HK1042965A - Production control system and method for producing air conditioners - Google Patents

Description

Production management apparatus and production method of air conditioner

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a production management facility from product development in product manufacturing to receiving an order, material preparation, assembly work, and the like. The present invention also relates to a production management method for minimizing product stock by a method from mass production of various products to individual production of various products.

Background

In recent years, in a system for product development, production, and sales, a model of a standard type is set from a message of the market, and development for finally forming a product unit is performed. The production form refers to mass production that undergoes current estimation of sales performance or market movement of similar kind, and if the situation of market demand deviates from demand prediction according to demand prediction, the product stock increases or the sales slip occurs, whereby a specific production plan must be adjusted and in addition, the instruction of material procurement is reevaluated each time.

In addition, for products other than the standard type model, it is necessary to design a product for receiving an order in accordance with the product for receiving an order. The product to be ordered has almost no level that can be changed and modified by the type of the standard type model, and components corresponding to the type are added or unnecessary components are removed based on the standard type model. In addition, the parts preparation or manufacturing work instruction for the change of the type of the order-receiving product must be grasped by the manufacturing engineering manager corresponding to each order-receiving product.

Past production systems include, for example, the type disclosed in JP examined patent publication No. 7-7432. Fig. 9 is an overall block diagram of a production system for selling an article of manufacture of the prior art. In the figure, the system is constituted by a marketing information collecting means 100, a production quantity setting means 120, a raw material preparation and production instructing means 130, and a production means 140.

The marketing information collection means 100 is composed of a POS terminal installed in a sales shop and a public line network 110 connecting the POS terminal to a host computer, and the production quantity setting means 120 includes an expansion estimation unit 150, a demand prediction unit 160, and a production quantity determination unit 170. The sales information sent from the POS terminals is input to the expansion estimation unit 150 as optional input information via the public line network 110. The demand forecasting unit 160 is connected to the expansion estimation unit 150 that calculates an expansion estimation value based on the sales information, and the demand forecasting unit 160 performs demand reservation based on the expansion estimation value of each product transmitted from the expansion estimation unit 150. The final sales estimate obtained by the demand forecasting section 160 is sent to the production quantity determining section 170 connected to the demand forecasting section 160, and the determined quantity necessary for the additive production is sent to the raw material purchasing section 190 and the control section 141 of the production mechanism 140 through the raw material preparation and production instructing mechanism 130 and is output to the production department. Every time the production is completed in the production means 140, the stock quantity data and the additional production data that are suitable for the stock information data table 171 are updated to new data.

Summary of The Invention

In the above manner, the production system in the past has the following problems.

In the case where the production plan is inappropriate due to estimated production predicted from the demand prediction based on the estimation of the sales information, the product stock increases, the loss of the warehouse maintenance cost occurs, the delivery date of the customer cannot be satisfied, and the virtuous circle cannot be realized.

In addition, in the production of a factory, relevant departments make part of suitable production plans aiming at the efficiency of the departments. As a result, the number of persons who newly evaluate and manage the production schedule increases from the time when the customer receives the order to the time when the delivery of the delivered product is extended or the intermediate stock increases.

In addition, since the types of customer requests are diversified and increased, and the estimated production cannot be realized, the delivery date of the type of accepted order is extended, or the requested delivery date cannot be satisfied, and the virtuous circle cannot be realized.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a production management apparatus which prevents increase or loss of stock of products in a case where a demand prediction of production is not suitable, or failure in virtuous circle that a demand delivery date cannot be satisfied, produces products of a type that meets a customer's demand, and produces the number of products in accordance with the order of the products, whereby the customer's demand delivery date can be satisfied without stock of products, and further, the customer, a factory, and a component manufacturer share necessary information by reflecting the order information of the customer to the production in real time, and the efficiency from the order reception to the production can be improved.

The present invention also provides a production management apparatus for an air conditioner, which can produce a plurality of types of ordered products in a short period of time by dividing the air conditioner into functional component units and selecting and combining functional components required by customers.

Further, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an air conditioner, which can process and manage information on the order type of the air conditioner on-line by a computer, and can manufacture a product requested by a customer in a short period of time.

The production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention comprises an order acceptance management means comprising a menu order acceptance type generation means for generating an order acceptance type after a customer selects a product type necessary for the customer from a menu list, the order acceptance management means determining to accept the product after the customer inputs the product type and delivery date from a screen; a menu production management mechanism which instructs the parts procurement warehouse management, the production line management and the logistics management according to the type and the delivery date of the ordered product, and performs plan management by using the generated coping information; a customer management organization, which provides delivery and maintenance of the product by receiving order information of the order management organization, can perform online operation for operations from receiving order to parts procurement and production operation instruction, and can share information of the product necessary for the customer with the manufacturer.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the screen selected by the customer may be represented by a menu list of component units divided in accordance with the functions constituting the product.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the menu list may be changed or updated in accordance with market information, such as a standard type of each functional component of the product, and a selection type.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, the menu table may have a standard type and a plurality of selection types for each component unit, and from the viewpoint of functions, the product is divided into various functional components, and the components are connected and assembled in accordance with a predetermined position and a reference of connection price, and have a predetermined function.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the apparatus may have a production seat generating mechanism that generates a number of seats corresponding to a production date on which an order is acceptable, based on a cumulative sum of production estimated number of products and production man-hours of the products predicted based on a required scale and an assembling capability of production steps; and a production seat management mechanism for checking the production man-hour of the order type according to the delivery date of the product input by the customer and the blank state of the production seat table corresponding to the production schedule, and determining the delivery date.

In the production management apparatus according to the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the menu production management means may have a prescribed amount calculation means for extracting production setup information of the component parts based on production reference information formed of the drawing information, the production information, and the parts procurement information, which are composed of the product, and generating setup information for the number and schedule of the setup parts; an operation instruction information generating means for generating step or summary information relating to the assembly operation of the product to be ordered based on the product type information from the order data storing means and the manufacturing reference information; and a logistics management mechanism for carrying out delivery instructions of finished products according to the delivery date, the information of the delivery person and the information of the production process of the order receiving data storage mechanism.

In the production management apparatus according to the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the communication with the order acceptance management means of the production plant may be performed through public line network, wireless or satellite communication as the communication means of the type of order acceptance input by the customer.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the part procurement instruction means from the production plant to the part manufacturer may transmit the communication network for EDI.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, the order acceptance management means and the menu production management means may be connected to at least the customer management means, the parts procurement warehouse management means, the production line management means, and the physical distribution instruction management means through communication lines.

A method for producing an air conditioner according to claim 2 of the present invention relates to an air conditioner divided into at least a heat source module of a cooling cycle, a heat medium circulation driving module of a cooling cycle and a circulation connection module of a cooling cycle, the method including an order acceptance management means for producing an order acceptance product by selecting from among criteria or selection types possessed by each of the above-mentioned modules; the menu production management mechanism performs instructions of component purchase, warehouse management, production line management and logistics management, and performs plan management of production correspondence information, and the method can manage processes from accepting orders, to component purchase and assembly work instructions in an online manner.

The method for producing an air conditioner according to the 3 rd aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of, in an air conditioner formed of a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator: setting criteria and selected types according to component units divided in functions constituting the air conditioner; generating an order-accepting product type by the type information specified for each component unit; and managing the production seat corresponding to the production schedule of the ordered product type according to the material purchasing information and the production working hours of the component unit.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a production management apparatus for receiving orders from menus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of development of an article corresponding to the order taking menu production of an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an order information input screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure in a selection menu database of a function component unit of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of an example of an article of manufacture formed by combining selected components in functional assembly units that represents an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of a template design for a reservoir according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram representing a data structure of a type structure database for receiving an order for an article of manufacture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is an overall block diagram of a production system for selling an article of manufacture of the prior example.

Summary of The Invention

Example 1

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a production management apparatus for receiving orders from menus. In fig. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a customer or an agent store, reference numeral 2 denotes a manufacturer shop that receives an order for a product requested by the customer 1 and provides the order for the product, reference numeral 3 denotes a transaction company that supplies a part or component of the product in accordance with the purchase order of the manufacturer shop 2, and reference numeral 4 denotes a delivery company that delivers the product assembled by the shop 2 to the customer itself in accordance with an instruction of the shop 2. Reference numerals 5 to 7 denote departments within the factory 2, reference numeral 5 denotes a material department which purchases parts or components based on information on the type, quantity, and delivery date of the product which has been ordered, reference numeral 6 denotes a production line which assembles the parts purchased according to the production plan into the type of the product which has been ordered and completes the product, and reference numeral 7 denotes a business department which predicts the scale or movement of the product which is requested or hands over the product to the customer's own management. In the factory, a host computer H is used as a center, a material department 5, a production line 6 and a business department 7 are connected through a local area network L, a customer 1 and a factory 2 are connected through a public network W, and the factory 2 and a transaction company 3 are connected through a communication network E such as EDI transmission. The communication between the customer and the yard may also be wireless or satellite communication.

Here, "EDI delivery" refers to communication using an electronic data exchange system that performs business processing by exchanging data for online transactions between companies, such as material transaction invoices, and the like, and inputting the exchanged data into a personal computer or an information system owned by each company.

The host computer H installed in the factory 2 performs the order-receiving menu production management in its entirety. The system includes a Web server H1 which allows a customer 1 outside the work shop to communicate with the work shop via the internet, a data main server H2 which connects various main information, and an application server H3 which collectively manages various applications. Terminals T2 to T5 for allowing a host computer H to log in are provided in a material department 5, a production line 6, a business department 7 and a delivery company 4 belonging to a factory. These terminals receive various information such as material preparation and job instructions managed by the host computer H, and update processing of the database by the service progress information.

The customer or the agent shop 1 is connected to the host computer H of the manufacturer shop 2 via the internet of the public network W from the terminal T1, and inputs the type information on the requested product on the Web. According to the information, the instruction is given to the structure assembly or production plan of ordered product type, the preparation of material purchase, etc. without the personnel through on-line processing, thereby saving personnel, improving the operability, and improving the service efficiency by inputting necessary information in real time by related departments. The orders for articles assembled along the production schedule are delivered to the delivery location according to a delivery date specified by the customer and delivered to the customer. Since the information on the product type requested by the customer itself can be directly transmitted to the factory in the above manner, the accuracy of the information on the product to be ordered from the customer is improved, and the efficiency of the order-receiving service when the type is determined is improved.

The transaction company 3, which is a purchaser of the component or the member, exchanges data with the material supply department 5 of the factory 2 via the communication network E according to the terminal T6 provided therein, and proposes a component library, or performs a delivery process of the component or the member in which a preparation instruction is issued to the factory according to the manufacturing process. The information that the trading company 3 can obtain from the factory 2 includes product order receiving information and demand forecast information, and the information is shared and management operation for determining the supply plan and the list balance of the stock of each trading company 3 can be performed.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a production management apparatus for receiving orders from a menu. S1 shows order receiving management processing for determining the type of ordered product based on the input information from the terminal T1 of the customer 1, S2 shows menu production management processing for receiving order receiving product information generated in the order receiving management processing S1 and creating a plan for supply or production of parts for production assembly, S3 shows production line management processing for receiving information about materials in the menu production management processing S2 and performing parts procurement and warehouse management processing for material procurement and delivery management with respect to the transaction company, S2 shows production plan and performing product assembly, S5 shows logistics management processing for processing delivery and warehouse entry or delivery of finished products based on logistics information of S2, and S6 shows customer management processing corresponding to the customer and the product by receiving information of the order receiving management processing S1.

First, the order acceptance management process S1 will be described. In the figure, N1 denotes a type cost input unit for inputting design data by a design division (not shown), N2 denotes a market size prediction input unit for inputting sales data by a business division, D1 denotes a storage unit for storing schedule information and original price information, and D2 denotes a storage unit for exclusively creating project order numbers. The functional component units to be described later are provided with various types of a plurality of variations for each article to be subjected to the order menu and the cost data of the occasion where the type is adopted are read from N1. The above is registered in the article type file F1. Further, the demand scale prediction data of the market covering each representative model of a plurality of types of received-order products is read from N2, and the number of acceptable order stations per day, that is, the production schedule of the ordered products, calculated from the estimated number of production stations and the number of work steps required for assembling the products, and the time, and the production capacity of the production line, is registered in the production document F2.

The customer or the agent connects to a host computer H of the factory through the internet from various terminals T1 provided therein, and performs input processing related to receiving an order product on the Web of the Web server H. On the Web, the customer can select the type and delivery date of the product requested by the customer and assemble the product configuration in the order-receiving menu selection creating unit 11 in the order-receiving management processing S1. The order-receiving menu selection creating unit 11 is linked with the product type file F1 and the production site file F2, receives menu selection information of a customer from pre-registered data, creates a type of an order product, and performs production site management for assigning production man-hours calculated from the order-receiving product type and determining an order delivery date, i.e., an assembly production schedule, in a situation where the production site is empty.

Here, fig. 4 shows an example of a screen on which the customer inputs the date of delivery, the place of delivery, and the like on the screen of the terminal T1. Fig. 4 shows an example of the order information receiving screen K, in which the customer (agent shop) itself inputs an order name K01 as a dependent element for receiving an order product for each item, a date K02 required for delivery to deliver the product to the installation site, a delivery point K03, the number of received orders K04, a user K05 who actually uses the product to be ordered, and a frequency K06 of a power source for operating the product. In addition, although not shown in the drawings, input fields of a receiver name, a receiver TEL, a delivery time designation, a vehicle size, and the like are prepared as specific information of product delivery. The order information input screen may be formed as a perspective view.

Next, fig. 5 shows an example of a screen in a case where the customer selects a type of receiving an ordered product on the screen. Fig. 5 is a data structure example of a selection menu database in the function block unit of the outdoor unit of the air conditioner. This database is stored in the article type file F1. In this instance, as the functional constituent units, the outdoor unit of the air conditioner is divided into a pipe line R, an accumulator P, a compressor Q, an oil separator V, etc., having a plurality of selection types such that they respectively satisfy customer's demands and can be formed corresponding to a variety of production. In addition, in the document F1, for each of the selected types, data of an order acceptance type 91 showing the contents of the type, a type code 92 indicated by a symbol, a part number 93 corresponding to the manufacturing drawing, and a model number correspondence table 94 indicating whether or not the order acceptance type of the requested model corresponds to the selected type are stored.

In the example of fig. 5, the line R is a functional component that switches the flow direction of the cooling cycle as 1 of each functional component group, or that maintains the function of performing flow rate adjustment, in which various types of variations are shown. The 2 nd line counted from above has a display of the type of electric two-way valve in the order-accepting type column 91, and in the model number column 94, whether there is a selectable model in which this type is installed or not is indicated by the o symbol. Types other than the above-mentioned 2 nd row are provided together as an optional type, and the type of the 1 st row is a right line type in which the taking-out direction of the cooling line from the outdoor unit is on the left side with respect to the standard type, and the direction is a type on the right side here, the type code is PR, the part number is W123456H01, and it can correspond to 2 types of models, LV-FE-C1 and LV-FR-C. In addition, the type below line 3 is a multiple choice type in this functional block, in which options of a type equipped with an electric bidirectional + auxiliary leak source for a line, a type equipped with an electric 3-way valve + auxiliary leak source for a line, a type equipped with a switching valve, a type equipped with a flow rate adjusting valve, a type equipped with a ball valve, and the like are provided.

For the accumulator P, the compressor Q, the oil separator V, and the like as functional components other than those described above, data of the order acceptance type 91, the type code 92, the part number 93, the model number correspondence table 94 are also stored in the document F2 for respective variants that they have, but fig. 5 lists only the order acceptance type and the type code, and the rest is omitted. The accumulator P having a function of storing the refrigerant remaining due to an increase or decrease in the amount of the circulating refrigerant caused by a load change in the cooling cycle can be selected from a horizontal 10L type having an effective capacity of 10 liters as a standard type, a vertical 7L type having an effective capacity of 7 liters as a selected type and a vertical 5L type having an effective capacity of 5 liters as a vertical type. In addition, for the compressor Q having a function as a driving source for absorbing and compressing the refrigerant gas, and then delivering it to the inside of the refrigerating circuit by circulation, a single or a plurality of compressors satisfying the required refrigerating capacity can be selected from a sealed type electric rotary compressor rotating at a constant speed as a standard type, a 5KW constant speed type having an output of 5KW, a 7KW constant speed type having an output of 7KW as a selection type, or a 7 kwiv type having an output of 7KW as a phase-change (inverter) compressor which can correspond to a frequency change, and the like. The oil separator V, which has a function of trapping the refrigerating machine oil contained in the refrigerant circulating through the cooling cycle and returning the oil to the compressor, may be selected from a low capacity type, which is an oil separator for a type having a low refrigerant circulation amount, which is a standard type, and a high capacity type, which is a selective type, which is a type having a high refrigerant circulation amount, which is a type having a high capacity. Although not shown in fig. 5, the order receiving menu list includes, as functional modules other than those described above, a heat exchanger as a heat source module having a function of exchanging heat between the refrigerant in the cooling cycle and the external heat medium, and a blower as a blower having a function of promoting heat transfer between the air in the external heat medium and the heat exchanger.

At the processing stage of the delivery date and time table creation unit 12 for receiving orders, the information of the order product type and delivery date generated by the combination of the order receiving menu selection creation unit 11 of fig. 2 is transmitted to create the production and assembly schedule managed by the creation station, and information is extracted from the schedule and original price information unit D1 in which the original price information of the parts of materials or the information of the number of days required for delivery of the parts is stored, and calculation of the price and delivery date for the type of the products for receiving orders are determined, and various data of the products for receiving orders are registered in the order receiving data file F3. At the same time, a customer entering various data for receiving the order for the product type and the product to be ordered is prompted to determine that the product is to be ordered.

Here, fig. 8 shows an example of the data structure of the type structure database of the accepted order product registered in the file F1. The top row is an order receiving summary table M for identifying a model in manufacturing of order receiving information, the middle row is a type specification table J for requesting description of a type specification corresponding to a type code, and the bottom row is a component table N in which information of all components constituting each functional component in an order receiving product is described. In the order receiving summary table M, a production and assembly date M01 of the production line is stored, a warehousing date M02 when a finished product is temporarily put into a warehouse is stored, a model number M03 of the ordered product is received, the model code M04 is a project order NoM05 as a management number for order creation instruction, a back side number M06 of another name of the ordered product is received, a special content M07 described when a special event such as a chlorine-resistant type is included, a power frequency M08 actually used for the product, and information of a user M10 are received. In this example, the model receiving the order product is judged to be an indoor unit bidirectional exhaust box type of an air conditioner having a capacity of 800(cfm) by LH-800CR-D of model M03.

In the component part table N, a part name N01, a type code N02, a part composition number N03, a part name N04 of all parts constituting each functional component, a material code N05 for financing the parts, and data of a predetermined number N06 of necessary parts in each component are stored for each functional component unit constituting the product.

In this example, as a functional component name N01 on line 001, in the frame of the unit, a bracket having functions of ventilation of an air intake port and an air exhaust port and heat insulation of the outside is shown. In addition, the type code (N02) is DFF, and the component number (N03) is AA01001G 04. Among the components constituting the functional module, the component name (N04) of the 1 st item is a P truss bolt, the reference numeral (N05) of the component which can be used commonly in the drawings is S513131H11, and the predetermined number (N06) is 4, and then, the component names of the 2 nd, 3 rd and finally, the 8 th items are similarly labeled as a heat insulating material kit 1, and the material code is W878014G01, and the predetermined number is 1. It is therefore known that the functional components referred to as a scaffold in this example are formed of the 8 th variety, and are assembled into 1 functional component.

In fig. 2, if it is determined that the product is ordered, the information is transmitted to the engineering order creating unit 13, and an engineering order unit creation plan for creating an order creation instruction for giving an instruction for product manufacture in the factory is created. Information on a composition table in which all functional component groups constituting an ordered product are described for each work order number is extracted from the work order number exclusive creation information storage unit D2, and material supply information for product manufacturing is registered in the work order number exclusive supply data file F4 based on the information. According to the flow of operations of the computer adopting the order receiving management processing S1, when information on the order of a product is input, a production line manufacturing schedule is allocated in accordance with schedule information on material procurement and processing assembly in a functional component unit of the product specified by the order in a production line assembly schedule which is an empty (vacant) production station not specified in the production schedule at that time, and the production line manufacturing schedule is updated one by one, and the production schedule is executed in actual production, whereby flexible response can be made even when the production load changes or the type in the functional component unit changes.

Then, when the order management reception process S1 is completed, the menu production management process S2 is performed. The setup information of the component materials necessary for manufacturing the received order product is generated by the predetermined amount calculating unit 21 based on the data of the product composition registered in the project order number setup data file F4 created by the project order creating unit 13. A manufacturing standard making part 24 for making purchase information of materials or processing instruction information of work is clicked, a specified amount calculating part extracts production preparation information of a component composition number corresponding to data of each functional component unit constituting the product, and the material preparation instruction and the work instruction are developed by automatic processing with respect to setting of a certain amount, a schedule of component input, a work start date and a work end date with respect to each component of the component composition. Thereafter, the information corresponding to the above steps is sequentially transmitted to the assembly work instruction unit 22 for performing the manufacturing process management, and then to the logistics plan adjustment unit 23 for outputting instructions related to the transportation or warehouse storage of the produced products.

Then, in the parts procurement warehouse management process S3, a material supply preparation instruction for the parts composed of the components from the predetermined amount calculation unit 21 is transmitted to the long-term demand prediction order unit 31, the stock order unit 32, the order acceptance determination order unit 33, the warehousing management unit 34, and the contractor payment management unit 35, and information necessary for each selection is read to perform parts procurement for accepting the order menu production. In the case of the stock parts, there are also components which are generally used and which are available in the market for a short period of time, and which require special types and special processing. Thus, in response to a component with a long delivery date or a component used in large quantities, an order request is issued from the long-term demand prediction order unit 31 to a transaction company in accordance with product market scale prediction, and a setup instruction is issued from the stock order unit 32 so as to be extracted from stock products in accordance with a component used for production of a plurality of types of products at ordinary times. Even in the case where the required lead time is taken into consideration during the purchase of materials from order to delivery, an order request is issued by the order determination ordering part 33 for the stock component parts corresponding to the production line assembly period. In the parts procurement warehouse management process S3, both the warehousing management unit 34 and the contractor payment management unit 35 receive data and perform material stocking work, the warehousing management unit 34 manages whether or not a specified number of components ordered from the ordering unit 31 to 33 are delivered to a specified delivery point on a specified day, and the contractor payment management unit 35 manages the number of delivered components, schedule, and delivery when the components are delivered to the contractor processing company 35 and necessary components are processed and manufactured.

Then, in the line management processing S4, the assembly unit 41 of the production line receives information on the operation key, which is created in the assembly operation instructing unit 22 based on the type information and the manufacturing reference information of the product to be ordered, on the basis of the order information and the manufacturing reference information, and sends the assembly parts of the functional module units for which the supply preparation purchase is performed for each product to be ordered to the production line side in accordance with the production schedule managed by the production station, and performs the assembly operation of the product to be ordered in accordance with the operation instruction of the operation key. The work progress management unit 42 registers and manages product assembly end information according to the product steps and the work instruction sheet to be claimed, and factory inspection data such as performance tests, operation and appearance inspections performed at the final step of the production line for each product.

Next, in the logistics management processing S5, it is determined whether the product is sent directly from the factory to a customer-designated location or temporarily put into a warehouse based on the delivery date extracted from the order receiving information and the product delivery information of the delivery side, information from the logistics plan adjustment unit 23 that generates the logistics plan of the product is received, the storage location is designated in the warehousing/ex-warehouse management unit 51 based on the model number and the ex-warehouse scheduled date, and the warehousing and ex-warehouse instructions and the ex-warehouse instructions of the product are performed by performing registration management on the storage location. The delivery planning unit 52 extracts the package outer dimensions and the number of ordered products, the region of the delivery side, and the information on the delivery date, creates a schedule of the transport vehicle, and manages the delivery service instruction. By the above steps, the order-receiving product can be delivered from the factory to the site of the delivery side without passing through the storage warehouse, so that a large-sized warehouse is not required, and the effect of reducing the storage cost can be obtained.

The customer management process S6 includes a delivery management section 61 that manages the name, location, delivery date, and the like of the customer who delivered the order-accepted product, and a quality management section 62 that performs preservation management of the quality information and storage information of the delivered product, based on the information generated for each order-accepted product in the project order creation section 13 of the order-accepted management process S1. The delivery management unit 61 has a function of checking the delivery planning unit 52 to confirm and adjust the delivery date designated by the customer and the factory-side date of possible delivery.

In the above manner, the information on the type of product, the delivery date of the product, the schedule of production, and the status of the progress of work, etc. related to the product ordered are collectively managed by the host computer through the local area network distributed in the factory, and the information can be obtained by the material department or the business department. After the products in the production line of the factory are assembled, the products can be directly sent to the place designated by the customer, and the products are not temporarily stored in the warehouse, so that the effect of reducing the distribution inventory can be obtained. Further, since the process from the product order reception to the product shipment is constituted by a series of operations using a computer, the efficiency of the labor saving promotion can be improved, and since the information on the product order reception is managed in a unified manner, the product order reception can be produced and supplied in a short delivery date.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing development of products forming the basis of order acceptance management processing S1 for enabling production of an order acceptance menu.

In the case of a functional component unit included in the product, for example, an air conditioner, the functional component processing 71 is a design for dividing the product formed of a plurality of components into a compressor component having a function of compressing a refrigerant in a cooling cycle and performing a transfer cycle thereof, a line component having a function of switching a flow direction of the refrigerant or adjusting a flow rate thereof, a heat exchanger component having a function of exchanging heat between the refrigerant and an external heat medium, and a blower component having a function of promoting heat transfer between the external heat medium and the heat exchanger, and capturing the functional component as an object of a 3-dimensional three-dimensional space to develop the product. One functional component is attached to another functional component in a manner that correlates to the other functional component to form an article. In addition, in addition to the basic type, a number of selected variants are provided in the functional module to meet the type of customer requirements. Here, the functional modules are formed of respective component parts whose shapes are apparently different by various varieties, but since the functional modules are connected to each other in the above-described manner to form 1 article, the respective connection points and connection types of the functional modules are uniquely determined, and even in the case of selecting any variety type provided in the functional modules, as the article, it must be possible to assemble in a manner having a prescribed function. Therefore, the arrangement of the configuration of fitting each functional component received in the product unit is specified, and thereby, the reference of the mounting height or mounting position of the component part having the role of connecting between the components and the size or material of the connection type is designed to form a common component part, and thus, the ease of product fitting is considered. For example, for compressors for air conditioners, the outer dimensions of the containers are different depending on the output power, but the installation position in the unit and the positions of the respective line connection ends for intake and exhaust are assumed, whereby when the compressors are designed in a common manner, product assembly with interchangeability is possible even in the case where another type of compressor is selected.

Here, fig. 6 is a diagram showing an image of an example of an article formed by selecting and combining parts among functional block units. In the drawing, P, Q, R, V are examples of corresponding component groups that divide an outdoor unit of an air conditioner into functional component units, P denotes a reservoir group having a function of storing remaining refrigerant in a cooling cycle, Q denotes a condenser group having a function of cooling refrigerant in the cooling cycle by driving liquid of a cycle, R denotes a line assembly group having a function of switching a flow direction, or flow rate adjustment, of the cooling cycle, and V denotes an oil separator group having a function of capturing cooling oil contained in the circulating refrigerant and returning it to a compressor. Further, U1 to U3 show 3 examples of the outdoor unit, and the 3 examples of the outdoor unit are formed by selecting a group having a type necessary for a customer from various types of groups for each module, connecting the modules, and combining them.

For the U1 outdoor unit, a horizontal 10-liter container of P01, which is a standard type in the accumulator group P, 1 each of an inverted type having an output power of 7KW in Q01, which is a selected type in the condenser group Q, and a constant speed type having an output power of 7KW in Q02, a heat pump + heat recovery type of R01, which is a selected type in the pipeline ASSY group R, and a high capacity type of V01, which is a selected type in the oil separator group V, were selected, and they were installed at prescribed positions of the corresponding functional components and connected by pipelines to assemble a cooling circuit of the outdoor unit. For example, unlike the U1 outdoor unit, the U3 outdoor unit is different from the U1 outdoor unit in that 1 of the vertical 7 liter vessel P02 of the selected type, the constant speed Q2 of the selected type having an output of 7KW and the constant speed Q3 of the standard type having an output of 5KW, the heat pump line R03 of the selected type, and the low capacity V02 of the standard type are selected.

When the outer box of the product is a 3-dimensional space, the arrangement area of each functional component in the product is determined. In the above-described outdoor units of U1 to U3, the accumulator P is located at the right side of the unit, the compressor Q is located at the front of the accumulator P at the right side near the compressor Q, the oil separator V is located at the middle position between the accumulator P and the left side of the compressor Q, the pipe fitting R is located at the left side of the oil separator at the leftmost position of the unit, and 3 types in total are arranged in the same manner. In the above example, another functional component is not disposed in 2-layer and 3-layer in the height direction, but may be assigned with an arrangement of functional component units in the height direction as in the lateral direction. In addition, in the space allocated in accordance with each functional block unit, if the position and connection type of the connection between the functional blocks are satisfied, the arrangement of the constituent components inside thereof can be freely developed. As an example of the connection type referred to herein, in an air conditioner, functional components are connected as a cooling cycle to form a circuit, whereby the diameter and thickness dimensions of pipes and the size of a gap between the pipes constitute a reference for the connection type.

In this way, the functional modules of the product are formed and the modules are used as a three-dimensional structure, so that the functional modules can be freely combined, the product information management of the functional module units can be performed, the standards among the products can be formed, the management efficiency of the components can be improved, and the effect of corresponding to various types of requirements of customers can be achieved. In addition, since the functional modules can be divided into functional module units and freely combined, it is easy to disable the change types in a certain functional module or add a new type of change type as 1 type of addition in the functional module from the request of a new customer in the order receiving or manufacturing stage of the product. In addition, since the adjustment of the drawing forming the basic contents of the product manufacturing can be based on the design of the template of the functional unit, there is an effect that the modification work can be easily performed.

Further, the structure in which the functional components are fixed to the outer substrate of the product and the functional components are connected and assembled to each other has been described, but if the connecting portions between the functional components are made to have relative mutual holding strengths, the assembly of the product can be performed by only determining the type of the connection and by combining the functional components.

In addition, in the connection of the assembly, the pipe connection can be fixed by a flange and a screw thread, so that even if the assembly unit of the manufactured product is detached for maintenance or the type of the product with changed use environment is changed, the assembly unit can be replaced, and the economic effect is improved.

As shown in fig. 3, the component group formed by the functional component making process 71 is designed by the following engineering template design 72, which is a template for forming a design flow based on the content and order of the machining and assembling by using a basic model for each functional component unit, and the standard of the connection position, the size, and the material type of the connection portion with another component in each functional component is adopted by the engineering template design 72. Fig. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of engineering template design of the accumulator. For each of the components constituting the accumulator, design criteria, processing contents thereof, combination components, and order are displayed. In this case, a steel plate case forming the main body is displayed with a plate thickness reference (for example, 2.3m) for selection first, and then a reference of filling contents as a dimensional design is displayed. Then, the display material is cut, drawn, holed, and welded with other components. Further, for a copper pipe as another component, a pipe diameter reference (for example, an outer diameter of 19mm, a pipe thickness of 1.2mm) selected as a material is displayed, a connection port height reference of a pipe tip selected as a dimension is displayed, and for a mounting plate for fixing the accumulator, a connection port height reference designed as a dimension and a mounting reference designed as a mounting hole with respect to an outer contour of the unit are displayed. Thus, by specifying the connection type with respect to another functional component (for example, a compressor) connected to the accumulator, a free combination of the functional components can be made. The components constituting the accumulator are processed, welded and combined, and finally, a rust-proof paint is applied to complete the manufacturing operation. The above description is of the engineering template design of the accumulator exemplified as the functional component unit, which explicitly gives the design reference and the manufacturing step necessary for the division of the functional components forming the drawing describing the information items necessary for the drawing. The template has the setting relationship and the connection type among the components of the basic model, and promotes the expansion in the functional components designed by the common engineering template, thereby effectively realizing the standardization of the component parts, improving the design quality, and promoting the management and flexible use of the product information.

If a suitable component structure is formed by the functional component formation process 71, the work of designing 73 a functional component unit formed of a corresponding type of component group is then performed, and the standardization and commonization processes of the component unit are performed to form a component of a suitable level. In addition, the model number of the product is a structural type having functional components used herein, and thus, the number and content of the functional components are determined.

If the design 73 of the functional block unit of the model product group is finished, a production design 74 for product mass production is made based on the design. Here, the work operation summary satisfying the summary of assembly operation criteria and the summary of material supply for the provision of component materials are designed.

At the stage of the completion of the above-mentioned production design 74, the article is divided into function component groups, a menu table having a standard type and a plurality of selection types in the corresponding component group is formed, and if the contents thereof are determined in consideration of marketability, a development decision 83 of an order-accepting menu is formed. The order acceptance menu determined here forms the basis of the menu table registered in the above-described product type file F1, which is used by the order acceptance management process S1.

The production design 74 is received, and through drawing 75 for proportional production, various components constituting the product are analyzed in terms of processing technique, equipment investment, labor force, and price, and the product is processed and manufactured inside the factory, or whether or not the setting 78 of the inside/outside work for ordering the work outside the factory is determined based on the assembly line organization analysis 76 of the product assembly in the factory and the supplier (feeder) production analysis 77 of the preceding work on the assembly line side or the like. If the production division of the components is determined by the setting 78 of the inside/outside work, the estimation 79 of the production man-hours of each product is completed from the accumulation of the man-hours of each component constituting the product based on the data until the determination 84 of the number of production seats calculated from the production capacity based on the information. This forms basic data used in registration of the production seat file F2 for receiving the order management processing S1.

Further, according to the setting 78 of the inside/outside work, a setting 80 of whether each part is a subsidiary workpiece or a purchased part for material purchase is made, and according to the setting, in parallel with an operation of generating part setup information 81 and adding the information, work instruction information 82 is added to the subsidiary workpiece, and manufacturing reference information is set 85. The manufacturing standard information is used in the manufacturing standard information creating unit 24 for each ordered product in the menu production management process S2.

The production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention comprises an order acceptance management means comprising a menu order acceptance type generation means for generating an order acceptance type after a customer selects a product type necessary for the customer from a menu list by himself, the order acceptance management means determining to accept the product after the customer inputs the product type and delivery date from a screen; a menu production management mechanism which instructs the parts procurement warehouse management, the production line management and the logistics management according to the type and the delivery date of the ordered product, and performs plan management by using the generated coping information; the customer management mechanism receives order information from the order management mechanism to provide delivery and maintenance of products, and can perform on-line work for the work from order reception to component purchase and production work instruction, and the customer and the manufacturer can share information of products necessary for the customer, thereby obtaining the effect of being able to supply products meeting the customer's requirements, and being able to cope with the products to be ordered in a short delivery date, and being able to minimize the stock quantity of products in a factory.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, if the screen selected by the customer is expressed by at least 1 of the three-dimensional configuration diagram of the component unit divided by the functions constituting the product and the menu table, there are obtained effects that a plurality of product types can be generated, various product type requests of the customer can be satisfied, and an input operation for generating the product type is easily performed.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, if the menu list is changed in accordance with the through-market message, in terms of, for example, the standard type of each functional component of the product, and the selection type, the menu list can be adapted to the market message.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, if the menu list has a standard type and a plurality of selection types for each component unit, and from the viewpoint of functions, the product is divided into various functional components, and the components are connected and assembled according to a predetermined position and a reference of connection price, and have a predetermined function, the product to be ordered is formed by combining the functional component units, thereby achieving standardization and being adaptable to a plurality of desires of customers.

In the production management apparatus of the 1 st aspect of the present invention, if there is a production seat generating mechanism that generates a number of seats corresponding to a production date on which an order is acceptable, based on a cumulative sum of production estimated number of products and production man-hours of the products predicted based on a required scale and an assembling capability of production steps; the production seat management mechanism checks the production working hours of the order type according to the delivery date of the products input by the customer and the blank condition of the production seat table corresponding to the production schedule, determines the delivery date, can determine the production seat reservation (production assembly plan), links the production seat reservation with the production, can flexibly adapt to the production load change, realizes the processing without personnel, saves the labor and improves the operation efficiency.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, if the menu production management means has a prescribed amount calculation means for extracting production setup information of component parts and generating setup information for setting up the number and schedule of the component parts, based on the product composition, by use of manufacturing reference information formed of drawing information, manufacturing information, and part purchase information; an operation instruction information generating means for generating step or summary information relating to the assembly operation of the product to be ordered based on the product type information from the order data storing means and the manufacturing reference information; and a logistics management mechanism for carrying out delivery instruction of finished products according to the delivery date, delivery party information and production process information of the order receiving data storage mechanism, wherein the instruction is realized without personnel from receiving order receiving, part purchasing and delivery operation, so that labor is saved and operation efficiency is improved.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, if communication is performed with an order receiving management means of a production plant through a public line network, wireless or satellite communication as a communication means for inputting an order receiving type as a customer, information on a product type requested by the customer is directly transmitted to the plant, so that accuracy can be improved and efficiency of order receiving can be improved.

In the production management apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, if the parts procurement instructing means from the production plant to the parts manufacturer transmits the material information from the situation that needs to be predicted or reserved one by one through the EDI transmission communication network, the parts manufacturer can appropriately adjust the balance between procurement and stock and perform appropriate operations.

In the production management system according to claim 1 of the present invention, if the order receiving management means and the menu production management means are connected to the customer management means, the parts procurement warehouse management means, the production line management means, and the physical distribution instruction management means through at least the communication line, information from the order receiving to the production and shipment can be associated in an on-line manner, information necessary for each department can be input in real time, and the efficiency of the business can be improved.

A method for producing an air conditioner according to the 2 nd aspect of the present invention relates to an air conditioner divided into at least a heat source module of a cooling cycle, a heat medium circulation driving module of a cooling cycle and a circulation connection module of a cooling cycle, the method including an order management means for producing an order-receiving product by selecting from among criteria or selection types possessed by each of the modules; the menu production management mechanism performs the instructions of component purchasing, warehouse management, production line management and logistics management and plan management of production corresponding information, and the method can manage the processes from receiving ordering, component purchasing and assembly operation instructions in an online mode, thereby obtaining the following effects that the type of the conditions of heat load, environment, power supply and the like suitable for the using place of the air conditioner can be selected, production delivery can be performed in a shorter delivery period compared with the past, and the stagnation loss on logistics can be eliminated by product supply corresponding to the schedule of installation engineering.

Since the method for producing an air conditioner according to the 3 rd aspect of the present invention is an air conditioner formed by a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator, the method comprises the steps of: setting criteria and selected types according to component units divided in functions constituting the air conditioner; generating an order-accepting product type by the type information specified for each component unit; the production seat corresponding to the production schedule of the type of the ordered product is managed according to the material purchasing information and the production man-hour of the component unit, so that the type suitable for the conditions of the heat load, the environment, the power supply and the like of the use occasion of the air conditioner can be selected, the production and the delivery according with the schedule of the installation project can be designated, the requirements of customers can be met, and in addition, the effect of eliminating the stagnation loss on the logistics is obtained.

Claims (11)

1. A production management apparatus comprising an order acceptance management means including a menu order acceptance type generation means for generating an order acceptance type after a customer selects a product type necessary for the customer from a menu list, the order acceptance management means determining to accept a product after the customer inputs the product type and delivery date from a screen; a menu production management mechanism which instructs the parts procurement warehouse management, the production line management and the logistics management according to the type and the delivery date of the ordered product, and performs plan management by using the generated coping information; a customer management organization, which provides delivery and maintenance of the product by receiving order information of the order management organization, can perform online operation for operations from receiving order to parts procurement and production operation instruction, and can share information of the product necessary for the customer with the manufacturer.

2. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the picture selected by the customer is represented by a menu list of component units divided in accordance with functions constituting the product.

3. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said menu list is changed or updated according to a market message.

4. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the menu list has a standard type and a plurality of selection types for each component unit, and from the viewpoint of functions, the product is divided into various functional components, and the functional components are connected and assembled in accordance with a predetermined position and a reference of connection price, and have a predetermined function.

5. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the apparatus has production seat generating means for generating the number of seats corresponding to the production date on which the order is acceptable, based on the estimated number of production of the product predicted based on the required scale, the cumulative sum of production man-hours of the product, and the assembling capability of the production steps; a production seat management mechanism, which checks the production working hours of the order type according to the delivery date of the product input by the customer and the blank main body of the production seat table corresponding to the production schedule so as to determine the delivery date.

6. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the menu production management means has a prescribed amount calculation means for extracting production setup information of the component parts based on production reference information formed by drawing information, manufacturing information, and parts procurement information of the component parts, which are composed of the product, and generating setup information of the number and schedule of the setup parts; an operation instruction information generating means for generating step or summary information relating to the assembly operation of the product to be ordered based on the product type information from the order data storing means and the manufacturing reference information; and a logistics management mechanism for carrying out delivery instructions of finished products according to the delivery date, the information of the delivery person and the information of the production process of the order receiving data storage mechanism.

7. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication with the order acceptance management means of the production plant is performed by public line network, wireless or satellite communication as the communication means of the type of order acceptance input by the customer.

8. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parts procurement instruction means from the production plant to the parts manufacturer transmits the EDI communication network.

9. The production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the order receiving management means and the menu production management means are connected to at least the customer management means, the parts procurement warehouse management means, the production line management means, and the physical distribution instruction management means through communication lines.

10. A method for producing an air conditioner, which relates to an air conditioner divided into at least a heat source module of a cooling cycle, a hot medium circulation driving module of a cooling cycle and a circulation connection module of a cooling cycle, the method comprising receiving order management measures, the order management means selecting from among criteria or selection types possessed by each of the above-mentioned modules to produce an order-receiving product; the menu production management mechanism performs instructions of component purchase, warehouse management, production line management and logistics management, and performs plan management of production correspondence information, and the method can manage processes from accepting orders, to component purchase and assembly work instructions in an online manner.

11. A method for producing an air conditioner, which comprises the following steps in an air conditioner formed by a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device and an evaporator: setting criteria and selected types according to component units divided in functions constituting the air conditioner; generating an order-accepting product type by the type information specified for each component unit; and managing the production seat corresponding to the production schedule of the ordered product type according to the material purchasing information and the production working hours of the component unit.