Computerised control device and computer-implemented method for controlling a product processing plant, and computer program product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9952588-B2
Application number	US-201214349998-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2012
Priority date	Oct 6, 2011
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A production configuration is determined for controlling a product processing plant that comprises a collecting system having a conveyor and a plurality of feeders for preparing product collections from products supplied by the feeders. The production configuration defines a production of a plurality of production sequences for a plurality of delivery routes, wherein each delivery route is assigned one or more production sequences, each of which define a production of a plurality of production collections of a collection type comprising a plurality of products. For each feeder an occupancy with products, which are to be conveyed by the feeder to the conveyor for preparation for the product collections, is determined. A production optimization parameter determines whether a defined production order is to be maintained for the delivery routes or whether the production order of the delivery routes can be altered. If the production order can be altered, the production sequences of a plurality of delivery routes for the production of production collections of the same collection type are combined to a cohesive production sequence and the occupancy of the feeders is determined for the production order with combined production sequences.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computerized control device for controlling a product processing plant, which comprises a collecting plant having a conveyor and a plurality of feeders for preparing product collections of flat products of various types supplied by the feeders, wherein the control device comprises one or more processors and a computer-readable memory having stored computer code, when executed, the computer code is configured to control the one or more processors so that the control device is configured to:
detect a production configuration, which defines production of multiple production sequences for multiple delivery routes, wherein one or more production sequences are assigned to each delivery route and each production sequence defines the production of multiple product collections of a type of collection comprising multiple products;
determine occupancy with products for the feeders, these products to be supplied from the feeder to the conveyor for preparing the product collections;
receive a production optimization parameter, which determines whether a defined production order is to be maintained for the delivery routes or whether the production order of the delivery routes can be altered, and if the production order can be altered for multiple delivery routes;
combine the production sequences for the production of product collections of the same type of collection, to form a cohesive production sequence; and
determine the occupancy of the feeders for the production order with the combined production sequences such that the products are each assigned to one of the feeders, wherein the products which do not belong to a common type of collection are assigned to the same feeder, and products which are present in successive production sequences are not assigned to the same feeder, if possible.

2. The device according to claim 1 further comprising computer code executable by the one or more processors that further configures the control device to receive production optimization parameters which determine that a defined production time is to be maintained for one or more of the delivery routes and/or that the production order for the remaining delivery routes of the production can be altered and for the delivery routes of the variable production order, to combine the production sequences for the production of product collections of the same type of collection to form a cohesive production sequence and to determine the occupancy of the feeders for the production order with partially unaltered production sequences and partially combined production sequences.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to determine an expected period of time for a product change on feeders and/or a production interruption in the collecting plant when there is a change in the type of collection from a combined production sequence to a successive combined production sequence, such that the period of total time expected for the product change and the production interruption is as short as possible.

4. The device according to claim 1 further comprising computer code executable by the one or more processors that further configures the control device to receive a production optimization parameter indicating whether or not a simultaneous occupancy of multiple feeders with the same product is admissible and to determine the occupancy of the feeders, taking into account the possibility of simultaneous occupancy.

5. The device according to claim 1 further comprising computer code executable by the one or more processors that further configures the control device to receive a production optimization parameter, which determines a number of loading stations that permit parallel loading for multiple delivery routes and to determine the occupancy of the feeders, taking into account the number of loading stations.

6. The device according to claim 1 further comprising computer code executable by the one or more processors that further configures the control device to detect altered production conditions during production, and to determine the occupancy of the feeders during production, taking into account the altered production conditions.

7. The device according to claim 1 further comprising computer code executable by the one or more processors that further configures the control device to display the number of feeders required during a production sequence on a user interface and to detect a change in the production sequences by way of the user interface, and to determine the occupancy of the feeders, taking into account the altered production sequences.

8. A computer-implemented method for control of a product processing plant, which comprises a collecting plant with a conveyor and a plurality of feeders for preparing product collections of flat products of various types supplied by the feeders, comprising:
detecting a production configuration, which defines production of multiple production sequences for multiple delivery routes, such that one or more production sequences are assigned to each delivery route, each production sequence defining the production of multiple product collections of a type of collection comprising multiple products;
determining for the feeders an occupancy by products which are to be supplied by the feeder to the conveyor to prepare the product collections;
receiving a production optimization parameter that determines whether a defined production order is to be maintained for the delivery routes or whether the production order of the delivery routes can be altered , and if the production order can be altered for multiple delivery routes;
combining the production sequences of multiple delivery routes for the production of product collections of the same type of collection to form a cohesive production sequence; and
determining the occupancy of the feeders for the production order with combined production sequences, wherein the products are each assigned to one of the feeders, such that the products which belong to a common type of collection are not assigned to the same feeder, and products that are present in successive production sequences are, if possible, not assigned to the same feeder.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising receiving production optimization parameters which determine that a defined production time is to be maintained for one or more of the delivery routes and/or that the production order for the remaining delivery routes of production can be altered, combining the production sequences of the delivery routes of the variable production order for the production of product collections of the same type of collection to form a cohesive production sequence and determining the occupancy of the feeders for the production order with some production sequences unaltered and some production sequences combined.

10. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising determining of an expected period of time for a product change with feeders and/or a production interruption in the collecting plant expected with a change in the type of collection from a combined production sequence to a successive combined production sequence, and defining the order of the combined production sequences such that the total period of time expected for the product change and production interruption is as short as possible.

11. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising receiving a production optimization parameter indicating whether or not simultaneous occupancy of multiple feeders with the same product is allowed and determining the occupancy of the feeders, taking into account the possibility of simultaneous occupancy.

12. The method a

Assignees

• Ferag Ag

Inventors

• Groth Uwe
• Corvo Maurizio

Classifications

• B65H2551/18

  Graphical interactive displays; Mouses; Touchscreens · CPC title

• B65H2301/431711

  the subproduct being inserted in a direction substantially perpendicular to the fold of the main product · CPC title

• B65G43/00

  Control devices, e.g. for safety, warning or fault-correcting · CPC title

• B65H39/02

  Associating,collating or gathering articles from several sources · CPC title

• G05B2219/32029

  Enter also delivery location, transport means, kind of truck · CPC title