Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Article handling
Reexamination Certificate
2003-06-10
2004-07-06
Tran, Khoi H. (Department: 3651)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Article handling
C700S213000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06760642
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to placement of component parts in a factory or the like, and more particularly to parts placement calculation for automatically calculating locations where such parts are to be placed.
2. Description of Related Art
In factories or the like, component parts which have been processed in one production process are sometimes temporarily stored in a parts storage before being used in a subsequent process. For example, in the case of lot production using a press or the like in automobile manufacturing factories, it is necessary to temporarily store relatively large parts such as body panels in a limited space. In addition, numerous types of other parts must also be stored. Therefore, appropriate parts placement, being the determination of storage locations for components and other parts, should be performed.
Conventionally, in order to determine parts placing locations, a person such as responsible for placement of parts designs the placement design by drawing the parts placing location of each parts on a CAD system, taking consideration of the parts placing area in the parts storage or the like based on his/her own experience.
In such conventional placement design performed by a parts manager on a CAD system as described above, calculations are complicated and can be enormous when a great number of parts are to be placed in a limited space. Thus, the conventional placement design requires a very great calculation time, and, due to the complexity of the calculations, is simply incapable of giving sufficient consideration to the physical distribution efficiency associated with parts transportation.
The present invention advantageously provides a parts placement calculation system, a parts placement calculation method, a parts placement calculation program, a recording medium which records a parts placement calculation program, and a parts placement support system, capable of designing parts placement taking the physical distribution efficiency and the area efficiency into consideration, even when a wide variety of parts must be located in a limited space.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was conceived in view of the aforementioned problems of the related art and provides a parts placement calculation system for distributing and placing parts of a plurality of types in a plurality of stores within a parts storage based on a parts point value for each type of parts and a store point value for each store with regard to each type of parts, the system comprising parts selection means for selecting a parts with the highest parts point value from a list of parts to be placed, store selection means for selecting a store with the highest store point value from a list of placement possible stores regarding the selected parts, and placement determination means for determining whether or not the selected parts can be placed in the selected store, based on a predetermined constraint condition for placing the selected parts in the selected store, wherein, when the placement determination means determines that the selected parts cannot be placed in the selected store, the selected store is deleted from the list of placement possible stores and then the store selection means is activated again, and, when the placement determination means determines that the selected parts can be placed in the selected store, a parts area for placing the selected parts in the store is determined, and the selected parts is deleted from the list of parts to be placed, and then the parts selection means is activated again.
With the above configuration, meaning of parts includes types of parts and quantity of parts which are placed. Parts placement calculation can be automatically performed by the parts placement calculation system. Therefore, compared to conventional parts placement calculation which typically requires a calculation time on the order of two to three weeks, the calculation time required for the present system is significantly reduced to several tens of minutes, which drastically reduces the possibility of calculation errors and placement impossibility. Further, conventionally, when a large number of types of parts which are relatively large are to be located within a limited space, placement is actually performed taking only the placing area into consideration. Even in such a situation, the present system allows parts placement which takes not only the area efficiency but also the parts transportation efficiency into consideration.
Preferably, the constraint condition in the placement determination means is that selected parts do not overlap a parts area which is already positioned and an obstacle, and that an area sufficient for placing selected parts are provided.
Further, in order to achieve the above advantage, the present invention provides a parts placement calculation system for distributing and placing parts of a plurality of types in a plurality of stores within a parts storage based on a parts point value for each type of parts and a store point value for each store with regard to each type of parts, the system comprising placement possible store set extraction means for removing a store in which placement is not possible based on a predetermined constraint condition for placing each parts from a store list associated with each parts, parts selection means for selecting a parts with the highest parts point value from a list of parts to be placed, and store selection means for selecting a store with the highest store point value from a list of placement possible stores regarding the selected parts, wherein, after the placement possible store set extraction means is executed, parts are selected by the parts selection means, a store for the selected parts is selected by the store selection means, and a parts area for placing the selected parts is determined in the selected store, and then after deleting the selected parts from the list of parts to be placed, the placement possible store set extraction means is executed again.
With the above configuration, it is possible to consider a constraint condition regarding a plurality of parts, including a constraint condition that a plurality of parts are placed in the same store, for example. Furthermore, placement calculation time can be further reduced because it is possible to remove a store in which placement is not possible from a store list prior to activation of the store selection means.
Preferably, the constraint condition in the placement possible store set extraction means is that a selected parts do not overlap a parts area which is already positioned or an obstacle, and that an area sufficient for placing a selected parts are provided, and also that when it is instructed to place a plurality of arbitrary parts in a same store, all of the plurality of arbitrary parts have an identical store list.
Preferably, the parts point value is obtained by adding a priority and an area difference of corresponding parts with a predetermined weighting coefficient multiplied therewith. The priority is a function of the frequency of carrying in and out the corresponding parts and the area difference is a function of a difference between the largest value and the smallest value of placing areas in stores for placing the corresponding parts, the placing areas being different for different stores due to a predetermined placing condition. The store point value is obtained by adding a transportation distance point value and an area point value of a corresponding store with a predetermined weighting coefficient multiplied therewith. The transportation distance point value is a function of a transportation distance for carrying parts in and out of the corresponding store and the area point value is a function of a placing area which depends on a predetermined placing condition when placing parts in the corresponding store.
With the above configuration, it is further possible to perform placement in consideration of both the physical distribution efficiency and the ar
Akiyama Masafumi
Honda Isamu
Kase Norifumi
Tsuruta Kazunori
Oliff & Berride PLC
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
Tran Khoi H.
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