target value (step S8). If it is determined that the value of the objective function KPI meets the target value (step S8: YES), the line design flow ends. The design unit 13 generates location information that identifies the location where the equipment will be placed according to the optimized production line and transmits the location information to each piece of equipment. Upon receiving the transmitted location information, the equipment 201 to 20x moves to the location indicated by the location information. The processing from step S3 to step S7 corresponds to the design process.

[0042] If it is determined in the processing of step S8 that the value of the objective function KPI does not satisfy the target value (step S8: NO), the design unit 13 determines whether or not the allocation of each product to the production lines and the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line need to be reconsidered (step S9). The design unit 13 determines that reconsidering is necessary, for example, if there is room for changing the number of production lines in the process organization. On the other hand, the design unit 13 determines that reconsidering is unnecessary if the number of production lines cannot be changed and a more optimal process organization cannot be obtained. If it is determined that reconsidering is necessary (step S9: YES), the classification unit 12 reclassifies all products 1 to 18 with the clustering conditions changed (step S2). If it is determined that reconsidering is not necessary (step S9: NO), the line design flow ends.

[0043] 7 to 10 are explanatory diagrams illustrating the effects of the line design device 100 of this embodiment. FIG. 7 shows a table of the process organization of the example and the comparative example, calculated by the line design device 100 when the process load information shown in FIG. 2, the process capacity information shown in FIG. 3, and the number of manufactured products shown in FIG. 4 are given. The process organization of the comparative example is a process organization created by an experienced worker. As shown in FIG. 7, the products allocated to production lines 1, 4, and 5 are the same in the example and the comparative example, but the products allocated to production lines 2 and 3 are different.

[0044] FIG. 8 shows a list of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each of lines 1 to 5 in the example. FIG. 9 shows a list of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each of lines 1 to 5 in the comparative example. Comparing the example shown in FIG. 8 with the example shown in FIG. 9, the number of pieces of equipment used in processes 10, 13, 15, and 24 in line 2 and the number of pieces of equipment used in processes 10, 13, 15, and 24 in line 3 are different. The number of pieces of equipment used for process 13 on line 1, the number of pieces of equipment used for process 24 on line 4, and the number of pieces of equipment used for process 15 on line 5 are different. As a result, as shown in Fig. 10, the equipment cost of the example calculated using the objective function KPI is 18,583. Similarly, the equipment cost of the comparative example calculated using the objective function KPI is 19,408, and the equipment cost of the example is smaller than that of the comparative example.

[0045] As described above, in the line design device 100 of this embodiment, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires process load information, process capacity information including the number of owned equipment units, and the number of manufactured units of each product. The classification unit 12 classifies products 1 to 18 into multiple clusters by clustering using the process load information, process capacity information, and the number of manufactured units of each product. The design unit 13 allocates products to be manufactured in each production line according to the clusters classified by the classification unit 12. After product allocation, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of equipment units allocated to each production line using the process load information, process capacity information, and the number of manufactured units of each product. Therefore, in the line design device 100 of this embodiment, products to be manufactured in each production line are allocated according to the classification result of the classification unit 12. After allocation, the number of equipment units allocated to each production line is optimized. In other words, in this embodiment, the number of equipment units is not optimized for all production lines, including the allocation of products, but is optimized for each production line after the products are allocated to the production line. Therefore, in this embodiment, the number of variables to be changed for optimization is smaller than when optimization is performed on all production lines, including the allocation of products. Furthermore, because the allocation of products to each production line is performed according to multiple clusters classified by clustering, the combination of products allocated to each production line is close to the overall optimal solution. That is, in this embodiment, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line is optimized using a solution close to the optimal solution obtained by the allocation of products to the production lines. As a result, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line is optimized using a solution close to the optimal solution obtained by the allocation of products to the production lines and the reduced number of variables. This reduces the time required to create a process organization when manufacturing multiple products using multiple production lines.

[0046] 5, the classification unit 12 of this embodiment classifies all of the 18 products, ie, products 1 to 18, into one of clusters 1 to 5. That is, each of products 1 to 18 is necessarily classified into one of clusters 1 to 5, and there is no product that is not classified into any of clusters 1 to 5, leading to a single classification result. Because there is a single classification result, the time required to create a process organization by optimizing the number of pieces of equipment can be further reduced.

[0047] In addition, the objective function KPI used by the design unit 13 in this embodiment to optimize the number of pieces of equipment is a function with variables including equipment cost, cycle time, the number of units produced of each product, and the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line. The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment allocated to the production line so as to minimize the objective function KPI. In other words, the objective function KPI includes variables related to the cost of manufacturing a product. Therefore, according to this embodiment, a process organization that suppresses costs is created. Furthermore, particularly when changing the equipment allocated to the production line in response to fluctuations in demand for the number of units of a product to be manufactured, the processing costs within the product manufacturing costs can be effectively reduced.

[0048] Furthermore, the design unit 13 of this embodiment determines whether the total number of pieces of equipment for each type used in all production lines after product allocation is equal to or less than the respective number of pieces of equipment in stock. When the design unit 13 determines that the total number of pieces of equipment for at least one type exceeds the number of pieces of equipment in stock, the design unit 13 causes the classification unit 12 to reclassify all products with changed clustering conditions. In this embodiment, when the total number of pieces of equipment allocated to at least one production line exceeds the number of pieces of equipment in stock, that is, when an unrealizable production line is designed, classification is performed again with changed clustering conditions. Therefore, in this embodiment, The number of pieces of equipment allocated to a production line can be optimized for only feasible process configurations.

[0049] Furthermore, in the present embodiment, if the total number of each type of equipment used in all production lines after product allocation is equal to or less than the owned number, the design unit 13 extracts production lines to which equipment of a type with a surplus in the owned number is assigned. The design unit 13 optimizes the number of equipment units to be assigned by allocating additional equipment to the extracted production lines within the range of the surplus in the owned number. In this embodiment, if there is a surplus in the owned number of equipment units, additional equipment of the same type is allocated to the production lines to which the extracted surplus equipment is assigned within the range of the surplus in the equipment of the same type. Allocating additional equipment reduces the work time of the process using the equipment. In other words, the number of equipment units is optimized when equipment is allocated to the production line. As a result, the line design device 100 of this embodiment can further optimize the number of equipment units using the objective function KPI, using the optimized number of equipment units as an initial solution, thereby bringing the production line closer to an optimal process organization.

[0050] In addition, the design unit 13 of this embodiment allocates additional equipment to the extracted production line to reduce the longest cycle time among the cycle times of the multiple processes performed on the production line, thereby leveling the cycle times of the multiple processes. The design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to the production line whose cycle times have been leveled, using the number of pieces of equipment allocated after leveling, so as to minimize the objective function KPI. In this embodiment, the longest cycle time among the processes performed on the extracted production line is reduced, i.e., the cycle time that could become a bottleneck and exceed the takt time is reduced, thereby leveling the cycle times of the multiple processes. As a result, the time required to manufacture products on the production line is within the takt time. The number of pieces of equipment allocated to the production line whose cycle time has been leveled is the number of pieces of equipment that approaches the optimal solution. The line design device 100 of this embodiment determines the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to the production line so as to minimize the objective function KPI, using the number of pieces of equipment that approaches the optimal solution as the initial solution. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required to create a process schedule when manufacturing multiple products, and to create a more optimized process schedule.

[0051] Furthermore, the design unit 13 of this embodiment generates position information that specifies the positions at which the facilities 201-20x are to be placed, depending on the production lines to which the facilities 201-20x are assigned. The design unit 13 transmits the generated position information to each of the facilities 201-20x corresponding to the positions at which the facilities are to be placed, via the communication unit 50. Each of the facilities 201-20x of this embodiment automatically moves to the position indicated by the position information, depending on the position information transmitted from the design unit 13. Therefore, in this embodiment, the facilities 201-20x assigned to the production lines are automatically moved by the drive control unit 221 and the movement unit 211 to the positions indicated by the position information generated by the design unit 13. Therefore, in this embodiment, the facilities to be assigned to the production lines can be easily placed.

[0052] Second Embodiment The manufacturing line design system 300 of the second embodiment has the same configuration as the manufacturing line design system 300 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1. The manufacturing line design system 300 of the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the clustering method performed by the classification unit 12 and the method of sorting products 1 to 18 performed by the design unit 13. In addition, the process load information, process capacity information, and number of manufactured products of the second embodiment are different from the process load information (FIG. 2), process capacity information (FIG. 3), and number of manufactured products of each product (FIG. 4) of the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, the configuration, control, and data contents that are different from those of the first embodiment will be described, and a description of the configuration that is the same as that of the first embodiment will be omitted.

[0053] In the second embodiment, before the classification unit 12 performs clustering of products, the design unit 13 sets the number of possessed units (number of pieces of equipment) for each type of equipment required to perform each process as a constraint, The design department 13 allocates equipment to perform each process on one production line. In addition, each time the design department 13 allocates equipment, it allocates the products that can be manufactured on that production line. In the same way, after allocating products to one production line, the design department 13 shifts the process to the next production line and allocates equipment and products, thereby determining the minimum number of production lines required. Below, the design department 13's equipment allocation and product allocation are explained using a specific example.

[0054] Fig. 11 is a table showing process load information of the second embodiment. The process load information shown in Fig. 11 differs from the process load information of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 2. Specifically, product 8A and product 8B are added in place of manufactured product 8. Furthermore, processes 9 to 25 are required to manufacture a total of 19 products, products 1 to 18, and processes 1 to 8 are unnecessary. In addition, the number of pieces of equipment and the load values ​​for product manufacturing have been changed.

[0055] When allocating equipment and allocating products, the design unit 13 first selects one production line (for example, line 1) to which to allocate equipment. Using the table shown in FIG. 11, the design unit 13 allocates equipment to each process on the selected line 1 in order until it becomes possible to manufacture any of the products specified in the process load information. When the design unit 13 allocates equipment from process 9 to process 25 in order to line 1, all products can be manufactured on line 1. Here, the design unit 13 leaves the equipment necessary to manufacture product 1 on line 1 and returns unnecessary equipment from line 1 to the equipment pool.

[0056] FIG. 12 is a table showing process load information after equipment has been allocated to Line 1. As shown in FIG. 12, Line 1 is assigned processes 9 to 15, 17, 18, and 20 to 25, excluding equipment for processes 16 and 19, which are not required for manufacturing Product 1. In this case, the products that can be manufactured on Line 1 are products 1 to 10, which are hatched in FIG. 12. The numbers shown in the equipment pool shown in FIG. 12 are the number of owned units of equipment minus the number of units of equipment allocated to Line 1.

[0057] After allocating equipment to Line 1, the design department 13 transitions processing to Line 2, the next production line. Using the table shown in FIG. 12, the design department 13 allocates equipment to each process on Line 2 in order, similar to the way equipment was allocated to Line 1, from the number of pieces of equipment in the equipment pool, until any of the products specified in the process information can be manufactured. When the design department 13 allocates equipment from process 9 to process 25 in order to Line 2, all products can be manufactured on Line 2, just as with Line 1. Here, the design department 13 leaves on Line 2 the equipment required to manufacture product 11 that is not manufactured on Line 1, and returns unnecessary equipment from Line 1 to the equipment pool.

[0058] FIG. 13 is a table showing process load information after equipment has been allocated to Line 2. As shown in FIG. 13, equipment for processes 9 to 10, 15, 17, 19, 20, and 22 to 25 required for manufacturing product 11 are allocated to Line 2. In this case, the products that can be manufactured on Line 2 are products 11 and 12, which are hatched in FIG. 13. The numbers shown in the equipment pool shown in FIG. 13 are the number of owned units of equipment minus the number of units of equipment allocated to Line 1 and Line 2.

[0059] The design department 13 allocates equipment and distributes products to line 3 in the same way as lines 1 and 2. If the design department 13 cannot complete allocating all products to each line in one go, it allocates equipment and distributes products again, starting with line 1, until all products are distributed. As a result, in the second embodiment, products 1 to 10 are manufactured on line 1, products 11 to 15 are manufactured on line 2, and products 16 to 18 are manufactured on line 3. The products manufactured on each line by the design department 13 in the second embodiment are distributed with the number of owned equipment as a constraint. Therefore, the lines 1 to 3 designed by the design department 13 are feasible manufacturing lines.

[0060] FIG. 14 is a table showing process capacity information in the second embodiment. FIG. 15 is a table showing the number of manufactured units of each product. The classification unit 12 classifies a total of 19 products, products 1 to 18, into multiple clusters by clustering using the process loads (FIG. 11) included in the process load information and the equipment capacity (FIG. 14) included in the process capacity information. Note that in the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, all products do not necessarily need to be classified into any one of the clusters. In other words, the classification unit 12 in the second embodiment classifies a portion of all products into multiple clusters by clustering.

[0061] In the example shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, products 1 to 18 are allocated to lines 1 to 3. Line 2, which manufactures products 11 to 15, and line 3, which manufactures products 16 to 18, are assigned equipment that performs process 19. The number of machines that carry out process 19 is two, as shown in FIG. 11. Therefore, in order to further divide line 2 or line 3 into multiple lines, three or more machines that carry out process 19 are required, and therefore line 2 and line 3 cannot be divided into multiple lines. Therefore, the classification unit 12 of the second embodiment clusters products 1 to 10 on line 1, which is assigned equipment that has a surplus of machines.

[0062] FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of the classification results of products 1 to 10. FIG. 16 shows product positions I1 to I10, which represent the positions of the clustered products 1 to 10. In the second embodiment, the classification unit 12 classifies a total of 11 products, products 1 to 10, into two clusters 6 and 7, and three products 6, 7, and 10 that are not classified into either cluster 6 or 7. As shown in FIG. 16, the classification unit 12 classifies products 1 to 5 into cluster 6, and products 8A, 8B, and 9 into cluster 7. Note that in FIG. 16, the distance between product positions is represented in two dimensions for convenience, as in FIG. 5 of the first embodiment.

[0063] The classification unit 12 of the second embodiment does not classify products 6, 7, and 10 that are far from the distance criterion, which is a threshold, into clusters 6 and 7. On the other hand, the classification unit 12 creates multiple types of allocation patterns in which the products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified are classified into either cluster 6 or cluster 7. The design unit 13 of the second embodiment optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to each production line for each of the multiple types of allocation patterns created.

[0064] FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of the product allocation results for each allocation pattern. The combinations of products allocated to manufacturing lines 1 to 4 for each allocation pattern are shown in a table. Note that the number of patterns when the three products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified by the clustering shown in FIG. 16 are allocated to the two clusters 6 and 7 is 8 (=2 3 ) patterns, but in the second embodiment, the distances between the three products 6, 7, and 10 and the clusters 6 and 7 are used to narrow down the patterns in advance to five patterns that are closer to the optimum allocation patterns.

[0065] The design unit 13 extracts an optimizable production line from each production line in the five allocation patterns narrowed down by the classification unit 12. If there is a surplus in the number of pieces of equipment required to manufacture the products allocated to the production line, the design unit 13 extracts the production line as one that can be optimized by changing the number of pieces of equipment assigned to the production line. The design unit smooths the cycle time for the extracted production line in the same way as in the first embodiment. Then, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by changing the number of pieces of equipment assigned to the extracted production line.

[0066] FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of the optimization of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each pattern. 18 shows an example in which four production lines 1 to 4 each perform three processes A, B, and C, and the number of pieces of equipment owned for processes A, B, and C, respectively, is a, b, and c. In the second embodiment, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line by minimizing the objective function KPI and ensuring that the total manufacturing time of products manufactured on each production line does not exceed a preset upper limit time. Specifically, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by minimizing the objective function KPI while satisfying the constraint conditions shown in the following relational expression (1). The following relational expression (1) expresses, for process A, the number of pieces of equipment L for each production line, where y is the production line number. AyAfter optimizing the process A, the design unit 13 similarly optimizes the processes B and C, and then starts optimizing again from the process A, as shown in FIG.

[0067]

number

[0068] Bottleneck CT in the above relational expression (1) A represents the cycle time that becomes a bottleneck. A bottleneck refers to a process that does not fit within the takt time. In addition, in the above relational expression (1), the constraint condition for the monthly production time is set as the production time of the production line, which is the product of the daily operating time of 16 hours and the number of operating days in a month, 22 days. That is, in the second embodiment, the production time is included as a parameter for determining the objective function KPI.

[0069] FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a manufacturing line design method according to the second embodiment. The line design flow shown in FIG. 19 will be described with reference to examples of manufacturing information shown in FIGS. 11, 14, and 15. As shown in FIG. 6, first, the information acquisition unit 11 performs an information acquisition process to acquire process load information, process capacity information, and the number of units of each product to be manufactured, as in the first embodiment (step S11). The design unit 13 uses the process load information shown in FIG. 11 to allocate products to each manufacturing line, with the number of units of equipment held as a constraint (step S12). In the second embodiment, as in the product allocation to each manufacturing line shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the design unit 13 sequentially selects one manufacturing line to which equipment will be allocated, allocates products to the selected manufacturing line, and selects the next manufacturing line to which equipment will be newly allocated. As a result, for the 19 products shown in FIG. 11, products 1 to 10 are allocated to line 1, products 11 to 15 are allocated to line 2, and products 16 to 18 are allocated to line 3.

[0070] After the products are allocated, the classification unit 12 classifies the products 1 to 10 manufactured on the line 1 by clustering (step S13). The classification unit 12 performs clustering on the line 1 which has a surplus of equipment units and can be divided into multiple lines. In the second embodiment, it is not necessary for all of the products 1 to 10 to be classified into any one of the clusters by clustering.

[0071] The classification unit 12 classifies products 6, 7, and 10 (FIG. 16) that were not classified into any cluster. Five allocation patterns (FIG. 17) are created in which the products are classified into cluster 6 including products 1 to 5 or cluster 7 including products 8A, 8B, and 9 (step S14). The design unit 13 extracts an optimizable production line from each of the five created allocation patterns (step S15). When there is a surplus in the number of equipment units owned to manufacture the product, the design unit 13 extracts the production line that manufactures the product as an optimizable production line.

[0072] The design unit 13, as in the first embodiment, allocates additional equipment to the extracted production lines to level the cycle times of multiple processes (step S16). The design unit 13 in the second embodiment optimizes the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line so as to minimize the objective function KPI, which includes the production time as a constraint (step S17).

[0073] FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of the objective function KPIs of allocation patterns 1 to 5 as an example and a comparative example. As shown in FIG. 20, the objective function KPIs of each of allocation patterns 1 to 5 are smaller than the objective function KPI 806 of the production line designed by the experienced designer in the comparative example. In other words, the objective function KPIs of allocation patterns 1 to 5 are more preferable than those of the comparative example. In addition to the objective function KPI values, FIG. 20 also shows the maximum production times of lines 1 to 4 in each example and the comparative example. In the example, of the five allocation patterns 1 to 5, four allocation patterns 1, 2, 4, and 5 satisfy the production time constraint of 16 hours or less. For comparison, FIG. 20 also shows allocation pattern 3, which does not satisfy the production time constraint. However, this allocation pattern does not satisfy the constraint during optimization and is therefore not a candidate for design.

[0074] FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of the daily production time for each production line in the example and the comparative example. In FIG. 21, the production time for each production line, 1 to 4, is shown by a bar graph, with each line represented by a different type of hatching. As shown in FIG. 21, the production line 2 with allocation pattern 3 in the example and the production line 2 with the comparative example exceed the production time constraint of 16 hours. Note that the maximum production time shown in FIG. 20 is the production time for the production line 2 with allocation pattern 1, the production line 2 with allocation pattern 2, the production line 3 with allocation pattern 4, and the production line 2 with allocation pattern 5.

[0075] Figures 22 to 27 are explanatory diagrams of the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line in the example and the comparative example. Each of Figures 22 to 26 shows, in the form of a table, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to lines 1 to 4 in allocation patterns 1 to 5 as the example. Similarly, Figure 27 shows, in the form of a table, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to lines 1 to 4 in the comparative example.

[0076] When the processing of step S17 of the line design flow in FIG. 19 is performed, the design unit 13 determines whether or not the value of the objective function KPI satisfies a preset target value (step S18), as in the first embodiment. If it is determined that the value of the objective function KPI satisfies the target value (step S18: YES), the line design flow ends. If it is determined that the value of the objective function KPI does not satisfy the target value (step S8: NO), the design unit 13 determines whether or not the allocation of each product to the production line and the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to each production line need to be reconsidered (step S19), as in the first embodiment. If it is determined that reconsideration is needed (step S19: YES), the processing from step S12 onward is performed. If it is determined that reconsideration is not needed (step S9: NO), the line design flow ends.

[0077] As described above, in the second embodiment, the sorting unit 12 sorts the unsorted products 6, 7, A plurality of types of allocation patterns are created in which products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified by clustering are classified into either cluster 6 or cluster 7. The design unit 13 of the second embodiment optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to each production line for each of the plurality of types of allocation patterns created. According to this configuration, a plurality of types of allocation patterns are created in which products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified into either cluster 6 or 7 are classified into cluster 6 or cluster 7. The number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to the production line is optimized for the plurality of types of allocation patterns. In other words, by creating an allocation pattern in which products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified by clustering are classified into cluster 6 or cluster 7, the number of pieces of equipment to be allocated to the production line can be further optimized compared to the case in which no allocation pattern is created.

[0078] In the second embodiment, before the classification unit 12 clusters the products, the design unit 13 allocates equipment for each process on a single production line, using the number of pieces of equipment required for each process (number of pieces of equipment) as a constraint. Each time the design unit 13 allocates equipment, it allocates the products that can be manufactured on that production line. Similarly, after allocating products to one production line, the design unit 13 shifts processing to the next production line and allocates equipment and products to the next production line, thereby determining the minimum number of production lines required. That is, the allocation of equipment and product allocation to each production line is performed sequentially for each production line, thereby determining the minimum number of production lines required. Because the total number of pieces of equipment of each type on each designed production line does not exceed the number of pieces of equipment, the created process schedule is a feasible schedule. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the creation of an unrealizable process schedule that does not allow for limitations on the number of pieces of equipment required, as in the past. This reduces the calculation time for process schedules for production lines, thereby speeding up the process schedule. Furthermore, the number of manufacturing lines can be increased appropriately from the minimum required number depending on the surplus number of each type of equipment owned, thereby further optimizing the process organization.

[0079] In the second embodiment, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment assigned to each production line by minimizing the objective function KPI and ensuring that the total production time of the products produced on each production line does not exceed a preset upper limit. Therefore, since the upper limit on production time is imposed as a constraint, the total production time in the designed process organization is equal to or less than the upper limit. In other words, in the second embodiment, a production line is designed that can efficiently produce products while satisfying the production time constraint. This reduces product production and capital investment costs and increases profits.

[0080] <Modifications of the embodiment> The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the present invention, including, for example, the following modifications: In the above-described embodiment, part of the configuration realized by hardware may be replaced by software, and conversely, part of the configuration realized by software may be replaced by hardware.

[0081] [Variation 1] In the above embodiment, an example of a manufacturing line design device that designs a manufacturing line for manufacturing products and a manufacturing line design system including the manufacturing line design device has been described. However, the configurations of the line design device 100 and the manufacturing line design system 300 and the control executed by them may be modified. For example, the line design device 100 may not include any or all of the storage device 20, the input unit 30, the output unit 40, and the communication unit 50. For example, if the line design device 100 does not include the storage device 20, the input unit 30, or the output unit 40, the information acquisition unit 11 may acquire process load information, process capacity information, and the number of units of each product to be manufactured from another device via the communication unit 50. The process organization created by the line design device 100 may be transmitted as data to another device.

[0082] The classification unit 12 in the above embodiment classifies all products into multiple clusters by clustering using the number of manufactured units of each product, the process load, and the equipment capacity. However, at least one of the number of manufactured units of each product, the process load, and the equipment capacity may be used as the feature used for clustering.

[0083] In the above embodiment, the design unit 13 allocates all products to one of multiple production lines, then identifies production lines to which equipment of a type with a surplus in its inventory is assigned, and allocates additional equipment to the identified production lines. However, this process does not necessarily require the design unit 13 to identify production lines. For example, if the total number of equipment units of each type is less than or equal to the inventory, the design unit 13 may allocate additional equipment to all production lines in a round-robin manner. In the above embodiment, the design unit 13 allocates additional equipment to the identified production lines to level the cycle times of multiple processes performed on the production lines. However, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to a production line may be optimized without leveling the cycle times. Even without leveling the cycle times, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to a production line can be optimized by minimizing the objective function KPI.

[0084] In the above embodiment, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to the production line by minimizing the objective function KPI after allocating products to the production line, but the design unit 13 may optimize the number of pieces of equipment by using a known objective function other than the objective function KPI, for example, or may optimize the number of pieces of equipment by using a known method that does not use an objective function.

[0085] The manufacturing information acquired by the information acquisition unit 11 in the above embodiment may further include labor costs, which are the costs required to perform each process, and manufacturing times, which are the time required to manufacture each product. Alternatively, the manufacturing information may include at least one of labor costs and manufacturing times instead of the equipment costs shown in FIG. 3. Labor costs, for example, are the costs required to operate one piece of equipment per unit time. Manufacturing times, for example, are the time required to manufacture one product when one product is manufactured using a unit number of pieces of equipment. In this case, the design unit 13 determines the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to the production line so as to minimize an objective function in the manufacturing information that includes a variable representing at least one of the equipment costs, labor costs, and manufacturing time. In this modification, shortening the manufacturing time reduces the manufacturing cost of the product. That is, the objective function includes a variable representing the manufacturing cost when manufacturing the product. Therefore, this modification creates a process organization that suppresses manufacturing costs. Furthermore, particularly when changing the equipment assigned to the production line in response to fluctuations in the demand for the number of products to be manufactured, the processing costs within the product manufacturing cost can be effectively reduced.

[0086] In the manufacturing line design system 300 of the above embodiment, the equipment 201 includes the drive control unit 221 and the moving unit 211, and is automatically moved to a position where it is to be placed on the manufacturing line, but it does not have to move automatically. The equipment 201 may not include the drive control unit 221 and the moving unit 211, and may be placed on the manufacturing line by a worker or the like.

[0087] In the above embodiment, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to a production line is optimized under the condition that one piece of equipment is used to perform one process, but the number of pieces of equipment used to perform one process may be more than 1. For example, two or more types of equipment may be used to perform one process, or one piece of equipment of one type and two pieces of equipment of another type may be used to perform one process.

[0088] [Variation 2] 28 is a flowchart of a modified manufacturing line design method. In the manufacturing line design flow, first, the information acquisition unit 11 performs an information acquisition process to acquire the process load included in the process load information, the equipment capacity included in the process capacity information, and the number of manufactured units of each product (step S11). The classification unit 12 classifies all products into multiple clusters by clustering using at least one of the process load, the equipment capacity, and the number of manufactured units of each product (step S12). The design unit 13 assigns all products to one of multiple manufacturing lines corresponding to the multiple clusters based on the classification results of the classification unit 12 (step S13). For each manufacturing line after product assignment, the design unit 13 optimizes the number of pieces of equipment assigned to the manufacturing line using the manufacturing information (step S14), and the manufacturing line design flow of the modified example is completed. The optimization of the number of pieces of equipment performed by the design unit 13 may use the objective function KPI of the above embodiment, or another objective function or another well-known method.

[0089] [Variation 3] In the second embodiment, five allocation patterns 1 to 5 were created so that products 6, 7, and 10 that were not classified into either cluster 6 or cluster 7 by the classification unit 12 would be classified into cluster 6 or cluster 7. However, the classification of products 6, 7, and 10 can be modified. For example, instead of narrowing down the eight allocation patterns to five patterns, the number of pieces of equipment allocated to production lines for all eight patterns may be optimized. Also, a new production line for manufacturing products 6, 7, and 10 may be created, and the number of pieces of equipment may then be optimized. Also, only product 6 may be allocated to an independent production line. Each of products 6, 7, and 10 may or may not be classified into one of the clusters.

[0090] In the second embodiment, the allocation of equipment and the distribution of products as shown in Figures 11 to 13 were performed before the clustering by the classification unit 12, but the distribution of products may be performed after the clustering as in the first embodiment (step S2 in Figure 6). That is, in the second embodiment, the number of owned equipment units may not be used as a constraint for the distribution of products.

[0091] In the second embodiment, when optimizing the number of equipment units, a manufacturing time constraint such as that shown in the above relational expression (1) is imposed. However, manufacturing time does not have to be imposed as a constraint. For example, the manufacturing time constraint may be relaxed by multiplying it by a predetermined coefficient, and processes may be organized from a larger number of allocation patterns. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 10 , the upper limit of manufacturing time per day, 16 hours, may be multiplied by a coefficient of 1.1 to obtain 17.6 hours, which is a new constraint to be satisfied. In this case, allocation pattern 3, which has a maximum manufacturing time of 17.5 hours, may be considered as a candidate for process organization.

[0092] The cycle time leveling process in the first embodiment (step S6 in FIG. 6) and the second embodiment (step S16 in FIG. 19) is not necessary and may not be performed. By performing the cycle time leveling process, the time required for the subsequent optimization process of the number of pieces of equipment can be reduced, and as a result, the time required to create a process organization can be reduced.

[0093] This aspect has been described above based on embodiments and modifications. However, the above-described embodiments are intended to facilitate understanding of this aspect and are not intended to limit this aspect. This aspect may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims, and equivalents thereof are included in this aspect. Furthermore, if a technical feature is not described as essential in this specification, it may be deleted as appropriate.

[0094] The present invention can also be realized in the following forms. [Application example 1] A manufacturing line design device that designs a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products, Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; A process load representing a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product; The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition unit that acquires manufacturing information including an equipment capacity that indicates a processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification unit that classifies the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using at least one of the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design unit that designs the production line using the classification result by the classification unit; Equipped with The design unit Allocating all of the products to any of a plurality of production lines according to the classification results; a production line design device that uses the production information to optimize the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each production line after the product allocation; [Application example 2] The manufacturing line design device according to Application Example 1, the classifying unit classifies all of the products into the plurality of clusters by the clustering; The design unit allocates all of the products to any one of a plurality of production lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters according to the classification results. [Application example 3] The manufacturing line design device according to Application Example 1 or Application Example 2, the classification unit creates a plurality of patterns in which the products that were not classified into any of the clusters by the clustering are classified into any of the clusters; The design unit A manufacturing line design device that allocates all of the products to any of a plurality of manufacturing lines in accordance with each of the plurality of types of patterns that have been created. [Application example 4] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 3, the manufacturing information includes the number of the equipment held for each type of the equipment, The design unit Allocating the equipment for performing each of the processes in one of the production lines, with the number of the equipment held as a constraint; Each time the equipment is allocated, the products that can be manufactured on the production line are allocated; When at least one of the products has been allocated to the production line, the production line design device shifts the processing to the next production line, and determines the minimum number of the production lines required by allocating the equipment and allocating the products. [Application example 5] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 4, the manufacturing information further includes at least one of equipment costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, labor costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, and manufacturing times, which are times required to manufacture each of the products; The design department optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to each of the manufacturing lines so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one of the equipment cost, the labor cost, and the manufacturing time in the manufacturing information. Design equipment. [Application Example 6] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 5, The design unit optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by minimizing the objective function and ensuring that the total manufacturing time of the products manufactured on each of the manufacturing lines does not exceed a preset upper limit time. [Application Example 7] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Suggestion Example 1 to Application Example 6, The design unit If the total number of the equipment units for each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective owned numbers, the number of the equipment units allocated to each of the production lines is optimized in accordance with the classification result; and a manufacturing line design device that, when the total number of units of at least one type of equipment among the total numbers of units of each type used in all of the manufacturing lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the owned number, causes the classification unit to reclassify all of the products by changing the clustering conditions. [Application Example 8] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 7, The design unit If the total number of the equipment units of each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective stock numbers, extracting the production lines to which the equipment units of the type that are in surplus in the stock number are assigned; The manufacturing line design device optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by allocating additional pieces of equipment to the extracted manufacturing line within a range where there is a surplus in the owned number. [Application Example 9] The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 8, The design unit By additionally allocating the equipment to the extracted manufacturing line, the maximum cycle time among the cycle times of the plurality of processes performed in the manufacturing line is reduced, thereby leveling the cycle times of the plurality of processes; a manufacturing line design device that optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to the manufacturing line whose cycle time has been leveled, using the number of pieces of equipment assigned after leveling, so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one item included in the manufacturing information. [Application Example 10] A manufacturing line design system, The manufacturing line design device according to any one of Application Examples 1 to 9, The equipment has a drive unit for movement; Equipped with The design unit further generates location information that identifies a location where the equipment is to be placed in accordance with the production line to which the equipment is assigned, and transmits the location information to the equipment; A manufacturing line design system, wherein the driving unit of the equipment moves the equipment to the position indicated by the received position information. [Application Example 11] A manufacturing line design method for designing a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products, the method comprising: Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; For the multiple processes required to manufacture the product, the load at each of the processes is expressed. The process load and The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition step of acquiring manufacturing information including an equipment capacity indicating a processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification step of classifying the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using at least one of the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design step of designing the production line using the classification result obtained by the classification step; Equipped with The design process includes: Allocating all of the products to any of a plurality of production lines according to the classification results; and optimizing the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each of the production lines using the production information after the allocation of the products. [Application Example 12] A computer program for designing multiple manufacturing lines for manufacturing multiple types of products, comprising: Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; A process load representing a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product; The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition function for acquiring manufacturing information including an equipment capacity representing the processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification function that classifies the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using at least one of the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design function for designing the production line using a classification result by the classification function; This is realized on a computer, The design function is Allocating all of the products to any of a plurality of production lines according to the classification results; a computer program that uses the manufacturing information to optimize the number of pieces of equipment allocated to each of the manufacturing lines after the products are allocated to the manufacturing lines; [Explanation of symbols]

[0095] 10...CPU 11…Information acquisition department 12...Classification section 13…Design Department 20…Storage device 21…Process load information DB 22…Process capability information DB 30...Input section 40...Output section 50…Communications Department 100...Line design device (production line design device) 201~20x…Equipment 211...Moving unit (drive unit) 221...Drive control unit (drive unit) 300...Manufacturing line design system KPI...objective function

Claims

1. A manufacturing line design device that designs a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products, Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; A process load representing a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product; The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition unit that acquires manufacturing information including an equipment capacity that indicates a processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification unit that classifies all of the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design unit that designs the production line using the classification result by the classification unit; Equipped with The design unit According to the classification result, all of the products are allocated to any one of a plurality of production lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters; If the total number of the equipment units for each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective holding numbers, the number of the equipment units allocated to each of the production lines is optimized in accordance with the classification results; If the total number of the equipment of at least one type among the total numbers of the equipment of each type used in all of the production lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the owned number, the classification unit executes reclassification of all of the products by changing the clustering conditions; the manufacturing information further includes at least one of equipment costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, labor costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, and manufacturing times, which are times required to manufacture each of the products; The design unit optimizing the number of the equipment by determining the number of the equipment to be assigned to each of the production lines so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one of the equipment cost, the labor cost, and the production time in the production information; and when the value of the objective function calculated to be minimized exceeds a predetermined target value, the classification unit is caused to reclassify all of the products with the clustering conditions changed.

2. 2. The manufacturing line design device according to claim 1, The design unit optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by minimizing the objective function and ensuring that the total manufacturing time of the products manufactured on each of the manufacturing lines does not exceed a preset upper limit time.

3. 3. The manufacturing line design device according to claim 1, The design unit If the total number of the equipment units of each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective stock numbers, extracting the production lines to which the equipment units of the type that are in surplus in the stock number are assigned; The manufacturing line design device optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by allocating additional pieces of equipment to the extracted manufacturing line within a range where there is a surplus in the owned number.

4. 4. The manufacturing line design device according to claim 3, The design unit By additionally allocating the equipment to the extracted manufacturing line, the maximum cycle time among the cycle times of the plurality of processes performed in the manufacturing line is reduced, thereby leveling the cycle times of the plurality of processes; a manufacturing line design device that optimizes the number of pieces of equipment by determining the number of pieces of equipment to be assigned to the manufacturing line whose cycle time has been leveled, using the number of pieces of equipment assigned after leveling, so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one item included in the manufacturing information.

5. A manufacturing line design system, a manufacturing line design device according to claim 1 or 2; The equipment has a drive unit for movement; Equipped with The design unit further generates location information that identifies a location where the equipment is to be placed in accordance with the production line to which the equipment is assigned, and transmits the location information to the equipment; A manufacturing line design system, wherein the driving unit of the equipment moves the equipment to the position indicated by the received position information.

6. A manufacturing line design method for designing a plurality of manufacturing lines for manufacturing a plurality of types of products, the method comprising: Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; A process load representing a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product; The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition step of acquiring manufacturing information including an equipment capacity indicating a processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification step of classifying all of the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design step of designing the production line using the classification result obtained by the classification step; Run The design process includes: According to the classification result, all of the products are allocated to any one of a plurality of production lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters; If the total number of the equipment units for each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective holding numbers, the number of the equipment units allocated to each of the production lines is optimized in accordance with the classification results; If the total number of the equipment of at least one type among the total numbers of the equipment of each type used in all of the production lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the owned number, the classification step executes reclassification of all of the products with the clustering conditions changed; the manufacturing information further includes at least one of equipment costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, labor costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, and manufacturing times, which are times required to manufacture each of the products; The design process includes: optimizing the number of the equipment by determining the number of the equipment to be assigned to each of the production lines so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one of the equipment cost, the labor cost, and the production time in the production information; a method for reclassifying all of the products by changing the clustering conditions in the classification step when the value of the objective function calculated to be minimized exceeds a predetermined target value.

7. A computer program for designing multiple manufacturing lines for manufacturing multiple types of products, comprising: Manufacturing information comprising at least: The number of units of each type of product manufactured; A process load representing a load in each of a plurality of processes required to manufacture the product; The number of one or more types of equipment used to perform each of the steps; an information acquisition function for acquiring manufacturing information including an equipment capacity representing the processing capacity of each of the facilities; a classification function for classifying all of the products into a plurality of clusters by clustering using the number of manufactured products for each type, the process load, and each facility capacity; a design function for designing the production line using a classification result by the classification function; This is realized on a computer, The design function is According to the classification result, all of the products are allocated to any one of a plurality of production lines corresponding to the plurality of clusters; If the total number of the equipment units for each type used in all of the production lines after the product allocation is equal to or less than the respective holding numbers, the number of the equipment units allocated to each of the production lines is optimized in accordance with the classification results; If the total number of the equipment of at least one type among the total number of the equipment of each type used in all of the production lines after the allocation of the products exceeds the owned number, the classification function is caused to reclassify all of the products with the clustering conditions changed; the manufacturing information further includes at least one of equipment costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, labor costs, which are costs required to perform each of the processes, and manufacturing times, which are times required to manufacture each of the products; The design function is optimizing the number of the equipment by determining the number of the equipment to be assigned to each of the production lines so as to minimize an objective function including a variable representing at least one of the equipment cost, the labor cost, and the production time in the production information; a computer program that causes the classification function to reclassify all of the products by changing the clustering conditions if the value of the objective function calculated to be minimized exceeds a predetermined target value.

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