Transportation Operation Control for Buffer Imbalance in Factories
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Solution Overview
Problem
In a factory or warehouse, dynamic changes in transportation capability and load between workstations due to factors like operator proficiency, product types, and production fluctuations lead to inefficiencies, causing downstream workstations to be influenced by upstream processes, resulting in reduced processing efficiency and inappropriate resource allocation.
Innovation Solution
A transportation operation control system that acquires presence status information, calculates the influence degree of upstream sites on transportation source sites, determines the importance of transportation operations based on costs and imbalances, and updates calculation criteria after operations are performed to optimize resource allocation and balance buffer imbalances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If transportation speed is increased to improve productivity, then transportation efficiency is improved, but buffer imbalance occurs between workstations
Solution Approach 1:
The system calculates an importance degree for each transportation operation based on buffer usage rates, transportation costs, and degrees of influence from upstream workstations. This feedback mechanism dynamically adjusts transportation priorities to maintain buffer balance while ensuring high productivity by responding to real-time system state changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The transportation control system dynamically changes transportation priorities and sequences based on real-time buffer states and workstation performance. The importance degree calculation adapts to varying conditions such as buffer usage rates and upstream influence degrees, allowing the system to optimize both speed and balance dynamically rather than using fixed transportation schedules.
2Productivity
If transportation operations are optimized for speed, then processing efficiency is improved, but downstream workstations are influenced by upstream fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The importance degree calculation acts as an intermediary mechanism that mediates between upstream workstation fluctuations and downstream transportation operations. By considering the degree of influence from upstream workstations and calculating appropriate transportation priorities, the system buffers against upstream variations and maintains stable, reliable transportation to downstream workstations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from buffer usage rates and upstream influence degrees to continuously adjust transportation priorities. This feedback loop ensures that transportation operations remain stable and reliable by responding to actual system conditions rather than following fixed schedules, thereby protecting downstream workstations from upstream fluctuations.
3Ease of operation
If transportation resources are allocated based on fixed schedules, then resource allocation is simple, but buffer imbalance and waiting time occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of transportation priority from fixed schedule values to dynamically calculated importance degrees based on buffer usage rates, transportation costs, and upstream influence degrees. This parameter transformation allows the system to minimize waiting time and buffer imbalance while maintaining relatively simple resource allocation through automated calculation rather than complex manual scheduling.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the system responds to buffer imbalance by rearranging operators and devices, then buffer balance is improved, but operation complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses automated feedback-based importance degree calculation to maintain buffer balance without requiring physical rearrangement of operators and devices. The feedback mechanism continuously monitors buffer states and adjusts transportation priorities through calculation rather than physical reconfiguration, thereby maintaining buffer balance while reducing system complexity and avoiding the costs associated with rearranging resources.
Data Source
AI summary
This transportation operation control device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires presence status information of an article; an influence degree calculation unit that calculates, by employing a calculation criterion, the magnitude of the degree of influence on a transportation source site by a pre-process site that influences the transportation source site based on the presence status information related to the transportation source site and the pre-process site; an importance degree calculation unit that calculates the importance degree of a transportation operation from the transportation source site to a transportation destination site based on a transportation cost required for the transportation operation, the presence status information, and the magnitude of the degree of influence; and an updating unit that updates the calculation criterion based on the presence status information after the execution of the transportation operation selected based on the importance degree.