JP2006092484A - Design support system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a design support system that can reduce manufacturing costs and increase design efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: The design support system comprises a design specification input part 3 for inputting design specifications of a product, a design case database 51 for storing information on products designed in the past in association with design specification values and equipment necessary to manufacture every component part, an equipment information database 52 for storing every piece of equipment in association with information on a range of compatible specifications and additional equipment necessary to manufacture products of the specifications in the compatible range, an example search part 2 for selecting similar products from the design example database on condition that the input design specifications are manufacturable only with existing basic equipment or manufacturable with the existing basic equipment and additional equipment (such as jigs and die parts), and a result display part 4 for displaying the similar product search results. The determination of similarity based on the compatibility of the manufacturing equipment with every component part of the product can determine a need for equipment investment necessary to satisfy the required specifications. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a design support system for product design support in which many similar cases exist.

  As a system for supporting the design of orders, many systems have been proposed in which a design case database is prepared, a design case is searched using required specifications, and similar plans are answered. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-179892 discloses a mechanism for designing a product by automatically deforming and combining CAD data in combination by defining parts that satisfy a certain range of required specifications as parametric CAD data. Has been proposed, and even a designer who does not have sufficient design knowledge can easily use it.

In this case, a design that meets the required specification range can be automatically performed, but at that time, it is not possible to determine whether or not it is not necessary to create a new facility (for example, a mold) necessary for manufacturing. It just increases new facilities unnecessarily, and does not lead to a reduction in manufacturing costs.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-179892

  The present invention has been invented in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a design support system capable of reducing manufacturing costs and improving design efficiency.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a design support system according to the present invention requires a design specification input unit that inputs design specifications of a product, and manufacturing information for each part that constitutes information on a product designed in the past as a design specification value. Design case database to be stored in association with equipment, equipment information database to store the corresponding specification range and additional equipment information necessary for manufacturing products with the corresponding range specification for each equipment, and input Case search unit that selects similar products from the design case database based on whether it can be manufactured using existing basic equipment only from the design specifications, or can be manufactured using existing basic equipment and additional equipment (jigs, mold parts, etc.) And a result display unit for displaying similar product search results.

  By determining the degree of similarity based on the response status of equipment manufactured in units of parts that make up the product, it is possible to determine the need for investment in equipment necessary to meet the required specifications.

  The case search unit has a function to select a similar product from the design case database even if it can be manufactured by adding new additional equipment to the existing basic equipment in order to support the input design specifications. In addition, when selecting a similar product that corresponds to the input design specifications, it can be manufactured using only existing basic equipment, or it can be manufactured by adding existing additional equipment to the existing basic equipment. There is a weighting unit for determining the degree of similarity for each case whether it can be manufactured by adding additional equipment to the existing basic equipment, and it is set for each part constituting the product. It is preferable that the sum of the weight values be the similarity. In the latter case in particular, the case search unit includes a weighting unit that weights the degree of involvement in the similarity for each part constituting the product when selecting a similar product corresponding to the input design specification. It is more preferable that the value obtained by multiplying the weight value totaled for each part by the weight value of the degree of involvement in the degree of similarity for each part is used as the degree of similarity.

  The facility information database stores the number of units owned and production capacity in association with each other, and the case search section has a facility diversion possibility judgment function that judges whether the relevant facility can be diverted from each equipment operation status, And an equipment manufacturing cost database that stores the estimated cost of manufacturing additional equipment, and when determining the similarity according to the input design specifications, refer to the equipment manufacturing cost database and estimate the approximate manufacturing cost of each part. There may be provided a manufacturing cost approximate calculation unit for calculating.

  In addition, it has a production preparation days database that stores the number of days until the equipment that manufactures the parts that make up the product and additional equipment can be manufactured and can be manufactured, and when determining the similarity according to the input design specifications In addition, it is also preferable to include a manufacturing preparation day calculation unit that calculates the number of days required for preparation of parts by referring to the manufacturing preparation day database.

  The facility information database stores the estimated cost of repairing equipment and the number of days required for repair, and the case search department repairs equipment that requires repair by determining the degree of similarity in consideration of the cost and days required for repair. It may have a function.

  Furthermore, the design case database configures products with respect to design parameters indicating product specifications and facilities that can produce other product numbers by using additional facilities among facilities used to create each product. A value that identifies the equipment to be used for each part is stored, and the equipment database uses the reference value of the design specification and the additional equipment for that equipment for each equipment unit that manufactures the parts that make up the product. If the additional equipment has already been created with respect to the specification range that can be handled and the equipment that can be supported by using the additional equipment, the specification value and the additional equipment corresponding to the It is also preferable to store an identification value.

  In the present invention, since it is possible to determine the necessity of investment of equipment necessary to satisfy the required specifications when presenting similar examples, it is necessary to newly create equipment for manufacturing due to slight differences in specifications. In this case, it is possible to propose a product with similar specifications that already have equipment to the user as an alternative, and to offer quick delivery and low price to the user, and by using the existing equipment as a manufacturer Reduction of manufacturing cost and efficiency of design can be realized.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the design support system includes a design specification input unit 3, a case search unit 2, a result display unit 4, and various databases 51. The case search unit 2 includes an equipment diversion possible determination function unit 20, a manufacturing cost estimation function unit 21, a manufacturing preparation days calculation function unit 22, and a repair support function unit 23. In terms of hardware, as shown in FIG. 2, a control circuit (CPU) that constitutes the case search unit 2, a storage device 5 that stores the databases 51 to 54, and a display 7 that is a result display unit 7. And the printer 6 and the input device constituting the design specification input unit 3. The display 7 and the input device may be on another personal computer connected to the control circuit via a LAN or the Internet.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a product targeted by the design support system. The main body 10 includes a plurality of signal terminals 10b and a main body case 10a, and the battery terminals include a battery terminal 12b and a battery terminal body 12a. 12 and a metal cover 11 that covers the main body 10, for example, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the equipment (mold) for manufacturing the main body case 10 a for the signal terminal 10 b for eight cores is shown. As shown in FIG. 4B, the 10-core main body case 10a is provided with additional equipment (additional mold) 16 between the molds 15a and 15b. By arranging, it can respond.

As shown in FIG. 5, the design case database in the above database stores information on products designed in the past in association with the design specification values and the equipment necessary for manufacturing for each component. Product number A0310112 (signal terminal: 10 cores / battery terminal: 1-1 core / battery: 5.5), the signal terminal part mold corresponds to the 8-core basic mold as shown in the above example. This shows a case where parts (additional molds) are added.
Incidentally, since the product terminal number A0308111 can be manufactured with the basic mold KA081, the item of part 1 does not contain a value.

  Among other databases, the equipment (mold) information database 52 stores the range of the corresponding specification for each equipment and the information of the additional equipment (parts) necessary for manufacturing the product of the specification of the corresponding range. FIG. 6A shows the equipment for the signal terminal section, and FIG. 6B shows the equipment for the battery terminal section.

  Then, the case search unit 2 checks whether or not the input design specification input from the design specification input unit 3 can be manufactured for each part in the design case database (DB) 51, and even one can be manufactured. Is selected as a similar case. That is, a region that is surrounded by the three circles shown in FIG. 7 is selected as a similar case, and the similarity is determined for the selected case as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed.

  The processing details will be described with respect to the database including the databases 51 and 52 of the illustrated example. When the input design specification is 12 signal terminals, the number of battery cores is 1-2, and the battery height is 5.5, the case search unit 2 extracts a signal terminal manufacturable mold. This reads the signal terminal information from the equipment information database 52, and selects data of reference core count = 12 or reference core count <12 ≦ corresponding range. In the case shown in FIG. 6A, eight molds other than the third line (KA0811) and the tenth line (KA1411) are selected.

  In addition, a battery-manufacturable mold is also extracted. This is because the battery information is read from the facility information database 52 and the number of battery cores of the input specification is 1-2. Therefore, the reference core number is 1-2 or the reference core number is <1-2 ≦ corresponding range. And data having a battery height of 5.5 is selected. In the case shown in FIG. 6B, three molds (KB111, KB1111, KB121) in the first, second, and fifth rows are selected.

  Then, the case search unit 2 selects the corresponding part data from the equipment information database 52 under the condition that the parts that make up the product can be manufactured in the same manner, and when the check of the manufacturable equipment is completed for all parts. The existing product number that uses the manufacturable equipment (mold) is selected from the design case database 51. For the product number using the signal terminal mold and the battery mold selected above, select a record that matches the item of the used mold (signal terminal section, battery section) in the design example database 51. To do.

  In the design case database 51 shown in FIG. 5, the product numbers using the molds that can manufacture signal terminals as shown in FIG. 12 are nine product numbers other than the fourth row (A0308211), In this case, since the product numbers of the first, second, fourth, fifth and eighth lines (A0308111, A0308121, A0308211, A0310111, A0312121) are selected and selected, and the union of these selected data is taken. All the records in the 10th line are selected as targets.

  Next, the case search unit 2 rearranges the selected data. Various examples of this rearrangement are presented. The basic rearrangement is as follows. That is, for each component (signal terminal part, battery part), if the design specifications of the input specifications are the same as the basic specifications of the equipment information database 51 (reference number of cores, height in the case of a battery), only the basic mold is used. Thus, it is determined that the manufacturing is possible, and a similarity degree ◎ is given as shown in FIG.

  In cases other than the above, if the corresponding number of cores (signal terminal, battery) in the equipment information database 52 is the same (the height is also the same in the case of a battery), it is determined that the equipment can be manufactured using the additional equipment, and is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. If it does not match the above, x is given as a part that cannot be manufactured by existing equipment. For example, the signal terminal part mold KA102 of A0312121 has a standard number of cores of 10 and a corresponding number of cores of 12, so that it can be manufactured with additional equipment and the signal terminal similarity is ◯, and the signal terminal part mold of A0312112 Since the type KA121 has 12 reference cores, the similarity is ◎. On the other hand, the signal terminal part mold KA101 of A0310111 has a reference number of cores 10 and has only 14 corresponding cores.

  Thus, since the similarity is determined by the case search unit 2 and a determination result is given and this determination result is also displayed at the same time, the operator of the system can apply a past design that can be applied to a new design case. Cases can be selected appropriately. In particular, in the case of ◎, a score of 2 is given, a score of 1 is given if it is ◯, a score of 0 is given if it is ×, and the overall similarity is calculated by adding the scores for each part number. If rearranged in the descending order of the overall similarity, the past design cases can be selected more appropriately.

  By the way, just rearranging in the order that the number of the same specification is large, that is, as shown in FIG. 14, the one that matches the three specifications of the number of signal terminal cores, the number of battery cores and the number of battery cores When rearranged in such a way that the signal terminal core count and the battery height coincide with each other, the A0308211 on the 8th row is the eighth similarity with the battery height matching. Actually, the die KA0811 (3rd line) of the signal terminal part has a standard number of cores 10 and the corresponding range 10. Therefore, in order to make a 12-wire signal terminal, a new mold investment is required. It is better not to select it, but it is not preferable that this is ranked higher in similarity.

  The other example of the rearrangement of the selected data will be described. This relates to the invention of claim 2, and for each component (signal terminal part, battery part), the existing basic equipment for the design specifications of the input specifications. This process of determining whether or not it is possible to manufacture using only the existing additional equipment is as described above. Next, when the input specification is within the corresponding range of the equipment information database 52 (in the case of signal terminals: reference core number <12 ≦ corresponding range), but there is no existing additional equipment (corresponding core number 1 ≠ 12 and corresponding core number 2) ≠ 12and ...) can be manufactured by newly creating additional equipment. The degree of similarity at this time is added to the above ◎, ○, and × to be Δ. Then, if it is ◎, the score is 3, if it is ○, the score 2 is △, if it is △, the score 1 is 0, and the score is 0. Sorted in descending order as the overall similarity is high. FIG. 15 shows an example in this case.

  If the judgment is based only on the presence or absence of existing equipment, the existing product number with the same design parameter will naturally be ranked higher in the similarity, but if it is as described above, the range that can be handled by the additional equipment will not be compatible In this case, for example, the product number A0308111 in the fourth row is effective when the designer selects a similar product and designs it.

  Also, by assigning scores according to each of the similarities, for example, ◎ and ○ are weighted to be as disadvantageous as possible because × cannot be handled so that ◎ and ○ have a significant advantage over △. Therefore, it is possible to determine the similarity according to the actual situation. FIG. 16 shows a case where weighting is performed such that 10 scores are given for ◎, 9 is given for ○, 5 is given for Δ, and 0 is given for ×. Although the order of the overall similarity is the same as that shown in FIG. 15, the difference in similarity between each selected in terms of the overall similarity can be clarified.

  That is, in the example shown in FIG. 15, the first row A0312121 and the second row A038121 are determined to have the same overall similarity, but in fact, the first row A0312121 is both existing in the signal terminal unit and the battery unit. In terms of the similarity of manufacturability, it should be superior to the second line. Therefore, by setting the weight of the lower manufacturability lower than the higher one, there is a clear difference in total similarity between the first and second lines as shown in the table above. It is possible to attach a similar example that is superior to the designer.

  Next, the invention of claim 4 will be described. This makes it possible to make the weighting of the similarity according to the degree of involvement in the similarity between the respective parts. For example, if the mold for the signal terminal part is much more laborious than the mold for the battery part, by setting a large weight to the signal terminal part in terms of manufacturability, A product number having a high degree of similarity in the signal terminal portion is determined to have a high degree of similarity. FIG. 17 shows an example in which the signal terminal portion is weighted with 0.7 and the battery portion is weighted with 0.3, rearranged. The grades of ◎, ○, Δ, and X are the same as in the above example.

  In the case shown in FIG. 16, it is determined that the degree of similarity is high when either the signal terminal portion or the battery portion can be manufactured as in the second to fourth rows. However, by adding a weight related to manufacturability, it is possible to make an advantage that the signal terminal can be manufactured only by existing equipment.

  Next, the invention according to claim 5 will be described. In the equipment information database 51, the number of owned equipments and the operation status are stored in association with each other. In the example shown in FIG. 19, serial numbers are assigned to the respective molds, and the number of cores being manufactured and the parts to be used are stored. For example, the 23rd and 24th lines have 2 KA101 molds, the 1st line (23rd line) corresponds to 10 core manufacturing, and the 2nd line (24th line) uses part P0401 to 14 cores. It shows that it corresponds to manufacturing, and the 25th to 27th lines are KA102 molds, and these three molds currently correspond to 10 core manufacturing. Here, this KA102 can support 12 cores if P022 parts are used. In addition, the operation status of the mold parts (whether the target mold can be used in the previous week unit (O or X)) is stored in the facility information database 52. FIG. 20 shows an equipment information database 52 for a mold for parts storing equipment operation status. In the example shown in FIG. 19, the KA102 on the 25th to 27th lines cannot be used because the molds of the serial numbers 1 and 2 are “x” until after 3W (3 weeks). On the contrary, it shows that the mold can be used until after 3W.

  When the sort shown in FIG. 18 is obtained by rearrangement by similarity determination, A0312121 is determined to be the highest in similarity, but this part number is manufactured using the die KA102 and part P022. Since the mold KA102 can be used with the serial number 3 from FIG. 19 and the part P022 can be used in the same manner as shown in FIG. 20 (a), this part number can be reliably manufactured. It is determined that it can be used. However, if part P022 cannot be used until after 3W as shown in FIG. 20 (b), the part number of A0312121 is high in the end, but the mold to be manufactured cannot be used, and a new mold is created. Or you will have to wait until it is free. In this case, it can be seen that the product numbers in the second and subsequent lines may be able to cope immediately.

  The invention of claim 6 will be described below. This is a manufacturing cost database 53 that stores the manufacturing cost of each mold (facility) and basic equipment (reference core number) for each part, the number of cores that can be supported by the additional equipment, and the cost of manufacturing the additional equipment. Is provided. FIG. 21 shows an example of the manufacturing cost database 53 relating to the signal terminal part, and FIG. 22 shows an example of the manufacturing cost database 53 relating to the battery part. In the signal terminal part, the die of the KA081 has a reference core number of 8 cores. The manufacturing cost is 1,000,000 yen, the manufacturing cost of additional equipment (parts) corresponding to 10 cores is 100,000 yen, and 100,000 yen is required to create parts corresponding to 12 cores. It is shown that the manufacturing cost of the standard core number 1-1 is 250,000 yen, the manufacturing cost of parts corresponding to 1-2 cores is 20,000 yen, and the parts of 2-1 cores are also 20,000 yen. . In addition, the part of-in a figure has shown that there is no range which can respond more.

  Then, when the case search unit 2 searches for a case, it searches the manufacturing cost database 53 from the mold that manufactures the product number, so that “cost to manufacture the product number” = “Σ (reference mold manufacturing for all parts)” "Cost + (manufacturing cost of additional equipment if additional equipment is required)" is calculated, and an approximate manufacturing cost is calculated and determined when it is necessary to determine the degree of similarity.

  In addition, in the calculation of manufacturing costs, only parts with a grade of △ may be calculated as newly required manufacturing costs, or the case where new equipment must be created because the equipment is in use is considered. It may be calculated, or may be calculated as an approximate cost for manufacturing equipment for all parts.

  In the invention of claim 7, the number of days required for manufacturing preparation (hereinafter referred to as manufacturing preparation days) and additional equipment for each part (manufacturing) and basic equipment (number of reference cores) for manufacture and adjustment A production preparation days database 54 storing the number of possible cores and the production preparation days of the additional equipment is provided. FIG. 23 shows an example of the manufacturing preparation days database 54 for the signal terminal portion. The mold of the KA081 has a standard number of cores of 8, and the manufacturing preparation days are 21 days and additional equipment (parts corresponding to 10 cores). ) Shows that the manufacturing preparation days are 7 days and it takes 12 days to create a part corresponding to 12 cores. FIG. 24 shows an example of the manufacturing preparation days database 54 for the battery unit. The part KB111 has a reference core number of 1-1 and its manufacturing preparation days of 10 days, and manufacture of parts corresponding to 1-2 cores. The preparation days are 5 days, and the 2-1 core parts are 4 days. In addition, the part of-has shown that there is no range which can respond | correspond more than it.

  Then, when the case search unit 2 searches for the case, it also searches the manufacturing preparation days database 54 from the mold for manufacturing the part number, so that “the number of days required for preparation of the part number” = “Σ (standard for all parts) Calculate mold preparation preparation days + (If additional equipment is required, additional equipment manufacturing preparation days) "and calculate the approximate number of manufacturing preparation days when the corresponding equipment needs to be manufactured for similarity determination To do.

  In the invention of claim 8, the facility information database 51 stores the number of facilities, the current state (in operation or under repair), the number of days required for repair, and the cost in association with each other. In the signal terminal (reference mold) shown in FIG. 25, the KA101 in the 23rd row cannot be used until the 3rd W, but this is because the item in the state of the record is “in repair”. It can be seen that it has become unusable due to a failure. The status may be “operating”, “failed”, “repairing”, or the like. And the cost required for repair and the number of days are stored in association with the state being repaired. In the example of the 23rd row, the repair period is 10 days and the cost is 200,000 yen. Also, looking at the additional part equipment information database 51 shown in FIG. 26, it can be seen that the part P022 is “failed” and that it costs 30,000 yen for 10 days for repair.

  By referring to this information when searching for cases and determining similarity, it is possible to know how many days it will cost if equipment that is out of order or under repair is used.

  Flow charts in the case where all the above examples are implemented are shown in FIGS.

It is a block diagram of an example of an embodiment of the invention. It is a hardware block diagram same as the above. An example of a product is shown, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is an exploded perspective view. (a) (b) is a perspective view which shows the structural example of the metal mold | die for manufacture same as the above. It is explanatory drawing of an example of a design example database. (a) (b) is explanatory drawing of an example of an equipment information database. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram regarding extraction. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a case search result. It is a flowchart which shows a basic flow. It is a flowchart which shows a detailed flow. It is a flowchart which shows a detailed flow. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows another example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows another example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a case search result. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the equipment information database which also stored the equipment operating condition. (a) (b) is explanatory drawing of the other example of the equipment information database which also stored the equipment operation condition. It is explanatory drawing of an example of a manufacturing cost database. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a manufacturing cost database. It is explanatory drawing of an example of a manufacturing preparation days database. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of a manufacturing preparation days database. It is explanatory drawing of another example. It is explanatory drawing of another example.

Explanation of symbols

2 Case search part 3 Design specification input part 4 Result display part 51 Design case database
52 Facility information database

Claims (9)

  Design specification input unit for inputting product design specifications, design case database for storing information related to products designed in the past in association with equipment required for production for each component constituting the design specification value, and corresponding to each equipment A facility information database that associates and stores information on additional equipment necessary to manufacture products with specifications within the scope of the specification and the corresponding range, and whether it is possible to manufacture with existing basic equipment only from the input design specifications. A design support system comprising: a case search unit that selects a similar product from a design case database on the condition that it can be manufactured using equipment and additional equipment; and a result display unit that displays a similar product search result.   The case search unit has a function to select a similar product from the design case database even if it can be manufactured by adding new additional equipment to the existing basic equipment in order to comply with the input design specifications. The design support system according to claim 1.   The case search part can be manufactured only with existing basic equipment when selecting similar products corresponding to the input design specifications, or can be manufactured by adding existing additional equipment to the existing basic equipment In addition, a weighting unit for determining similarity is provided for each case that can be manufactured if additional equipment is newly added to the existing basic equipment, and is set for each part constituting the product. 3. The design support system according to claim 1, wherein the sum of the weight values is used as the similarity.   The case search unit is equipped with a weighting unit that weights the degree of involvement in the similarity for each part of the product when selecting a similar product corresponding to the input design specification. 4. The design support system according to claim 3, wherein a value obtained by multiplying the weight value by the weight value of the degree of participation in the similarity for each part is used as the similarity.   The facility information database stores the number of units owned and manufacturing capacity in association with each other, and the case search unit has a facility diversion possibility judgment function that determines whether or not the corresponding equipment can be diverted from each equipment operation status. The design support system according to claim 1 or 2.   In addition to having an equipment manufacturing cost database that stores estimated costs for equipment manufacturing and additional equipment manufacturing, when determining similarity according to the input design specifications, each equipment is estimated by referring to the equipment manufacturing cost database. The design support system according to claim 1, further comprising a manufacturing cost calculation unit that calculates manufacturing costs.   It has a production preparation days database that stores the number of days required to manufacture equipment that makes up the parts that make up the product and additional equipment, and to determine the degree of similarity according to the input design specifications. A design support system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a manufacturing preparation day calculation unit that calculates the number of days required for manufacturing preparation of parts with reference to the manufacturing preparation day database. .   The facility information database stores the estimated cost of repairing equipment and the number of days required for repair, and the case search department repairs equipment that requires repair by determining the degree of similarity in consideration of the cost and days required for repair. The design support system according to claim 6 or 7, further comprising a function.   The design case database shows the design parameters indicating the product specifications and the equipment used to create each product. A value that identifies the equipment to be used is stored, and the equipment database can be handled by using the standard values of the design specifications and additional equipment for the equipment that manufactures the parts that make up the product. If additional equipment has already been created regarding the range of specifications that can be used and specifications that can be supported by using the equipment, the specification value and the value for identifying the additional equipment corresponding to the specification value The design support system according to claim 1, wherein:

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