JPH11188579A - Matrix type production equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To adjust a production capacity without undue effort even if the ordered amount varies from the production capacity. SOLUTION: A production equipment machines a material Y through a series of steps K1 , K2 ,...Kn in this order to produce a product Z. There are a plurality of finishing machines (Sij) (j=2 or more) for performing the machining Ki (i=1 to n), and the plurality of finishing machines (Sij) are connected to a half- finished product input and output equipment (Li) by a half-finished product transfer means (Ui). Adjacent input and output equipment (Li, Li+1) for machining are connected to each other by the half-finished product transfer means (Vi, i+1). When the finishing machines are noted, a whole finishing machines are arranged in matrix type. In this matrix type production equipment, a machining Ki is performed by either of the plurality of finishing machines (Sij, where j=2 or more). Namely, a plurality of finishing machines are prepared for a same machining. In this matrix type production equipment, the finishing machine can be added or deleted easily, and the production capacity can be adjusted little by little without stopping a production.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facility for producing products by successively processing materials.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to produce complex products in large quantities, FIG.
Are widely known. This production equipment
The material Y is processed sequentially, and the processing P
1 and then processing P2 is performed, and finally processing Pm is performed to manufacture a product Z. For this purpose, the processing machines 1, 2
.. M are sequentially arranged in a line, and adjacent processing machines are connected by semi-finished product conveying means. Usually, processing machines are arranged in order along one work conveyor, and the line-type production equipment of FIG. 2 is configured. The term "processing" as used in this specification is not limited to machine processing in a narrow sense, but is a general term for various processes required for product production, such as assembly of parts, chemical processing of materials, and intermediate inspection of products. .

[0003]

While this type of line type production equipment is extremely efficient, it has several serious problems. -Usually, this kind of production equipment is designed to match the production capacity, for example, it is designed to be able to produce 10 units per hour. Here, if there are only five orders per hour, the equipment is wasted, and if there are 15 orders, one line cannot be produced, so another line is required. In other words, when the production can be carried out to the full capacity, the efficiency is extremely high, but when the order quantity fluctuates, wastefulness and unreasonability occur.・ It is theoretically possible to prevent the generation of excessive and waste by adjusting the production capacity. For example, when increasing the production volume, if the processing time required for processing is longest and the production capacity is limited, and the processing is sequentially performed by two processing machines, the production capacity can be increased. Can be increased (see FIG. 3). If all processes can be divided into two, the production capacity will also double. However, in order to do so, it is necessary to move all the processing machines by doubling the line length, and there is naturally a limit in increasing the production capacity. In addition, production must be stopped while the production equipment is being remodeled, which is often not feasible. Conversely, when reducing the production capacity, one processing machine should theoretically be removed from the line, and the processing performed by that processing machine should be processed by another processing machine. However,
Usually, each processing machine is a dedicated machine for the processing for the reason described later, and the above-mentioned correspondence is often impossible in practice. -In order to realize efficient production equipment, each processing machine needs to complete the processing in a short time. For example, in order to enable the production of 10 units per hour, each processing must be completed within at most 6 minutes. To this end, each processing machine is usually designed specifically for its processing,
This causes the equipment cost to be enormous. In addition, it is difficult to cope with a design change of a product to be processed.・ Failure of one processing machine stops all production activities. The present invention solves the above problems of the line type production equipment.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the concept is schematically shown in FIG. There are a plurality of processing machines (Sij) (j = 2 or more) that execute each of the processing Ki (i = 1 to n), and the plurality of processing machines (Sij) are semi-finished products. The semi-finished product conveying means (Ui) is connected to the loading / unloading equipment (Li) by the semi-finished product conveying means (Ui), and the semi-finished product conveying means (Vi, Li + 1) is connected between the adjacent loading / unloading equipment (Li, Li + 1) for each processing. i +
It is tied in 1). Focusing on the processing machine,
The entire processing machine (Sij) is arranged in a matrix. In this matrix type production equipment, a processing machine having a plurality of processing Kis (Sij, where j = 2 or more)
Is executed in any of That is, for the same processing,
A plurality of processing machines are prepared. This matrix type production equipment solves various problems of the conventional line type production equipment.

[0005] When the order quantity decreases, one of the processing machines Sij can be removed to set the processing machine group to Sij-1. The removed machine can be used for another purpose, preventing waste. When the order quantity increases, the (j + 1) th processing machine can be added to set the processing machine group to Sij + 1. What is necessary is just to add the required number as needed, and there is no necessity to make a large investment at once as in the conventional case.・ Addition and removal of the above processing machines can be performed without stopping production activities. -Even if one of the processing machines fails, production using another processing machine can be continued. -Since there are a plurality of processing machines, processing by each processing machine may be relatively long. For example, if one is 6
What should be completed within minutes is 18 minutes if 3 units are required. For this reason, it is possible and more preferable to combine a larger number of processing units than the processing units in the conventional line-type production equipment shown in FIG. In the previous example, the allowable time of 6 minutes is 1
Since eight minutes are required, more processing can be performed by one processing machine. As described above, by increasing the number of processes executed by one processing machine, the total number of processing machines can be prevented from becoming enormous. Also, since the time required for processing may be relatively long, it is possible to configure a production facility with a general-purpose machine without using a dedicated machine.

[0006] The invention of claim 2 is an invention for this purpose,
Each unit machining (Ki) is classified into a unit that can be machined by a general-purpose machine controlled by a program. In this case, each processing machine requires only general-purpose equipment, and the equipment cost can be reduced. In addition, it is possible to cope with a plurality of types of mixed production by switching programs. Furthermore, even in the case of major remodeling of the product to be produced, it can basically be dealt with by improving the program, and it is possible to perform preliminary verification by program operation experiment using one general-purpose processing machine,
Preparation time for product modification can be shortened.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the number of processing machines is adjusted such that a value obtained by dividing the time required for each processing by each processing machine by the number of processing machines for each processing is equal to or less than a predetermined value. is there. If the above value is equal to or more than the predetermined value, it means that the number of units is too small and processing cannot be performed in time. By adjusting this value to the minimum number that is equal to or less than the predetermined value, it is possible to prevent excessive and unnecessary occurrence.

[0008]

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a portion for executing machining Ki and machining Ki + 1. First, a part for executing the processing Ki will be described. This is called an i-th cell for processing Ki. In the following description, items described using the subscript i indicate that they are common to the cells of i = 1 to n.

In this example, six general-purpose programmable processing machines Si1 to Si6 are prepared to execute the processing Ki. The semi-finished product is carried into these processing machine groups (Sij, j = 6 in this example. The number of j varies depending on i, and j relating to a specific i may be 1). A carry-in / carry-out facility Li is provided for carrying out semi-finished products processed in groups. Loading and unloading equipment Li
Has a function of temporarily storing semi-finished products, and has a stock shelf 4. The following description using a symbol without a subscript describes a common event regardless of i. The stacker crane 2 is arranged on the front of the stock shelf 4. The stacker crane 2 takes out the pallets stored on the pallet changers 6a and 6b and the semi-finished products positioned on the pallets, and stores the pallets and semi-finished products at arbitrary positions on the stock shelf 4, and Take out the pallet and semi-finished product stored in the optional position of 4,
It can be conveyed on the pallet changers 6b to 6c. The pallet changer 6b and each processing machine are connected by a transfer loader 8, and the transfer loader 8 transfers a pallet stored on the pallet changer 6b and a semi-finished product positioned on the pallet to an arbitrary processing machine. The semi-finished product and the pallet processed by the processing machine can be taken out of the processing machine and transferred to the pallet changer 6b.

A carry-out & N / R robot Vi is arranged on the Li + 1 side of each carry-in / out facility Li, and a carry-in & N / R robot V'i is arranged on the Li-1 side. Loading & N
The / R robot V'i can take out a pallet and a semi-finished product positioned on the pallet from the table 10 and transport it to the pallet changer 6a. Unload &
The N / R robot Vi can transfer a pallet and a semi-finished product placed on the pallet changer 6a to the table 10. The carry-out & N / R robot Vi and the carry-in & N / R robot V′i + 1 constitute a transport means between the carry-in / out facilities Li and Li + 1.

This production facility operates as follows to produce a product. The next semi-finished product to be processed next is taken out of the stock shelf 4 by the stacker crane 2 and placed on the pallet changer 6b. The semi-finished product placed on the pallet changer 6b is transferred by the transport loader 8 to one processing machine that is not performing processing at that time (the other five are in processing).・ The processing machine starts processing.・ Processing ends with another processing machine. The processed semi-finished product is taken out of the processing machine after the processing by the transfer loader 8 and placed on the pallet changer 6b. The semi-finished product placed on the pallet changer 6b is accommodated in the empty position of the stock shelf 4 by the stacker crane 2. The stored processed semi-finished product is taken out by the stacker crane 2 and placed on the pallet changer 6c.・ Semi-finished products placed on the pallet changer 6c are unloaded &
It is placed on the platform 10 by the N / R robot V. The semi-finished product placed on the table 10 is placed on the pallet changer 6a by the carry-in & N / R robot V '. The semi-finished product placed on the pallet changer 6a is stored in an empty position on the stock shelf 4 by the stacker crane 6.

The above operation is repeatedly executed. As a result, the processing Ki is simultaneously processed by the j processing machines while shifting the timing. It is executed simultaneously for each of i = 1 to n. All of the processing machines arranged in a matrix manner in this way can be used without waste.

In the case of this matrix type production equipment, as shown in FIG. 5, if there is a margin in the processing time for the processing Ki, the j-th processing machine can be removed and used for another purpose. Because it is a general-purpose machine, it can be used in this way. On the other hand, when the processing for the processing Ki takes time and the production cannot keep up with the demand, the (j + 1) th general-purpose machine is added. This makes it possible to meet the increased demand. As described above, according to this matrix-type production facility, it is possible to respond to fluctuations in demand by increasing or decreasing the required number of units when necessary. In addition, operations for adding and deleting a processing machine can be performed without stopping other production activities. Further, even if one processing machine breaks down, production using another processing machine can be continued, and a serious situation such as a complete stoppage of production can be prevented.

Although a case has been described above where each of the processing machines Sij is physically constituted by one processing machine, the processing Ki may be executed by a plurality of processing machines. In this case, the whole of the plurality of processing machines is one processing machine Sij referred to herein. Further, the pallet for the processing Ki and the pallet for the processing Ki + 1 may be different, and may be suitable for each processing. Exchange of pallets between cells is performed by pallet changers 6a and 6
b, 6c. Alternatively, the pallet may be used exclusively for transporting the semi-finished product, and the semi-finished product may be taken out of the pallet when the semi-finished product is set in the processing machine. Alternatively, the transporting means may be a method of directly transporting a semi-finished product without using a pallet.

In the case of mixed production of other products, the processing Ki may be finely divided for each type of product to be produced. For example, when processing Ki attaches a throttle adjustment component to an engine, different components may be attached to an engine with traction control and an engine without traction control. In the embodiment, a stock shelf is used, and by controlling the position of the shelf,
It can easily cope with mixed production of many kinds. The equipment for carrying in semi-finished products into each cell and the equipment for carrying out semi-finished products from each cell can also be configured integrally with the transport means between cells. For example, a plurality of cells are arranged along a conveyor for semi-finished products, the semi-finished products flowing on the conveyor are transferred to the intra-cell conveying means, and the semi-finished products sent by the intra-cell conveying means are converted into semi-finished products between the cells. The equipment transferred to the product conveyor makes it possible to configure equipment for loading and unloading semi-finished products to and from the cell. The loading and unloading equipment does not necessarily need a temporary storage function for semi-finished products.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the capacity of the production facility can be adjusted in small increments according to demand fluctuations with a small cost and a simple operation. In many cases, a general-purpose processing machine can be used. Further, it is possible to flexibly respond to equipment failure. According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to cope with the modification of the product to be produced mainly by improving the program, and to cope in a short time. Further, equipment installation costs are reduced. According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently use a minimum necessary processing machine and continue a necessary production activity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the concept of a matrix type production facility of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a conventional line-type production facility.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a problem of a conventional line-type production facility.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating that a problem is solved by the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Sij processing machine Li Loading / unloading equipment Ui Semi-product transfer means Vi, i + 1 Semi-product transfer means 2 Stacker crane 4 Stock shelf 6 Pallet changer 8 Transfer loader

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Sequential processing on a material Y K1 → K2... → K
n is a production facility for producing a product Z, and there are a plurality of processing machines (Sij) (j = 2 or more) for executing each of the processing Kis (i = 1 to n). Sij) is connected to the semi-finished product loading / unloading equipment (Li) by semi-finished product transport means (Ui), and the halfway between the adjacent loading / unloading equipment (Li, Li + 1) for each processing is half. Product transport means (Vi, i +
Matrix type production equipment connected in 1). 2. The production facility according to claim 1, wherein each unit machining (Ki) is classified into a unit that can be machined by a general-purpose machine controlled by a program. 3. The production facility according to claim 1, wherein a value obtained by dividing a time required for each processing by each processing machine by the number of processing machines for each processing is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Matrix type production equipment.