Production management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12179402-B2
Application number	US-202117527233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2021
Priority date	Nov 17, 2020
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

A production management system includes: an injection molding unit producing a molded product; and a control device. The injection molding unit includes: an injection molding machine molding the molded product by injection molding; a determination unit determining whether a number of the molded products to be produced is equivalent to a predetermined unit of production or not; and an operation information transmitting unit transmitting operation information of the injection molding unit when it is determined that the number of the molded products to be produced is equivalent to the predetermined unit of production. The control device includes an operation information receiving unit receiving the operation information transmitted from the operation information transmitting unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A production management system comprising:
an injection molding unit, the injection molding unit including:
an injection molding machine configured to repeatedly mold a molded product by injection molding, the molded product being formed by a shot of the injection molding;
a robot configured to repeatedly take out the molded product from the injection molding machine and move the molded product to a different location; and
a processor configured to:
receive a target number of the molded products;
determine a reference unit of production by multiplying a predetermined coefficient and the target number, the predetermined coefficient is obtained as a value for production management and quantity management;
count a first number of the molded products that have been taken out from the injection molding machine by the robot;
determine whether the counted first number is equal to the reference unit of production; and
transmit operation information of the injection molding unit when the processor determines that the counted first number is equal to the reference unit of production, the operation information including shot number information relating to the first number; and

a control device configured to:
receive the operation information from the injection molding unit;
calculate a first difference between the target number of the molded products and the first number of the molded products;
calculate a second difference between a target production time and a current production time; and
generate and display a production status on a display as a graph to manage an operation of the injection molding unit based on the operation information, the first difference, and the second difference,

wherein the processor is configured to transmit the operation information including the shot number information to the control device only when the counted first number is equal to the reference unit of production that is either:
a box-based number in which one box corresponds to a number of the shots;
a lot-based number in which one lot corresponds to a number of the boxes; or
a job-based number in which one job corresponds to a number of the lots.

2. The production management system according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor is further configured to cause the injection molding machine to repeatedly mold the molded product according to a production condition, and
the reference unit of production is determined based on the production condition.

3. The production management system according to claim 2 , wherein
the control device is configured to transmit the production condition to the injection molding unit before the molded product is produced, and
the injection molding unit is configured to receive the production condition transmitted from the control device.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Minowa Hiroki
• Tsuchimoto Kazuhiko
• Higuchi Takuya
• Saito Yuji

Classifications

• B29C45/42

  using means movable from outside the mould between mould parts {, e.g. robots} · CPC title

• B29C2945/76993

  Remote, e.g. LAN, wireless LAN · CPC title

• B29C2945/76913

  Parameter setting · CPC title

• B29C2945/76973

  By counting · CPC title

• B29C45/7686

  the ejected articles, e.g. weight control · CPC title