Information processing method, information processing apparatus and non-transitory storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11630445-B2
Application number	US-202117202562-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2021
Priority date	Mar 19, 2020
Publication date	Apr 18, 2023
Grant date	Apr 18, 2023

Abstract

The present disclosure makes it possible to construct a production line of products using pieces of first equipment located in a geographical area and mobile second equipment. An information processing method tries to assign pieces of first equipment to a series of work processes to produce products based on the pieces of first equipment located in the geographical area and positions thereof, decides installation of pieces of second equipment to be assigned to a part of the series of work processes to which a part of the pieces of equipment cannot be assigned from among the pieces of first equipment when there is the part of the series of work processes to which the part of the pieces of equipment cannot be assigned from among the pieces of first equipment, outputs a request to transport the pieces of second equipment to an installation position in the geographical area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing method comprising:
receiving by a processor order information including information indicating products to be produced, information indicating a quantity of the products, information indicating a delivery deadline and information indicating a position of a delivery place via a communication interface; referring by the processor to a production line information database storing information about a production line for producing the products based on the information indicating products to be produced, and acquiring a series of work processes about the production line, pieces of corresponding first equipment required for the series of work processes and a quantity of production based on production capacity and an operation rate using the production line;
referring by the processor to a fixed facility database storing information about a fixed facility, and acquiring pieces of first equipment that can be assigned to the series of work processes, a fixed facility to which the pieces of first equipment belong, a position of the fixed facility, and a size of an installation space of pieces of mobile second equipment in the fixed facility, for a fixed facility existing within a predetermined distance from the position of the delivery place;
selecting by the processor any of a plurality of fixed facilities in descending order about numbers of pieces of first equipment which can be assigned to the series of work processes and located in each of the plurality of fixed facilities, and trying to assign a plurality of pieces of first equipment located in the any of the plurality of fixed facilities to the series of work processes based on information indicating the plurality of pieces of first equipment located in a geographical area and information indicating respective positions about the plurality of pieces of first equipment;
judging by the processor that a first fixed facility selected from the plurality of fixed facilities includes an installation space for the pieces of second equipment though pieces of first equipment which can be assigned to all the series of work processes are not located in the first fixed facility, in response to judging that the first fixed facility includes the installation space for the pieces of second equipment though the pieces of first equipment which can be assigned to all the series of work processes are not located in the first fixed facility, referring to a mobile equipment database storing information on a size of the pieces of second equipment, extracting available pieces of second equipment from the mobile equipment database, comparing the size of the installation space with the size of the second equipment extracted from the mobile equipment database, judging whether the size of the installation space is larger than the size of the pieces of second equipment, and deciding installation of the pieces of second equipment to be assigned to the installation space in response to the size of the installation space being judged to be larger than the size of the pieces of second equipment;
transmitting by the processor request information to transport the pieces of second equipment by a transport vehicle to an installation position in the geographical area to a terminal of a manager of the pieces of second equipment via the communication interface;
calculating by the processor a quantity of production of the products per unit time by a production line using the pieces of first equipment and the pieces of second equipment which are assigned to the series of work processes, in response to assignment about the pieces of first equipment and the pieces of second equipment to all the series of work processes ending;
multiplying by the processor the quantity of production of the products per unit time by a coefficient determined using a table of correspondence between the coefficient and a distance or transport time between bases including a fixed facility and an external installation space,
determining a quantity of products requested to be delivered by the deadline being not produced with the quantity of production of the products per unit time multiplied by the coefficient, deciding by the processor construction of an additional production line using the plurality of pieces of first equipment, and the pieces of second equipment received from the transport vehicle, in response to determining the quantity of the products requested to be delivered by the deadline being not produced with the quantity of production of the products per unit time multiplied by the coefficient; and
causing the construction of the additional production line based on the construction decision.

2. The information processing method according to claim 1 , wherein, in response to the size of the installation space being judged to be smaller than the size of the pieces of second equipment, a second fixed facility existing within a predetermined distance from the first fixed facility is searched for, and unassigned pieces of first equipment located in the second fixed facility are assigned to the series of work processes.

3. The information processing method according to claim 1 , wherein, in response to the size of the installation space being judged to be smaller than the size of the pieces of second equipment, installation of the pieces of second equipment to be assigned to unassigned processes in an external installation space within a predetermined distance from the first fixed facility is decided.

4. The information processing method according to claim 1 , wherein the geographical area is a circular area with a predetermined radius, with a predetermined point as a center.

5. The information processing method according to claim 4 , wherein the predetermined point is the position of the delivery place.

6. An information processing apparatus comprising:
a storage device including a production line information database storing information about a production line for producing products, and
a mobile equipment database storing information on a size of pieces of mobile second equipment; and
a processor configured to execute
receiving order information including information indicating the products, information indicating a quantity of the products, information indicating a delivery deadline and information indicating a position of a delivery place via a communication interface,
referring to the production line information database based on the information indicating the products, and acquiring a series of work processes about the production line, pieces of corresponding first equipment required for the series of work processes and a quantity of production based on production capacity and an operation rate using the production line,
referring to a fixed facility database storing information about a fixed facility, and acquiring pieces of first equipment that can be assigned to the series of work processes, a fixed facility to which the pieces of first equipment belong, a position of the fixed facility, and a size of an installation space of the pieces of second equipment in the fixed facility, for a fixed facility existing within a predetermined distance from the position of the delivery place,
selecting any of a plurality of fixed facilities in descending order about numbers of pieces of first equipment which can be assigned to the series of work processes and located in each of the plurality of fixed facilities, and trying to assign a plurality of pieces of first equipment located in the any of the plurality of fixed facilities to the series of work processes based on information indicating the plurality of pieces of first equipment located in a geographical area and information indicating respective positions about the plurality of pieces of first equipment;
judging t

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takezawa Yoshiyasu
• Todaka Hirotaka
• Kiguchi Takao
• Sawada Chieko
• Tokuda Yosuke
• Kagami Ayaka
• Sugiyama Natsuki
• Hirano Takuzo
• Amakasu Taichi
• HIBINO Seiei
• Kawakami Hiroshi

Classifications

• G05B2219/32085

  Layout of factory, facility, cell, production system planning · CPC title

• G06Q10/06316

  Sequencing of tasks or work · CPC title

• G05B19/41865 Primary

  characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow · CPC title

• G05B2219/32365

  For resource planning · CPC title

• G05B2219/31073

  Decide when to create or reconfigure a cell · CPC title