Recursive Process Routing Tree for Manufacturing Cost Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing CAD-integrated cost management systems face challenges in optimizing manufacturing costs due to the complexity of encoding process routings, particularly as manufacturing facilities evolve and become more complex, leading to inefficiencies in listing and managing process steps.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for determining an optimum manufacturing process routing using recursive process routing trees, where each node represents a manufacturing process that can be decomposed into sub-processes, allowing for hierarchical construction and evaluation of process routings to minimize cost, production time, or capacity usage, with optional and repeated processes handled dynamically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If process routings are stored individually as lists of process steps, then each routing can be managed separately, but the system complexity increases significantly as the manufacturing facility evolves
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the process routing data into hierarchical components: routing templates define the structure, while routing instances represent specific applications. This segmentation allows the system to manage complexity by separating the definition of process sequences from their instantiation, enabling reusable template structures that reduce overall system complexity despite facility evolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested hierarchical structure where routing templates contain process steps, which themselves can contain sub-processes or parameters. This nesting allows complex manufacturing processes to be organized in layers of abstraction, where high-level templates encapsulate detailed process sequences, making the system more manageable as complexity increases.
2Adaptability or versatility
If all possible process combinations are explicitly listed, then complete routing options are available, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic routing generation where the complete set of process combinations is not pre-computed and stored, but rather generated on-demand through template instantiation. The system dynamically evaluates which routing options are relevant based on specific manufacturing contexts, parameters, and constraints, avoiding the computational burden of enumerating all possible combinations while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses template copying where a single routing template definition can be instantiated multiple times to generate different routing instances. Instead of storing all possible process combinations, the system stores compact template definitions that can be copied and customized for specific applications, dramatically reducing data storage and computational requirements while maintaining complete routing option availability.
3Productivity
If hierarchical routing templates are used to define process routings, then encoding efficiency improves, but evaluation and feasibility checking become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary feasibility evaluation during the template definition phase, where constraints and validity rules are established upfront. This preliminary action allows the system to pre-validate template structures and identify infeasible routing options before actual routing generation occurs, reducing the complexity of evaluation during runtime while maintaining encoding efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service evaluation where the hierarchical routing templates contain embedded feasibility rules and constraints that automatically validate themselves during instantiation. The template structure includes built-in logic for checking process compatibility, resource availability, and constraint satisfaction, eliminating the need for complex external evaluation systems while maintaining encoding efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and corresponding system is provided for determining an optimum manufacturing process routing. The method comprises electronically constructing a plurality of manufacturing process routings for a component to be manufactured. The electronically constructing for each manufacturing process routing of the plurality of manufacturing process routings comprises defining a recursive process routing tree for each manufacturing process routing, the recursive process routing tree comprising a plurality of nodes, each node of the plurality of nodes corresponding to a manufacturing process and comprising a branch node when the manufacturing process for a given node may be decomposed into a plurality of sub-processes for the given node. The method further comprises electronically determining an optimum process routing by evaluating each recursive process routing tree with reference to a cost for manufacturing the component to be optimized and determining the optimum process routing that minimizes the cost for manufacturing the component.