Parts procurement support device, parts procurement support system, and parts procurement support method

Abstract

To enable selection of component suppliers at an early stage.SOLUTION: A component procurement assistance device is provided, comprising a similar product selection unit configured to select an existing product similar to a new product on the basis of shared information on a design of the new product and feature information indicative of features of the existing products, and a supplier selection unit configured to select suppliers of components constituting the new product on the basis of component information on components of the selected existing product.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a parts procurement support device, a parts procurement support system, and a parts procurement support method. [Background technology]

[0002] In manufacturing industries, the design department proposes new product specifications, and the design of the new product is determined based on proposal information including the content of the proposal. After the new product design is completed, the procurement department decides on the suppliers of the parts that will make up the new product. Typically, for example, a person in the design department creates documents such as a parts list and manufacturing instructions based on design drawing information, and a person in the procurement department selects a parts supplier based on the design information such as the parts list and manufacturing instructions.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that automatically holds a bidding process to select a parts manufacturer to be used as a supplier after the design of a new product is completed. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-125135 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 is based on the design information of a product that has already been decided to be commercialized, so it is not possible to select a supplier in parallel with product development. This makes it difficult for the procurement department to secure sufficient time to select a supplier, and it is also not possible to make timely procurement in accordance with the progress of development.

[0006] Furthermore, Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that information such as a parts list is included in the design information, but the parts to be used in the product and their numbers are not necessarily determined at the early stage of product development when idea information is generated. Therefore, the technology described in Patent Document 1 cannot determine a parts supplier from the perspective of whether the number of parts to be used in the product can be supplied or whether the parts are inexpensive.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to enable early selection of a supplier of parts. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present application includes a number of means for solving at least part of the above problems, examples of which are as follows.

[0009] In order to solve the above problem, a parts procurement support device according to one embodiment of the present invention has a similar product selection unit that selects an existing product that is similar to the new product based on shared information regarding the design of the new product and feature information that indicates the features of the existing product, and a supplier selection unit that selects a supplier of parts that make up the new product based on part information regarding the parts of the selected existing product. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to one aspect of the present invention, a supplier of parts can be selected early. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a parts procurement support system according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of shared information. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of evaluation information. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of job title information. [Figure 5]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an idea evaluation list. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of threshold information. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of evaluation result information. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of keyword information. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a similar product evaluation list. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of existing product parts information. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of supplier information. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of new product part information. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of supplier candidate information. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the parts procurement support method according to this embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the determination result presented on the terminal device. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a result including existing products and suppliers presented on the terminal device. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the new product adoption determination process. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the similar product selection process. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the supplier candidate selection process. [Figure 20] FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing an example of product planning information. [Figure 21] FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the parts procurement support device according to this embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In all drawings used to describe the embodiment, the same components are generally designated by the same reference numerals, and repeated description thereof will be omitted where appropriate. It goes without saying that, in the following embodiments, the components (including element steps, etc.) are not necessarily essential unless otherwise specified or considered to be clearly essential in principle. It goes without saying that the terms "consisting of A," "made of A," "having A," and "including A" do not exclude other elements, unless otherwise specified to include only the relevant element. Similarly, in the following embodiments, when referring to the shape, positional relationship, etc. of components, etc., this includes those that are substantially similar or similar to the shape, etc., unless otherwise specified or considered to be clearly essential in principle.

[0013] First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the system configuration of a parts procurement support system according to this embodiment.

[0014] Parts procurement support system 10 is a system for selecting a parts supplier early in the product design stage, and includes parts procurement support device 100, terminal devices 301 and 302, and data management device 400. These devices are connected to each other via network 200 such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network).

[0015] The terminal devices 301 and 302 are computers such as PCs (Personal Computers), smartphones, tablet terminals, etc. The terminal device 301 is under the control of the design department, and the terminal device 302 is under the control of the procurement department.

[0016] The data management device 400 is a computer equipped with a storage device for storing data, and is, for example, a computer that constitutes a PDM (Product Data Management) system.

[0017] The parts procurement support device 100 is a computer such as a physical server, a virtual server, or a PC. For example, the parts procurement support device 100 presents suppliers of parts for a new product based on shared information 121 including a new product idea and CAD (Computer Aided Design) data shared among design department staff of a certain company. As an example, the parts procurement support device 100 includes a processing unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a communication unit 130.

[0018] The communication unit 130 is an interface for connecting the parts procurement support device 100 to the network 200 .

[0019] The processing unit 110 is a functional unit that controls each unit of the parts procurement support device 100. For example, the processing unit 110 includes an adoption determination unit 111, a similar product selection unit 112, a supplier selection unit 113, and a presentation unit 114.

[0020] The adoption determination unit 111 is a functional unit that evaluates predetermined items included in the shared information 121 to determine whether a new product proposed by a person in the design department will be adopted as a commercial product.

[0021] The similar product selection unit 112 is a processing unit that selects an existing product similar to the new product from among a plurality of existing products based on the shared information 121. Each of the plurality of existing products is, for example, a product that has been commercialized in the past by the business operator that developed the new product.

[0022] The supplier selection unit 113 is a functional unit that selects suppliers of parts that constitute new products based on information such as the number of parts that constitute existing products.

[0023] The presentation unit 114 is a functional unit that presents the suppliers selected by the supplier selection unit 113 to the terminal devices 301 and 302 .

[0024] The storage unit 120 is a functional unit that stores various types of information. For example, the storage unit 120 stores shared information 121, evaluation information 122, evaluation result information 123, existing product parts information 124, keyword information 125, and supplier information 126. Furthermore, the storage unit 120 stores new product parts information 127, candidate supplier information 128, job title information 141, idea evaluation list 142, threshold information 143, and similar product evaluation list 144.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the shared information 121. As shown in FIG.

[0026] The shared information 121 is information related to the design of a new product, and includes text extracted from chats between people in the design department of a certain company. Instead of chats, text may be extracted from emails or phone calls. Chats, emails, and phone calls are live information exchanged between people in the development of a new product, so that live, undocumented information about the new product can be included in the shared information 121.

[0027] In this example, the terminal device 301 managed by the design department uses machine learning to extract text indicating each of the "date," "category," "name code," and "comments" included in the chat, and generates shared information 121 including this text. The shared information 121 may also be generated by a computer external to parts procurement support system 10.

[0028] "Date" is the date the chat took place. "Category" is the classification of the new product idea contained in the chat. For example, if a chat is held about idea P, the string "Considering idea P" is stored in "Category." "Name code" is a code that identifies the person who sent the chat. "Comment" is the comment sent by the person in charge in the chat.

[0029] Various electronic files related to new products may also be included in the shared information 121. Such electronic files include, in addition to the CAD data mentioned above, electronic files of documents required within the company when commercializing a new product.

[0030] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the evaluation information 122. As shown in FIG.

[0031] The evaluation information 122 is information for evaluating the likelihood of adoption as a new product. In this example, the evaluation information 122 is information that associates "item," "point," and "adoption time."

[0032] An "item" is an evaluation item identified from the shared information 121. For example, "Document A created" is an item that determines whether the shared information 121 contains an electronic file of "Document A" or whether it can be confirmed from the contents of the "comments" in the shared information 121 that "Document A" has been created. "Document A" is a document that is essential within a business to commercialize a new product. The same applies to "Document B."

[0033] "Comment from manager included" is an item that determines whether there is a comment from the manager based on the "name code" of the shared information 121. Similarly, "Comment from section manager included" is an item that determines whether there is a comment from the section manager.

[0034] The "comments N times or more" is an item for determining whether "comments" relating to the same idea appear N times or more in the evaluation information 122.

[0035] "No comments (2 days)" is an item that determines whether "comments" related to the same idea do not appear for two consecutive days. Similarly, "No comments (1 week)" is an item that determines whether "comments" related to the same idea do not appear for one consecutive week.

[0036] "Points" are numerical values ​​assigned to each "item" that indicate the likelihood that the new product will be adopted as a commercial product. In this example, the higher the "points," the higher the likelihood that the new product will be adopted. For example, if "Document A" is important for commercializing the new product, the points corresponding to the item "Document A created" will be high at "20."

[0037] Additionally, since there is a high possibility that a new product will be adopted as a product if there are comments from approvers such as the section manager or department manager, the points corresponding to the items "Comments from department manager" and "Comments from department manager" are also set to a high value of "20." On the other hand, if there are no comments for a long period of time, the idea will be left untouched, and the new product will be less likely to be adopted as a product. Therefore, the points for "No comments (2 days)" will be set to a low value of "-10," and the points for "No comments (1 week)" will be set to an even lower value of "-30."

[0038] The "adoption time" is the time when a new product is expected to be adopted as a product when "Document A" or "Document B" has been created. In this example, "Document A" is a document essential for commercialization, and if it has been created, it is considered highly likely that the product will be commercialized, so the "adoption time" corresponding to "Document A created" is set to "2 months later." On the other hand, "Document B" is considered less important than "Document A," so the "adoption time" corresponding to "Document B created" is set to "6 months later."

[0039] The administrator of parts procurement support system 10 manually generates evaluation information 122 and stores it in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires evaluation information 122 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120. Parts procurement support system 10 may also automatically generate evaluation information 122 based on past performance.

[0040] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the job title information 141. As shown in FIG.

[0041] The job title information 141 is information for identifying a job title from a "name code" in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2). As an example, the job title information 141 is information that associates a "department," a "job title," a "name," and a "name code."

[0042] For example, if a certain "comment" in the shared information 121 is associated with a "name code" of "111000," it can be seen from Fig. 4 that the "comment" was made by the manager. This allows the adoption determination unit 111 to determine whether the item "Manager comment included" in the evaluation information 122 (see Fig. 3) is successful or not.

[0043] The administrator of parts procurement support system 10 manually generates job title information 141 and stores it in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires job title information 141 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120.

[0044] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the idea evaluation list 142. As shown in FIG.

[0045] The idea evaluation list 142 is information that determines the success or failure of an "item" in the evaluation information 122 (see FIG. 3) for each "category" in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2). If an "item" is true, the adoption determination unit 111 stores "1" in the column corresponding to the item, and if it is not true, stores "-".

[0046] In this embodiment, the adoption points are the sum of the points (see FIG. 4) of the "items" for which "1" is stored in the idea evaluation list 142. For example, the adoption points for "Idea P" are 20+10+20+20+10=80. On the other hand, the adoption points for "Idea Q" are 10+20+10+(-10)=30.

[0047] The adoption point is a number that indicates the likelihood that a new product will ultimately be adopted as a product. In this example, the new product "Idea P" is more likely to be adopted as a product than the new product "Idea Q."

[0048] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the threshold information 143. As shown in FIG.

[0049] The threshold information 143 is information that stores a threshold for the adoption points. The threshold is a value that serves as a reference for the adoption determination unit 111 to determine whether a new product will be adopted as a product. Here, when the adoption points are equal to or greater than the threshold, the adoption determination unit 111 determines that the new product will be adopted as a product. When the adoption points are less than the threshold, the adoption determination unit 111 determines that the new product will not be adopted as a product.

[0050] 6, the threshold value is set to "50." Therefore, as described above, if the adoption points of "idea P" are "80" and the adoption points of "idea Q" are "30," the adoption determination unit 111 determines that the new product of "idea P" will be adopted as a product, and that the new product of "idea Q" will not be adopted as a product.

[0051] The adoption point indicates the likelihood that a new product will be adopted as a commodity, and the adoption determination unit 111 can accurately determine whether the new product will be adopted by determining whether the value is above a threshold value.

[0052] The administrator of parts procurement support system 10 stores threshold information 143 including the threshold determined by the administrator in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires threshold information 143 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120.

[0053] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the evaluation result information 123. As shown in FIG.

[0054] The evaluation result information 123 is information indicating the result of the evaluation by the adoption determination unit 111 as to whether the new product will be adopted as a commodity. Here, the evaluation result information 123 is information that associates "idea name," "adoption points," and "predicted adoption time."

[0055] The "idea name" is the name of the idea for the new product, and corresponds to the "category" of the shared information 121. The "adoption points" are the sum of the points of the "items" for which "1" is stored in the idea evaluation list 142 (see FIG. 4), as described above.

[0056] The "predicted adoption time" corresponds to the "adoption time" in the evaluation information 122 (see FIG. 3). When the adoption determination unit 111 stores "1" in the "Document A created" field in the idea evaluation list 142 (see FIG. 5), it stores "2 months later" in the "predicted adoption time" in the evaluation result information 123. On the other hand, when the adoption determination unit 111 stores "1" in the "Document B created" field in the idea evaluation list 142 (see FIG. 5), it stores "6 months later" in the "predicted adoption time" in the evaluation result information 123. Note that when "1" is stored in both the "Document A created" and "Document B created" fields, the adoption determination unit 111 stores the earlier of the two periods, "2 months later," in the "predicted adoption time."

[0057] The adoption determination unit 111 stores items corresponding to a new product (idea P) whose adoption points exceed the threshold in the evaluation result information 123. However, for the user's reference, the adoption determination unit 111 may also store items corresponding to a new product (idea Q) whose adoption points are equal to or less than the threshold in the evaluation result information 123.

[0058] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the keyword information 125. As shown in FIG.

[0059] Keyword information 125 is an example of characteristic information of an existing product, and is information that associates an "existing product name" with a "keyword." The "existing product name" is the name of an existing product that was previously commercialized by the same business operator that generated shared information 121.

[0060] A "keyword" is a string of characters that indicates the characteristics of an existing product, such as the names of the parts that make up the existing product. If an existing product is made up of multiple different parts, all of the names of these parts become keywords for the existing product, and multiple keywords are associated with one existing product. Instead of or in addition to the names of the parts that make up the existing product, the specifications or design of the existing product may also be used as a "keyword."

[0061] For example, since "existing product V" is composed of the components of a fan and a motor, the keywords corresponding to "existing product V" are "fan" and "motor." The keywords in keyword information 125 are an example of first keywords.

[0062] An administrator of parts procurement support system 10 manually generates keyword information 125 and stores it in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires keyword information 125 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120. Parts procurement support system 10 may also automatically generate keyword information 125.

[0063] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the similar product evaluation list 144. As shown in FIG.

[0064] The similar product evaluation list 144 is information that indicates, for each existing product, whether a keyword that matches a "keyword" in the keyword information 125 appears in a "comment" that belongs to a certain "category" in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2). If a "keyword" appears in a "comment," the similar product selection unit 112 stores "1" in the similar product evaluation list 144; if it does not appear, it stores "-." Note that a "keyword" that appears in the shared information 121 is an example of a second keyword.

[0065] In the example of FIG. 9, it is assumed that "fan," "motor," and "light" appear in any of the multiple "comments" belonging to the "category" of "idea P" in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2). According to the keyword information 125, the keywords for "existing product V" are "fan" and "motor." Therefore, the similar product selection unit 112 stores "1" in the "fan" and "motor" columns corresponding to "existing product V" in the similar product evaluation list 144. On the other hand, "light" does not exist as a keyword for "existing product V." Therefore, the similar product selection unit 112 stores "-" in the "light" column corresponding to "existing product V" in the similar product evaluation list 144.

[0066] The similar product selection unit 112 similarly fills in the "existing product W" and "existing product X" columns.

[0067] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the similar product selection unit 112 calculates the number of "1"s in the similar product evaluation list 144 for each existing product. The number of "1"s is the number of parts common to the new product and existing products, and the more "1"s an existing product has, the more parts it has in common with the new product, and the more similar it is to the new product. Therefore, the similar product selection unit 112 determines that the existing product with the most "1"s among multiple existing products is similar to the new product of the idea corresponding to the similar product evaluation list 144. In the example of FIG. 9 , of "existing product V," "existing product W," and "existing product X," "existing product V" has the most "1"s. Therefore, the similar product selection unit 112 determines that the new product of "idea P" is similar to "existing product V."

[0068] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the existing product parts information 124. As shown in FIG.

[0069] The existing product parts information 124 is an example of parts information related to parts of an existing product, and is information indicating the parts that make up the existing product and the number of parts. In the example of Figure 10, "existing product V" is composed of five fans and one motor.

[0070] An administrator of parts procurement support system 10 manually generates existing product parts information 124 and stores it in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires existing product parts information 124 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120. Parts procurement support system 10 may also automatically generate existing product parts information 124.

[0071] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the supplier information 126. As shown in FIG.

[0072] The supplier information 126 is information in which "part name," "supplier name," "available supply quantity," and "unit price" are associated with each other.

[0073] "Supplier name" is the name of a supplier that can procure a certain part. For example, the part "fan" can be procured from "Company A" and "Company B." "Available supply quantity" is the number of parts that can be procured from a certain supplier per year. Instead of per year, the number of parts that can be procured per month or per week can also be used as the "available supply quantity." "Unit price" is the price per part from a certain supplier.

[0074] An administrator of parts procurement support system 10 manually generates supplier information 126 and stores it in advance in data management device 400. Then, parts procurement support device 100 acquires supplier information 126 from data management device 400 as needed and stores it in storage unit 120. Parts procurement support system 10 may also automatically generate supplier information 126.

[0075] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the new product parts information 127. As shown in FIG.

[0076] New product parts information 127 is information estimated by supplier selection unit 113 on the number and required number of parts constituting a new product that adoption determination unit 111 has determined to be adopted as a commodity.

[0077] In this example, the new product part information 127 is information in which the "part name," "quantity," and "required quantity" are associated with each other. For example, consider a case where the new product "idea P" is determined to be adopted as a commercial product as described above, and the new product is determined to be similar to "existing product V" based on the similar product evaluation list 144.

[0078] In this case, the parts and their number that make up the new product are considered to be similar to the parts and their number that make up "existing product V." According to existing product parts information 124, the number of "fans" in "existing product V" is five, and the number of "motors" is one. Therefore, supplier selection unit 113 can infer that the parts that make up the new product are also "fans" and "motors," and that the number of "fans" in the new product is five, and the number of "motors" is one. Therefore, supplier selection unit 113 stores "5" in the number of "fans" for "idea P" in new product parts information 127, and stores "1" in the number of "motors."

[0079] Furthermore, the "required quantity" in the new product parts information 127 is estimated by the supplier selection unit 113 from the planned production quantity of the new product included in the comments in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2). For example, assume that in the shared information 121, one of the multiple "comments" whose "category" is "idea P" includes a comment that the planned production quantity of the new product of "idea P" is 1,000 units. In this case, the supplier selection unit 113 stores the value obtained by multiplying the number of each part by the planned production quantity (1,000 units) as the required quantity in the "required quantity" in the new product parts information 127. For example, since the number of "fans" is "5," the required quantity of "fans" is 5,000 units.

[0080] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the supplier candidate information 128. As shown in FIG.

[0081] The supplier candidate information 128 is information indicating the supplier of the part selected by the supplier selection unit 113 and the unit price of the part. Here, the supplier candidate information 128 is information that associates the "new product idea name," "part name," "supplier name," and "unit price."

[0082] The "new product idea name" is the name of the idea for the new product, such as "idea P" or "idea Q." The "part name" is the name of the part of the new product estimated by the supplier selection unit 113. The "unit price" is the price per part identified from the supplier information 126.

[0083] The "supplier name" is the name of the supplier of the part selected by the supplier selection unit 113. Here, the supplier selection unit 113 selects the supplier of each part based on the "required quantity" in the new product part information 127 (see FIG. 12) and the "available quantity" in the supplier information 126 (see FIG. 11).

[0084] For example, supplier selection unit 113 selects a supplier from which the "supply quantity" in supplier information 126 (see FIG. 11) is equal to or greater than the "required quantity" in new product part information 127. In the example of FIG. 11, the supply quantity of "fans" from "company A" is "100," which is not enough to meet the required number of "fans" (5,000 units). On the other hand, the supply quantity of "fans" from "company B" in FIG. 11 is "10,000," which is enough to meet the required number of "fans" (5,000 units).

[0085] Therefore, supplier selection unit 113 selects "Company B" as the supplier of "fans" and stores "Company B" in the "Supplier Name" of "Fans" in supplier candidate information 128. Furthermore, according to supplier information 126, the unit price of "Fans" from "Company B" is "700 yen." Therefore, supplier selection unit 113 stores "700 yen" in the "Unit Price" of "Fans" in supplier candidate information 128.

[0086] In this way, by having supplier selection unit 113 select suppliers whose "available supply quantity" is equal to or exceeds the required quantity, it is possible to avoid a situation where there is a shortage of parts.

[0087] Next, a parts procurement support method according to this embodiment will be described.

[0088] FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the parts procurement support method according to this embodiment.

[0089] First, terminal device 301 managed by the design department stores shared information 121 in data management device 400 (step S10), which triggers data management device 400 to notify parts procurement support device 100 of a startup notification (step S12).

[0090] Upon receiving this activation notification, parts procurement support device 100 activates and notifies terminal device 302 managed by the procurement department of the activation notification (step S14).

[0091] Next, the adoption determination unit 111 of the parts procurement support device 100 requests various information from the data management device 400 (step S16). Such information includes the shared information 121, the evaluation information 122, the job title information 141, and the threshold information 143.

[0092] Then, the adoption determination unit 111 acquires these pieces of information 121, 122, 141, and 143 from the data management device 400 and stores them in the storage unit 120 (step S18).

[0093] Next, the adoption determination unit 111 performs a new product adoption determination process to determine whether the new product proposed by the design department staff member will be adopted based on the acquired information 121, 122, 141, and 143, thereby generating the aforementioned evaluation result information 123 (step S20). Details of this new product adoption determination process will be described later.

[0094] Next, presentation unit 114 notifies terminal device 302 managed by the procurement department of the determination result of step S20 (step S22). Thereafter, adoption determination unit 111 stores evaluation result information 123 in data management device 400 (step S24), and parts procurement support device 100 stops.

[0095] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the determination result presented on the terminal device 302 in step S22.

[0096] In the example of FIG. 15, the terminal device 302 that has been notified of the judgment result displays a screen 150 that visualizes the evaluation result information 123 (see FIG. 7) on the display unit of the device itself.

[0097] By viewing this screen 150, a procurement department employee can understand that the new product "Idea P" proposed by the design department is likely to be adopted as a product in two months. Screen 150 also includes an execute button 152 for executing the following steps.

[0098] Referring again to Figure 14, when the procurement department staff checks "Display Supplier" on screen 150 and presses execute button 152, terminal device 302 managed by the procurement department sends a startup notification to parts procurement support device 100 (step S26). Note that parts procurement support device 100 may be configured to start up automatically without sending this startup notification.

[0099] Upon receiving this startup notification, parts procurement support device 100 starts up again, and similar product selection unit 112 and supplier selection unit 113 each request various information from data management device 400 (step S28). At this time, the information requested by similar product selection unit 112 includes keyword information 125. The information requested by supplier selection unit 113 includes existing product parts information 124 and supplier information 126.

[0100] Then, the similar product selection unit 112 acquires keyword information 125 from the data management device 400 and stores it in the storage unit 120. Furthermore, the supplier selection unit 113 acquires existing product parts information 124 and supplier information 126 from the data management device 400 and stores them in the storage unit 120 (step S30).

[0101] Next, the similar product selection unit 112 performs a similar product selection process (step S32). The similar product selection process is a process for selecting an existing product similar to the new product determined to be adopted as a commodity in step S20, and the details of this process will be described later.

[0102] Next, supplier selection unit 113 performs a candidate supplier selection process (step S34). The candidate supplier selection process is a process for selecting a supplier of parts that constitute the new product based on the number of parts corresponding to the existing product selected in step S32 from among the existing products included in existing product parts information 124 (see FIG. 10). In the candidate supplier selection process, supplier selection unit 113 generates new product parts information 127 (see FIG. 12) and candidate supplier information 128 (see FIG. 13). The candidate supplier selection process will be described in detail later.

[0103] Next, the presentation unit 114 notifies the terminal device 302 managed by the procurement department of the results including the new product parts information 127 (see FIG. 12) and the supplier candidate information 128 (see FIG. 13) (step S36).

[0104] Furthermore, the presentation unit 114 notifies the terminal device 301 managed by the design department of the same result as in step S36 (step S38).

[0105] Thereafter, the supplier selection unit 113 stores the new product parts information 127 (see FIG. 12) and the supplier candidate information 128 (see FIG. 13) in the data management device 400 (step S40).

[0106] FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the results including existing products and suppliers presented to the terminal devices 301 and 302 in steps S36 and S38, respectively.

[0107] In the example of FIG. 16, each of the terminal devices 301 and 302 displays a screen 160 for displaying the results on the display unit of the device itself.

[0108] The screen 160 displays a part display area 160a and a supplier display area 160b. The part display area 160a is an area that visualizes new product part information 127 (see FIG. 12). In this example, the name of the idea for the new product, "Idea P," and the planned sales quantity, "1,000 units," extracted from the shared information 121, are also displayed in the part display area 160a. The supplier display area 160b is an area that visualizes candidate supplier information 128 (see FIG. 13).

[0109] By looking at screen 160 displayed on terminal device 302, the procurement department staff can learn that there is a possibility that the new product "Idea P" will be commercialized before the decision to commercialize the new product is made, and can begin work on selecting a supplier for the parts that will make up the new product.

[0110] Moreover, since the supplier display area 160b of the screen 160 displays the supplier of each part, the person in charge of the procurement department can select the supplier of the parts at an early stage before commercialization.

[0111] Furthermore, since the same screen 160 is displayed on the terminal devices 301 and 302 of the design department and the procurement department, the personnel in the design department and the procurement department can share information on parts for new products and their suppliers.

[0112] Screen 160 displays check boxes 160c for "Confirm Procurement Department" and "Confirm Design Department," and a registration button 162. When the personnel in charge of the design department and procurement department check the check boxes 160c and press the registration button 162 in this state, parts procurement support device 100 may record that information sharing between the departments has been achieved.

[0113] This completes the basic processing of the parts procurement support method according to this embodiment.

[0114] Next, the new product adoption determination process (step S20), the similar product selection process (step S32), and the supplier candidate selection process (step S34) in FIG. 14 will be described in detail.

[0115] FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the new product adoption determination process.

[0116] First, the adoption determination unit 111 creates the idea evaluation list 142 of Fig. 5 (step S50). For example, the adoption determination unit 111 determines the success or failure of the "item" of the evaluation information 122 of Fig. 3 for each "category" in the shared information 121 of Fig. 2. Then, the adoption determination unit 111 stores "1" in the idea evaluation list 142 if the "item" is true, and stores "-" if it is not true.

[0117] Next, the adoption determination unit 111 calculates the adoption points based on the idea evaluation list 142 (step S52). As described above, the adoption points are the sum of the points of the "items" for which "1" is stored in the idea evaluation list 142 (see FIG. 3).

[0118] Next, the adoption determination unit 111 generates evaluation result information 123 (see FIG. 7) including the calculated adoption points (step S54).

[0119] Thereafter, the adoption determination unit 111 identifies a new product to be adopted as a commodity based on the evaluation result information 123 and the threshold value information 143 (step S56). For example, the adoption determination unit 111 determines that a new product of an idea whose adoption points in the evaluation result information 123 are equal to or greater than the threshold value in the threshold value information 143 (see FIG. 6) will be adopted as a commodity. Thereafter, the process returns to the caller.

[0120] This completes the basic process of the new product adoption determination process.

[0121] FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the similar product selection process.

[0122] First, the similar product selection unit 112 creates the similar product evaluation list 144 shown in FIG. 9 based on the shared information 121 and the keyword information 125 (step S60).

[0123] As an example, the similar product selection unit 112 identifies rows in the shared information 121 (see FIG. 2) in which the idea for the new product identified to be adopted as a product is included in the "category." Then, the similar product selection unit 112 determines for each existing product whether a "keyword" in the keyword information 125 appears in the "comment" of each identified row. If the "keyword" appears in the "comment," the similar product selection unit 112 stores "1" in the entry corresponding to the existing product to be evaluated and the keyword in the similar product evaluation list 144; if the keyword does not appear, the similar product selection unit 112 stores "-" in the entry.

[0124] Next, the similar product selection unit 112 selects an existing product similar to the new product determined to be adopted as a commodity based on the similar product evaluation list 144 (step S62). For example, the similar product selection unit 112 selects the existing product with the largest number of "1"s among the multiple existing products in the similar product evaluation list 144 as the product similar to the new product. Then, the process returns to the caller.

[0125] This completes the basic process of the similar product selection process.

[0126] FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the supplier candidate selection process.

[0127] First, the supplier selection unit 113 identifies the number of parts of the new product that has been identified as being adopted as a commodity (step S70). For example, the supplier selection unit 113 identifies the number of parts of an existing product that is similar to the new product among the existing products in the existing product parts information 124 (see FIG. 10) as the number of parts of the new product.

[0128] Next, supplier selection unit 113 calculates the required number of parts for the new product (step S72). As an example, supplier selection unit 113 identifies the planned production quantity of the new product included in the comment of shared information 121 (see FIG. 2), and calculates the required number by multiplying the planned production quantity by the number of parts identified in step S70. Supplier selection unit 113 also generates new product parts information 127 (see FIG. 12) that associates parts, numbers, and required numbers.

[0129] Next, supplier selection unit 113 selects suppliers of parts for the new product based on supplier information 126 of Fig. 11 and new product parts information 127 of Fig. 12 (step S74). For example, supplier selection unit 113 selects, as a supplier of a part, a supplier from which the "supplyable quantity" of the part in supplier information 126 (see Fig. 11) is equal to or greater than the "required quantity" of the part in new product parts information 127. Furthermore, supplier selection unit 113 generates candidate supplier information 128 (see Fig. 13) including the "supplier name" that is the name of the selected supplier.

[0130] In this example, a supplier that can supply more than the required number of parts is selected, but the present embodiment is not limited to this.

[0131] For example, the supplier selection unit 113 may acquire, via the network 200, corporate evaluation information (not shown) on each supplier evaluated by a corporate evaluation organization and select a supplier based on the corporate evaluation information. In this case, the supplier selection unit 113 selects suppliers whose corporate evaluation information meets or exceeds a predetermined standard, rather than using the number of components that can be supplied as the standard. Examples of such corporate evaluation information include ESG evaluations such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJS), financial evaluations such as ROE (Return on Equity), customer satisfaction, and ratings by S&P. Feedback evaluations or improvement in key performance indicators (KPIs) may also be used as corporate evaluation information. Regarding ESG evaluations, in addition to ESG evaluations as investment-related indicators, evaluations of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may also be used, or evaluations of environmental, social, and governance factors may be used separately.

[0132] This completes the basic process of the supplier candidate selection process.

[0133] According to the present embodiment described above, the similar product selection unit 112 selects existing products similar to the new product at an early stage of the design process based on the shared information 121 generated from chat content, etc. in the design department and the keyword information 125 (step S32). Therefore, the supplier selection unit 113 can select suppliers of parts for the new product early in step S34 based on the number of parts in the selected existing product, supplier company evaluation information, etc. This allows, for example, a person in the procurement department to determine in advance whether the price of the parts to be procured is low or not, at a sufficiently early stage, backdated by the procurement lead time before the start of production of the new product.

[0134] Moreover, when the adoption determination unit 111 determines that the new product will be adopted as a commodity, the similar product selection unit 112 selects an existing product similar to the new product as described above. Therefore, the similar product selection unit 112 does not need to select an existing product similar to the new product that is unlikely to be commercialized, and the supplier selection unit 113 can select a supplier of parts for the new product that is likely to be commercialized.

[0135] Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, the supplier selection unit 113 identifies the planned production quantity of a new product from the shared information 121, and selects a supplier whose available supply of parts can satisfy the planned production quantity. In contrast, in the present embodiment, the supplier selection unit 113 selects a supplier who can satisfy the sales target number set by the product planning department.

[0136] 20 is a schematic diagram showing an example of product planning information 146 created by the product planning department. As shown in FIG. 20, product planning information 146 is information that associates "new product idea name," "sales target number," "sales target amount," and "product unit price." Note that product planning information 146 is stored in advance in storage unit 120 by, for example, an administrator of parts procurement support system 10.

[0137] In step S72 (see FIG. 19), supplier selection unit 113 selects the required number of parts for the new product based on this product planning information 146. For example, supplier selection unit 113 identifies the required number of parts as the product of the "sales target number" multiplied by the number of parts identified in step S70.

[0138] Then, in step S74 (see FIG. 19), supplier selection unit 113 selects suppliers that can supply the required number of parts identified in this way.

[0139] This allows the selection of a parts supplier that can meet the sales target number set by the product planning department.

[0140] However, this embodiment is not limited to this, and the supplier selection unit 113 may select a supplier based on the "product unit price." In this case, instead of step S72, the supplier selection unit 113 performs a step of calculating, for each part, an amount obtained by multiplying the unit price of the part in the supplier information 126 (see FIG. 11) by the number of parts identified in step S70. Furthermore, in this step, the supplier selection unit 113 calculates a total amount by adding up the calculated amounts for all parts constituting the new product.

[0141] Furthermore, in step S74, supplier selection unit 113 selects a combination of suppliers for each part in supplier information 126 (see FIG. 11) such that the calculated total price does not exceed the product unit price of the new product in product planning information 146. Note that if there are multiple such combinations of suppliers, supplier selection unit 113 may select from these multiple combinations.

[0142] This makes it possible to select a supplier of parts that will not exceed the unit price of the new product set by the product planning department.

[0143] <Third embodiment> In the first embodiment, the presentation unit 114 presents the component suppliers selected by the supplier selection unit 113 to the terminal devices 301 and 302 of the design department and the procurement department, respectively (steps S36 and S38), thereby enabling information sharing between the design department and the procurement department.

[0144] In contrast, in this embodiment, the presentation unit 114 presents various information to terminal devices managed by the product planning department, sales strategy department, intellectual property department, and manufacturing department in addition to the terminal device 301 of the design department.

[0145] For example, the presentation unit 114 presents the unit prices of parts in the supplier candidate information 128 (see FIG. 13) to a terminal device managed by the product planning department. This allows a person in charge of the product planning department to calculate the unit price of a new product and to confirm at an early stage of the design whether the new product will be in an attractive price range.

[0146] The presentation unit 114 may also present existing products similar to the new product selected in step S62 to a terminal device managed by the sales strategy department or the intellectual property department. This allows a sales strategy staff member to investigate the sales status of similar existing products before selling the new product and to develop a sales strategy that takes advantage of the strengths of the new product based on the investigation results. Furthermore, an intellectual property staff member can investigate whether or not intellectual property rights of other companies exist for existing products similar to the new product. Therefore, the staff member can determine at an early stage of the design process whether the new product infringes on intellectual property rights of other companies, and if it is determined that there is an infringement, can take preventative measures early on.

[0147] Furthermore, the presentation unit 114 may present the parts in the new product parts information 127 (see FIG. 12) to a terminal device managed by the manufacturing department. This allows the person in charge of the manufacturing department to know in advance what level of production capacity should be prepared based on the parts that make up the new product, and to make early arrangements for personnel and preparations for equipment.

[0148] <Hardware configuration> Next, the hardware configuration of the parts procurement support device 100 according to this embodiment will be described.

[0149] FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the parts procurement support device 100 according to this embodiment.

[0150] 21, parts procurement support device 100 includes storage device 100a, memory 100b, processor 100c, communication interface 100d, and media reader 100f, all of which are interconnected by bus 100g.

[0151] The storage device 100a is a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and stores a parts procurement support program 500 according to this embodiment.

[0152] The parts procurement support program 500 may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium 100h, and the processor 100c may read the parts procurement support program 500 from the recording medium 100h.

[0153] The recording medium 100h may be, for example, a physically portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc - Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. A semiconductor memory such as a flash memory or a hard disk drive may also be used as the recording medium 100h.

[0154] The parts procurement support program 500 may be stored in a device connected to a public line, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), etc. In this case, the processor 100c may read and execute the parts procurement support program 500.

[0155] Memory 100b is hardware that temporarily stores data, such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and parts procurement support program 500 is developed thereon.

[0156] Processor 100c is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) that controls each unit of parts procurement support device 100. Processor 100c executes parts procurement support program 500 in cooperation with memory 100b, thereby realizing processing unit 110 in FIG.

[0157] 1 is realized by storage device 100a and memory 100b. Communication interface 100d is hardware such as a network interface card (NIC) for connecting parts procurement support device 100 to network 200. Communication interface 100d realizes communication unit 130 in FIG.

[0158] The medium reading device 100f is hardware such as a USB reader for reading data recorded on the recording medium 100h.

[0159] The effects described in this specification are merely examples and are not limiting, and other effects may also be present.

[0160] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an embodiment including all of the described components. Furthermore, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, part of the configuration of each embodiment can be added to, deleted from, or replaced with another configuration.

[0161] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, etc. may be implemented in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the program, decision table, and files that implement each function can be stored in memory, a storage device such as an HDD or SSD, or a recording medium such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card, an SD (Secure Digital) card, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Furthermore, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily represent all control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0162] 10... parts procurement support system, 100... parts procurement support device, 110... processing unit, 111... adoption determination unit, 112... similar product selection unit, 113... supplier selection unit, 114... presentation unit, 120... storage unit, 121... shared information, 122... evaluation information, 123... evaluation result information, 124... existing product parts information, 125... keyword information, 126... supplier information, 127... new product parts information, 128... candidate supplier information, 130... communication unit , 141...job position information, 142...idea evaluation list, 143...threshold information, 144...similar product evaluation list, 146...product planning information, 150, 160...screen, 152...execute button, 160a...parts display area, 160b...supplier display area, 160c...check box, 162...registration button, 200...network, 301, 302...terminal device, 400...data management device, 500...parts procurement support program.

Claims

1. a similar product selection unit that selects an existing product similar to the new product based on shared information about the design of the new product and feature information indicating features of the existing product; a supplier selection unit that selects a supplier of parts that constitute the new product based on part information related to the selected parts of the existing product; A parts procurement support device having the above.

2. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, further comprising an adoption determination unit that determines whether the new product should be adopted as a commodity based on the shared information; When it is determined that the new product is to be adopted as a commodity, the similar product selection unit selects the existing product that is similar to the new product. Parts procurement support device.

3. 3. The parts procurement support device according to claim 2, The adoption determination unit calculating a sum of the numerical values ​​for the predetermined items by referring to evaluation information that associates predetermined items included in the shared information with numerical values ​​that indicate the likelihood that the new product will be adopted as a commercial product; When the sum is equal to or greater than a threshold, it is determined that the new product will be adopted, and when the sum is less than the threshold, it is determined that the new product will not be adopted. Parts procurement support device.

4. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, the characteristic information is information in which a plurality of the existing products are associated with a plurality of first keywords; The similar product selection unit selecting, from among the plurality of existing products, the existing product having the largest number of first keywords that match the second keywords appearing in the shared information as an existing product similar to the new product; Parts procurement support device.

5. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, The supplier selection unit selecting a supplier that can procure the required number of parts by referring to supplier information that associates the number of parts that can be supplied with the supplier; Parts procurement support device.

6. 6. The parts procurement support device according to claim 5, The parts information includes the number of parts that make up the existing product, The supplier selection unit specifying a value obtained by multiplying the number of components by the planned production quantity of the new product included in the shared information as the required quantity of the parts; Parts procurement support device.

7. 6. The parts procurement support device according to claim 5, The parts information includes the number of parts that make up the existing product, The supplier selection unit specifying a value obtained by multiplying the number of components by the target number of units to be sold of the new product as the required number of the parts; Parts procurement support device.

8. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, The parts information includes the number of parts that constitute the existing product, The supplier selection unit Calculating the amount obtained by multiplying the unit price of the parts constituting the existing product by the number of parts, for all parts constituting the existing product; selecting a combination of suppliers from among the combinations of suppliers for each of the parts, such that the total amount of the amounts for all parts constituting the existing product does not exceed a predetermined unit price of the new product; Parts procurement support device.

9. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, The device further includes a presentation unit in a terminal device managed by any one of a design department, a product planning department, a sales strategy department, an intellectual property department, and a manufacturing department, which presents the unit price of the part at the supplier, the existing product similar to the new product, and the part constituting the new product. Parts procurement support device.

10. 2. The parts procurement support device according to claim 1, The shared information includes text extracted from any of emails, chats, and calls. Parts procurement support device.

11. A parts procurement support system including a parts procurement support device and a terminal device, The parts procurement support device a similar product selection unit that selects an existing product similar to the new product based on shared information about the design of the new product and feature information indicating features of the existing product; a supplier selection unit that selects a supplier of parts that constitute the new product based on part information related to the selected parts of the existing product; a presentation unit that presents the selected supplier to the terminal device; A parts procurement support system with

12. The computer selecting an existing product similar to the new product based on shared information about the design of the new product and feature information indicating features of the existing product; selecting a supplier of parts constituting the new product based on part information relating to the selected parts of the existing product; A parts procurement support method that implements the above.

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