JPH11262844A - Sheet metal processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a sheet metal processing system for processing a sheet metal into a predetermined shape using a plurality of sheet metal processing lines, and to efficiently operate and process a plurality of sheet metal processing lines even in high-mix low-volume production. The purpose is to improve the ability. SOLUTION: A plurality of sheet metal processing lines 1, control means 2 and 3 for controlling these sheet metal processing lines, sheet metal processing information storage means 4 for storing sheet metal processing information to be sent to the control means,
A production information storage means 6 for storing production information such as a production type and a production number, wherein the sheet metal processing information includes processing material information indicating a sheet thickness and a material, and processing position coordinates for punching the sheet metal and a processing punching indicating a punching die shape. The control means converts the sheet metal processing information and outputs punching die information and set position information used for each sheet metal processing line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet metal processing system for processing a sheet metal into a predetermined shape using a plurality of sheet metal processing lines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the diversification and individualization of products, there is a strong tendency for small-lot production of many kinds, and repeated production of the same kind is decreasing. In such a production background, the ratio of the initial man-hours such as data conversion and production instruction performed at the time of switching the production type to the production cost is increasing. With such a tendency, various types of sheet metal products are processed in order to support an appearance structure that meets the needs of the user.

[0003] Generally, a sheet metal product is formed by punching a sheet metal, which has been cut into a fixed size in advance, into a desired predetermined shape, and cutting and processing the sheet metal. The format of the processing data sent from the computer to the sheet metal processing line that processes sheet metal is
It is composed of XY coordinate data indicating the punching position of the sheet metal and data indicating the setting position of the punching die. At the time of sheet metal processing, a form indicating the punching die, its setting position, and the sheet thickness and material of the sheet metal to be used is attached, and based on that, the punching die is set and the sheet metal is supplied, and work is started. I have.

[0004]

In the conventional sheet metal processing line, if the configuration of the processing apparatus is different for each line, the thickness, material, settable type and set position of the die to be processed are set for each line. Since they are different, there is an inconvenience that the processing data created in advance becomes dedicated data for each line.

[0005] When the number and variety of sheet metal production types fluctuate, the operation rate of the entire line becomes unbalanced,
There is a disadvantage that the production time of only a certain line becomes longer. In addition, since the setup change of the punching die is performed based on the form, there is an inconvenience such as a decrease in the operation rate and the working capacity of the equipment.

In addition, as the number of times of changing the setting of the punching die increases, work errors such as erroneous setting of the punching die are more likely to occur in proportion to the change, resulting in a decrease in quality and a reduction in working efficiency due to reworking work. Inconvenience occurs.

Further, in order to correct such unbalance of the sheet metal processing line, when processing data is newly created for another line, the shape of the die to be processed is different for each sheet metal processing apparatus constituting the sheet metal processing line. However, there is a restriction condition depending on the size of the target die that can be set in the die setting part of the sheet metal working apparatus. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that data creation requires skill and a lot of time is spent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and it is possible to efficiently operate a plurality of sheet metal processing lines even in high-mix low-volume production, thereby improving the processing capacity. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet metal working system for storing a plurality of sheet metal working lines, control means for controlling these sheet metal working lines, and sheet metal working information to be sent to the control means. Sheet metal processing information storage means, and production information storage means for storing production information such as a production type and a production number, wherein the sheet metal processing information includes processing material information indicating sheet thickness and material, processing position coordinates for punching the sheet metal, and punching. The control means converts the sheet metal processing information and outputs cutting die information used for each sheet metal processing line and set position information thereof.

According to the present invention, each sheet metal processing line is provided by having information on the sheet thickness and the material of the sheet metal to be processed as sheet metal processing information, and taking an intermediate data format consisting of a processing position coordinate and a processing die shape. Can be easily converted to data indicating the punching die used in step (1) and its set position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the control means controls the sheet metal storage information for each sheet metal processing line, sheet metal workable size information, and apparatus information for calculating the processing time. The production time is determined based on the production information, and the distribution of the processed product having the best processing efficiency is determined for each sheet metal processing line and the work instruction is issued.

According to the present invention, each of the plurality of sheet metal processing lines has a workable size of the sheet metal, a production time is determined based on the production information, and the optimum data of the best processing efficiency is assigned to the plurality of sheet metal processing lines. Since the distribution determination and the work instruction can be performed, the operation rate and the processing capacity of each sheet metal processing line can be improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the sheet metal working system according to the first aspect, wherein the control means has punching die information and sheet metal size change information set at a pre-setup time,
The conversion of the sheet metal working information is performed so as to minimize the setup time and the net processing time when the production type is switched.

According to the present invention, there is set information of the shape of the cutting die set at the time of the pre-setup, and when the same cutting die is used, the conversion of the intermediate data is performed so as to minimize the setting change of the cutting die. Since it can be performed, it is possible to select the sheet metal processing line to distribute the processing data during sheet metal processing, change the setup by changing the type, distribute the combination data minimizing including the net time and give the work instruction, In addition, the work processing ability can be improved.

[0015]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a sheet metal working system according to the present invention. This sheet metal processing system includes a plurality of sheet metal processing lines 1-1, 1
2-1 and 2-2, and 2-3 for individually controlling them, a line controller 3 for controlling the entire line, and intermediate data sent to the line controller 3. A file server 4 as a sheet metal working information storage means for saving in a format, a CAD (computer aided design machine) 5 for designing sheet metal products and creating working data, and a production for managing a production plan on a daily or weekly basis. It comprises a production management information file 6 as information storage means.

The line controller 3, the file server 4, the CAD 5, and the production management information file 6 are connected via a bus line 7, and the line controller 3 and the controllers 2-1 to 2-3 are connected via a bus line 8. Have been.

FIG. 2 shows a sheet metal processing line 1 (1-1 to 1--1).
3) In the schematic side view, the material stocker 11,
It has a configuration in which a material supply unit 12, a sheet metal processing apparatus 13, a traverser 14, and a processed product storage unit 15 are arranged.

The material stocker 11 includes a plurality of material storage shelves 11a arranged vertically, and a material elevating unit 11b for taking out the material (sheet metal) stored in the material storage shelves 11a and moving it on a line. .

The material supply unit 12 includes a material stocker 11
A suction pad 12a for sucking the material taken out of the suction pad and moving the material in the horizontal direction, and a material stand 12b for temporarily placing the material moved by the suction pad 12a. In this figure, the sheet metal 16 is provided by the suction pad 12a.
Is moved onto the material standby table 12b.

The sheet metal processing apparatus 13 includes a cutting die setting section 13a for setting a cutting die for punching the sheet metal 16.
3 (a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2) and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 (a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 2),
13b, on which the sheet metal 16 is clamped, and XY
13c, clamp 13c to move in the direction
And a Y-axis drive unit 13e that drives the X-axis in the X-direction and a Y-axis drive unit 13e. FIG. 4 shows two types of punching dies 13a-1 and 13a-2 in an overlapping manner.

The traverser 14 moves the processed sheet metal 16 punched by the sheet metal processing apparatus 13 and
To be stored.

In this configuration, when a sheet metal product is designed by the CAD 5, processing data is sent to the file server 4, and
Saved in intermediate data format. When daily or weekly production plan data is sent from the production management information file 6 to the line controller 3, the processing data of the file server 4 is distributed to the controllers 2-1 to 2-3 in consideration of the current process. .

At this time, since the format of the processing data is the intermediate data format, the line controller 3 converts the data into the execution level data in the sheet metal processing line 1 and, at the same time, changes the type of product and the number of products to be produced when switching the type of product. The set position indicating data of the die to be cut is output by screen display or printing.

Then, as a preparatory operation in the sheet metal processing line 1, a die is set in the die setting part 13a based on work instruction data output from the controller 2. Processing data from controller 2 to sheet metal processing line 1
The sheet metal 16 previously stored in the material stocker 11 is taken out of the material storage shelf 11a by the material lifting / lowering unit 11b and stopped at a predetermined position.

Next, the sheet metal 16 is connected to the material supply unit 12.
Of the material standby table 12
b. And the sheet metal 16 is a sheet metal processing device 13.
The processed sheet metal 16 is transported by the traverser 14 to the processed product storage unit 15 and stored therein.

Next, a flow of a series of data up to the start of a machining operation and its processing will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. First, the production type and the production quantity are loaded from the production management information file 6 into the line controller 3 (step S1). In this example,
35 products A, 100 B, 20 C, 1 D
There are five.

The corresponding processed data is loaded from the file server 4 into the line controller 3 in an intermediate data format (step S2). The processing data includes sheet thickness data and material data as processing material information, and punching position (XY coordinates) data, punching angle data,
It has punching die shape data.

Next, the sheet metal processing line 1 is selected (step S3). FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of this processing. First, the line controller 3 reads the processing data of the products A to D from the file server 4 (step S11), and a sheet metal processing line information table (FIG. 7) indicating the processing capability of each sheet metal processing line 1; (FIG. 8), the sheet metal processing line 1 is selected (step S12).

Here, the sheet metal working line information table (FIG. 7) shows work sizes (maximum / minimum of vertical / horizontal / thickness) which can be set for each of the sheet metal working lines 1-1 to 1-n, and processing by material. Possible thickness (maximum of aluminum, SUS, SPC, brass /
), And information on the number of varieties that can be set. The punching die table (FIG. 8) stores the punching die shape and the type name.

Then, the sheet metal processing line 1 is selected by checking the thickness and material of the processed sheet metal and whether or not the die to be processed can be set (steps S13 to S16). Generally, the punching die setting section 13a of the sheet metal processing apparatus 13 has a number of types that can be set for each punching die type, and has a type name (FIG. 8) for determining whether or not setting is possible for each punching die shape. When the processing data is read, the number of set products is totaled for each type given to the punching die shape, the consistency with the information in FIG. 7 is determined, and the possibility of processing is determined. This determination is made for each product.

Returning to FIG. 5, when the feasibility of the target sheet metal processing line is determined in step S3, the processing time table (FIG. 10) based on the processing time calculation master table (FIG. 9) indicating the processing time for each sheet metal processing line 1 is obtained. ) Is created (step S4).

Processing time calculation master table (FIG. 9)
Is the setup time (sheet metal setting time to stocker / change time for each die type) for each sheet metal processing line 1-1 to 1-n, and the net time (sheet metal carry-in time / sheet metal processed product unloading time / die switching) Time and punching time for each die type) are stored.

The processing time table (FIG. 10) is created based on the processing data, the processing time calculation master and the production quantity. That is, it is obtained from the machining time calculation master table (FIG. 9) using the following formulas (1) to (5).

That is, the machining time for each type is Ti, the setup time (initial time generated at the time of switching the type of production).
Is Di, and the net time (processing time per sheet) is Si, the processing time Ti is Ti = Di + (Si × production quantity).

The setup time Di and the net time S in the equation
i is obtained from the following formula (1) by referring to a value from the processing time calculation master table.

Di = Σdni + Σdmi ... Si = sheet metal setting time + Σ (cutting die change time) + Σ (sheet metal punching time) + workpiece unloading time ... dni is die cutting change setup time, dmi is sheet metal setting time to material stocker, In consideration of the contents set up before, if the contents are the same, the calculation is performed with the contents that the setup time does not occur. The processing time Ti thus obtained is stored in the memory as a processing time table (FIG. 10) for each sheet metal processing line 1-1 to 1-3.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11, of a process up to the determination of the assignment of data to the sheet metal working line. First, a machining time calculation master table (FIG. 9) and a machining time table (FIG. 1)
0), the sheet metal processing line 1 for each combination
The processing time is calculated for each of the combinations (Steps S21 to S22), and the maximum processing time MaxT2 (FIG. 12) for each sheet metal processing line 1 in each combination is obtained (Step S23). The circled numbers in FIG. 12 indicate sheet metal processing lines (for example, indicate the sheet metal processing lines 1-2), and the numbers in parentheses indicate processing times.

Next, the maximum machining time M in each combination
Extract the minimum value combination of axT2 (Step S
24). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a combination of the same value (step S25). If there is the same combination, the processing time of the sheet metal processing line in the same combination is integrated (“ΔT2” column in FIG. 12) (step S26).

Next, a combination indicating the minimum value of the integrated processing time is selected (step S27), and processing data is allocated (step S28). If the same combination does not exist (step S25), the combination indicating the minimum value of the maximum machining time MaxT2 is selected from the combinations (step S29), and the processing data is allocated (step S28).

Referring to the processing time table shown in FIG. 10 as an example, when the assignments of all the processing of the sheet metal products A, B, C, and D are obtained, twelve combinations can be made as shown in FIG. That is, as for the assignment combination of the sheet metal processed products A, B, C, and D, the processed product A is allocated in one way, the processed product B is allocated in three ways, the processed product C is allocated in two ways, and the processed product D is allocated in two ways. 1 × 3 × 2 × 2 = 12 (streets).

Looking at the processing time Ti of each sheet metal processing line 1 for each combination, the maximum processing time (“Max” in FIG. 12)
T2 "). The combination having the minimum value of the maximum machining time between the combination numbers is the efficient allocation.

However, as shown in FIG. 12, there is a case where the combination No. 8, No. 10, and No. 12 have the same "MaxT2" (in this example, "71"). At this time, the total machining time “ΔT2” within the combination number is obtained, and by selecting the combination No. 12 having a small time (“180” in this example), the vacant time of the sheet metal processing line can be obtained. Is selected as the best combination that accepts the work input smoothly.

As a result, the allocation of the processing data is determined by selecting the combination No. 12 as follows.

Sheet metal processing line 1-1: Sheet metal processed product A Sheet metal processing line 1-2: No data distribution Sheet metal processing line 1-3: Sheet metal processed products B, C, D When the allocation of sheet metal processing line 1 is determined in this way, Next, data conversion (step S7) is performed. Processing data from the line controller 3 is received by the controller 2. The controller 2 has information on the punching dies set in the punching die setting section 13c, and has set type information for determining whether or not the punching die setting is possible for each set position of the punching die setting section 13c. .

Conversion of data at the execution level is performed by first
As a step, if there is the same cutting die as the cutting die that has been set up beforehand so that the cutting die setup time is minimized when allocating the cutting die, the data is converted to use the same cutting die.

Next, in the case of the punching die requiring setting, consistency is set for each set division of the punching die setting section 13c, and the allocation is determined so that the switching time in the punching die switching is minimized. Finally, an instruction to change the setting of the used amount and set position of the punching die is given on the display or by printing out (step S8).

[0047]

According to the present invention, the sheet metal processing data includes the sheet thickness data and the material data of the sheet metal to be processed, and the sheet metal processing data takes an intermediate data format consisting of a processing position coordinate and a processing die shape. Thereby, data conversion to a plurality of sheet metal processing lines can be easily performed.

Further, according to the present invention, a plurality of sheet metal processing lines have a workable size for each sheet metal, a production time is determined based on production information, and an optimum optimal processing efficiency is obtained for the plurality of sheet metal processing lines. Since the data distribution can be determined and the work instruction can be made, the operation rate and processing capacity of each sheet metal processing line can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, there is set information of the shape of the cutting die set at the time of the pre-setup, and when the same cutting die is used, the intermediate data of the intermediate data is set so as to minimize the setting change of the cutting die. Since conversion is performed, it is possible to select a sheet metal processing line for distributing processing data at the time of sheet metal processing, change the setup by changing the product type, distribute the combination data minimizing including net time, and issue work instructions, The operation rate and work processing capacity can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a sheet metal processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a sheet metal processing line.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process until a processing operation is started.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of selecting a target sheet metal processing line.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sheet metal processing line information table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a punching die table.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a processing time calculation master table.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a processing time table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing up to determination of sheet metal working data distribution.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a calculation example of a sheet metal processing line and a sheet metal processing combination time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1-1 to 1-3 Sheet metal processing line 2, 2-1 to 2-3 Controller 3 Line controller 4 File server 5 CAD 6 Production management information file 7, 8 Bus line 11 Material stocker 11a Material storage shelf 11b Material lifting / lowering Unit 12 Material supply unit 12a Suction pad 12b Material standby table 13 Sheet metal processing device 13a Die set unit 13b Bed unit 13c Clamp unit 14 Traverser 15 Processed product storage unit 16 Sheet metal

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kenji Nanami 94, Kojiyama-shi, Fukushima-ken

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of sheet metal processing lines, control means for controlling these sheet metal processing lines, sheet metal processing information storage means for storing sheet metal processing information to be sent to the control means, and production of a product type, a production number, etc. And a production information storage means for storing information, the sheet metal processing information has processing material information representing a sheet thickness and a material, and processing position coordinates for punching a sheet metal and processing die shape information representing a die shape, The sheet metal working system, wherein the control means converts the sheet metal working information and outputs punching die information and set position information used for each of the sheet metal working lines. 2. The control means has sheet metal storage information for each sheet metal processing line, sheet metal workable size information, and apparatus information for calculating a processing time, and determines a production time based on the production information. 2. The sheet metal processing system according to claim 1, wherein the index is determined, and distribution of a processed product having the highest processing efficiency is determined and an operation instruction is issued to each of the sheet metal processing lines. 3. The control means has punching die information and sheet metal size change information set at a pre-setup time, and performs the sheet-metal processing so as to minimize the setup time and the net processing time at the time of switching the production type. 2. The sheet metal processing system according to claim 1, wherein information conversion is performed.