U.S. patent application number 09/086751 was filed with the patent office on 2002-05-09 for graphical user interface shop floor control system.
Invention is credited to BEATTY, ROBERT A..
Application Number | 20020054101 09/086751 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22200670 |
Filed Date | 2002-05-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020054101 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
BEATTY, ROBERT A. |
May 9, 2002 |
GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE SHOP FLOOR CONTROL SYSTEM
Abstract
A graphical user interface shop floor control system includes
one or more of factory screens, shop floor screens, machine status
screens, a material/parts container screens, machine login screens,
new production screens, and machine maintenance screens. The
factory screen graphically represents a factory. The shop floor
screens represent different shop floors or other areas of the
factory. These areas of the factory are represented by selectable
icons, positioned within the factory screen at locations
corresponding to the locations of the represented areas within the
factory. Each shop floor screen depicts the general appearance of
one of the areas of the factory and the factory elements of that
area of the factory. Icons representing factory elements are
positioned within the shop floor screens at locations corresponding
to the locations of the represented factory elements within the
corresponding shop floor. Icons representing machines and storage
locations include graphics depicting the appearance of the
represented machine or storage location. The shop floor screens
include status buttons. Selecting a status button and a machine
icon assigns the selected status to the machine represented by the
selected machine icon, and color codes that icon. Containers of
parts are associated with the various machines. Their movement
around the shop floors is controlled by scanning bar code labels
associated with the containers. Animations of the movement of the
containers is displayed to indicate that the movement of the
container has been recorded. Animations can also be provided for
the machine icons based upon their status.
Inventors: |
BEATTY, ROBERT A.; (LAPEER,
MI) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OLIFF & BERRIDGE, PLC
P.O. BOX 19928
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22320
US
|
Family ID: |
22200670 |
Appl. No.: |
09/086751 |
Filed: |
May 29, 1998 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/764 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10S 715/965 20130101;
G06Q 10/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/764 |
International
Class: |
G06F 003/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A control system that manages information about a manufacturing
operation, the manufacturing operation comprising at least one shop
floor, each shop floor including at least one factory element, the
control system comprising: a plurality of computing devices
interconnected into a network; a database that stores the
information about the manufacturing operation, the database stored
on a first one of the plurality of computing devices, at least one
of the plurality of computing devices located on the at least one
shop floor; and a graphical user interface displayable on each of
the plurality of computing devices, the graphical user interface
comprising at least one shop floor screen, each shop floor screen
corresponding to one of the at least one shop floor of the
manufacturing operation and graphically depicting the corresponding
shop floor and the at least one factory element of the
corresponding shop floor.
2. The control system of claim 1, wherein each shop floor screen
comprises at least one selectable icon, each selectable icon
representing one of the at least one factory element of the
corresponding shop floor.
3. The control system of claim 2, wherein, for each shop floor
screen, each selectable icon is positioned at a location within
that shop floor screen corresponding to a location of the
corresponding shop floor occupied by the factory element
represented by that selectable icon.
4. The control system of claim 2, wherein each factory element is
one of a machine, a storage location, a work center, an office, a
material transport system, and a loading dock.
5. The control system of claim 2, wherein, for at least one of the
at least one shop floor screen, at least one of the at least one
selectable icon represents a machine located on the corresponding
shop floor.
6. The control system of claim 2, wherein, for each selectable icon
that represents a machine, that selectable icon includes at least
one graphic depicting the machine represented by that selectable
icon.
7. The control system of claim 6, wherein, for each of at least one
of the selectable icons, the at least one graphic comprises a
plurality of graphics that are sequentially displayable within that
selectable icon.
8. The control system of claim 7, wherein, when the plurality of
graphics are sequentially displayed, an animation of the machine
represented by that selectable icon is displayed.
9. The control system of claim 5, wherein, for each shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon representing a
machine, that shop floor screen further comprises a plurality of
selectable status icons, each selectable status icon defining a
status assignable to the at least one machine of the corresponding
shop floor.
10. The control system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of
selectable status icons comprise at least two of a production icon,
a waiting-for-materials icon, a setup icon, a waiting-for-setup
icon, a maintenance icon, a waiting-for-maintenance icon, an idle
icon, a shut-down icon, a task list icon, a job trouble icon, and
an excess setup icon.
11. The control system of claim 9, wherein, when a shop floor
screen representing a shop floor of the manufacturing operation is
displayed on one of the plurality of computing devices: a status is
assigned to a machine located on the shop floor represented by the
displayed shop floor screen by selecting a selectable status icon
and then selecting the selectable icon of the displayed shop floor
screen representing that machine; and the assigned status is
communicated from the one of the computing devices to the database
and the information about the manufacturing operation stored in the
database is updated to reflect the status assigned to that
machine.
12. The control system of claim 9, wherein, for each selectable
icon that represents a machine, an appearance of that selectable
icon is based on the status assigned to the machine represented by
that selectable icon and stored in the database.
13. The control system of claim 12, wherein the appearance is a
color encoding of the selectable icon.
14. The control system of claim 5, wherein the graphical user
interface further comprises a machine status screen, status
information stored in the database about a selected machine
displayable on the machine status screen.
15. The control system of claim 14, wherein the machine status
screen includes at least one of: a status portion that displays
status information stored in the database about the selected
machine; an employee portion that displays information stored in
the database about employees associated with the selected machine;
a produced portion that displays information stored in the database
about parts or material produced by the selected machine; a
material portion that displays information stored in the database
about source material associated with the selected machine; and a
schedule portion that displays information stored in the database
about jobs associated with the selected machine.
16. The control system of claim 15, wherein the status portion
includes at least one of: an assigned status portion that displays
at least a status assigned to the selected machine; and a status
information portion that displays status information stored in the
database about status assigned to the selected machine
17. The control system of claim 14, wherein, when a shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon that represents a
machine is displayed on one of the plurality of computing devices,
selecting one of the at least one selectable icon representing a
machine causes the machine status screen to be displayed, the
machine status screen displaying information stored in the database
about the machine represented by the selected icon.
18. The control system of claim 14, wherein the machine status
screen includes: a flag setting portion for setting and removing a
flag associated with the selected machine; and a flag information
input portion for inputting information about the selected machine,
the input information to be associated with the flag when the flag
is set.
19. The control system of claim 18, wherein, when the flag
associated with the selected machine is set, an appearance of a
machine icon representing the selected machine is altered.
20. The control system of claim 19, wherein the appearance of the
machine icon is altered by altering a color of an alphanumeric code
portion of the machine icon.
21. The control system of claim 18, wherein, when the flag setting
portion indicates the flag associated with the selected machine is
set, closing the machine status screen causes the information about
the flag and the input information about the selected machine to be
transmitted to the database.
22. The control system of claim 5, wherein the graphical user
interface further comprises a new production screen, production
information stored in the database about a selected machine
displayable on the new production screen.
23. The control system of claim 22, wherein the new production
screen includes at least one of: a material portion that displays
information stored in the database about source material associated
with the selected machine; and a new production portion that
displays information stored in the database about new parts or
material produced by the selected machine.
24. The control system of claim 23, wherein the material portion
includes at least one of: information about a part or material
forming the source material; information identifying the part or
material; information about a job number associated with the part
or material; information about an operation associated with the
part or material; information about a lot number of the source
material; information about a quantity of a remaining portion of
the source material; and information about a type of the source
material.
25. The control system of claim 23, wherein the new production
portion includes at least one of: information about a part number
of the new part or material produced; information identifying the
new part or material; information about a job number associated
with the new part or material; information about an operation
associated with the new part or material; information about a lot
number of the source material used to form the new part or
material; an input portion for inputting information about a
quantity of the new part or material; an input portion for
inputting information about a type of the new part or material; and
an input portion for inputting note information about the new part
or material.
26. The control system of claim 25, wherein, after the information
about a quantity of the new part or material and the information
about a type of the new part or material is input through the
appropriate input portion, closing the new production screen causes
this information to be transmitted to the database.
27. The control system of claim 25, wherein closing the new
production screen and selecting another selectable icon
corresponding to a new location for the new part or material causes
the shop floor screen to display an animation representing movement
of the new part or material from the machine represented by the
selected icon to the factory element represented by the other
selectable icon.
28. The control system of claim 25, wherein the new production
screen includes a print icon, selecting the print icon causing a
label to be printed for the new part or material, the label
containing the information identifying the new part or
material.
29. The control system of claim 22, wherein, when a shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon that represents a
machine and a new production icon is displayed on one of the
plurality of computing devices, selecting the new production icon
and then one of the at least one selectable icon representing a
machine causes the new production screen to be displayed, the new
production screen displaying the production information stored in
the database about the machine represented by the selected
icon.
30. The control system of claim 5, wherein the graphical user
interface further comprises a maintenance input screen, maintenance
information about a selected machine capable of being input into
the database using the maintenance input screen.
31. The control system of claim 30, wherein the maintenance input
screen includes at least one of: a maintenance type input portion
that allows maintenance type information about the selected machine
to be input; a maintenance notes input portion that allows
maintenance notes information about the selected machine to be
input; and a maintenance warning input portion that allows
maintenance warning information about the selected machine to be
input.
32. The control system of claim 30, wherein: when a shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon that represents a
machine and a maintenance input icon is displayed on one of the
plurality of computing devices, selecting the maintenance input
icon and then one of the at least one selectable icon representing
a machine causes the maintenance input screen to be displayed; and
after the maintenance information about the selected machine is
input, closing the maintenance input screen causes the input
maintenance information to be transmitted to the database.
33. The control system of claim 5, wherein, for each selectable
icon that represents a machine, that selectable icon includes an
alphanumeric code that identifies the particular machine
represented by that selectable icon.
34. The control system of claim 33, wherein the alphanumeric code
further identifies a type of the machine represented by that
selectable icon.
35. The control system of claim 2, wherein, for at least one of the
at least one shop floor screen, at least one of the at least one
selectable icon represents a storage location of the corresponding
shop floor.
36. The control system of claim 35, wherein, for each selectable
icon that represents a storage location, that selectable icon
includes a graphic depicting a parts or material stored in the
storage location represented by that selectable icon.
37. The control system of claim 35, wherein the graphical user
interface further comprises a storage location screen, status
information stored in the database about at least one selected
storage location displayable on the storage location screen.
38. The control system of claim 37, wherein the storage location
screen includes at least one of: a identification portion that
displays identification information stored in the database about
each of at least one subset of parts or material associated with
the at least one selected storage location; a material portion that
displays information stored in the database about each of the at
least one subset of parts or material associated with the at least
one selected storage location; a quantity portion that displays
quantity information stored in the database about each of the at
least one subset of parts or material associated with the at least
one selected storage location; a location portion that displays
location information stored in the database about each of the at
least one subset of parts or material associated with the at least
one selected storage location; a operation portion that displays
operation information stored in the database about each of the at
least one subset of parts or material associated with the at least
one selected storage location; a status portion that displays
status information stored in the database about each of the at
least one subset of parts or material associated with the at least
one selected storage location; a type portion that displays type
information stored in the database about each of the at least one
subset of parts or material associated with the at least one
selected storage location; and a note portion that displays note
information stored in the database about each of the at least one
subset of parts or material associated with the at least one
selected storage location.
39. The control system of claim 38, wherein, when a subset of parts
or material is stored in or associated with a container, the
identification information for that subset of parts or material is
a container number assigned to the container associated with or
storing that subset of parts or material.
40. The control system of claim 38, wherein: the storage location
screen further includes a first option icon and a second option
icon; selection of the first option icon causes information only
about current subsets of parts or material associated with the
selected storage location to be displayed; and selection of the
second option icon causes information only about retired subsets of
parts or material associated with the selected storage location to
be displayed.
41. The control system of claim 38, wherein the storage location
screen further includes an inventory icon and an inventory display
portion, selecting the inventory icon causing an inventory of the
displayed subsets of parts or material to be determined and
displayed in the inventory display portion.
42. The control system of claim 38, wherein the storage location
screen further includes a filter icon, selecting the filter icon
allowing input of selection criteria, the subsets of parts or
material displayed in the storage location screen being limited to
those subsets of parts or material that meet the selection
criteria.
43. The control system of claim 35, wherein, when a shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon that represents a
storage location is displayed on one of the plurality of computing
devices, selecting one of the at least one selectable icon
representing a storage location causes the storage location screen
to be displayed, the storage location screen displaying information
stored in the database about the storage location represented by
the selected icon.
44. The control system of claim 35, wherein, when a shop floor
screen that includes at least one selectable icon that represents a
large storage location is displayed on one of the plurality of
computing devices, selecting one of the at least one selectable
icon representing a large storage location causes a sublocation
screen to be displayed, the sublocation screen displaying a
plurality of selectable storage sublocation icons, each selectable
storage sublocation icon representing a portion of the large
storage location.
45. The control system of claim 44, wherein, when the sublocation
screen is displayed on one of the plurality of computing devices,
selecting one of the plurality of selectable storage sublocation
icons causes the storage location screen for the selected portion
of the large storage location to be displayed, the storage location
screen displaying information stored in the database about the
portion of the storage location represented by the selected
sublocation icon.
46. The control system of claim 35, wherein, for each selectable
icon that represents a storage location, that selectable icon
includes an alphanumeric code that identifies the particular
storage location represented by that selectable icon.
47. The control system of claim 46, wherein the alphanumeric code
further identifies a type of parts or material generally stored in
the storage location represented by that selectable icon.
48. The control system of claim 2, wherein, for at least one of the
at least one shop floor screen, at least one of the at least one
selectable icon represents a work center of the corresponding shop
floor.
49. The control system of claim 48, wherein, for each selectable
icon that represents a work center, that selectable icon includes
an alphanumeric code that identifies the particular work center
represented by that selectable icon.
50. The control system of claim 2, wherein each shop floor screen
includes a login icon.
51. The control system of claim 50, wherein: selecting the login
icon causes an employee identification portion to be displayed in
the shop floor screen; and an employee is identified by inputting a
corresponding employee identification number into the employee
identification portion.
52. The control system of claim 51, wherein, after the employee is
identified, selecting a selectable icon causes a login signal and
the employee identification number to be transmitted to the
database, a logged-in/logged out status of the identified employee
for the machine represented by the selected icon being toggled in
the database in response to the transmitted login signal and
employee identification number.
53. The control system of claim 52, wherein selecting the login
icon causes an appearance of at least one of the at least one
machine icon of that shop floor screen to be altered based on the
logged-in/logged-out status of the identified employed for the at
least one machine icon of that shop floor screen.
54. The control system of claim 2, when one of the at least one
shop floor screens is displayed and information is transmitted to
the database about movement of parts or material from a first
factory element to a second factory element of the displayed shop
floor screen, an animation is displayed on the displayed shop floor
screen representing the movement of the parts or material from the
first factory element to the second factory element.
55. The control system of claim 54, wherein the animation comprises
an icon of a human carrying a box moving from a first selectable
icon representing the first factory element to a second selectable
icon representing the second factory element.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of Invention
[0002] This invention generally relates to a shop floor control
system that tracks, controls and reports information relating to
the operation of a factory. In particular, this invention is
directed to a graphical user interface for a shop floor control
system. Specifically, this invention is directed to a graphical
user interface that represents the physical layout of the
factory.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] A shop floor control system is an industry standard term
describing a computer-based system that tracks, controls and
reports information related to the operation of a factory. Shop
floor control systems typically track inventory, production and
labor hours. Traditionally, the conventional shop floor control
systems have been accessed by employees through a set of menus,
including pull down menus, data entry forms, including dialog
boxes, and browsers.
[0005] For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,398,336 and 5,548,756 to
Tantry et al. (which share the same specification) describe an
object-oriented architecture for a factory floor management system
that models factory floor entities as factory objects within a
relational database. Workers on the factory floor interact with the
factory floor management system through X-terminal or bar code
devices. The workers' interactions with these devices generate
database service requests that are used to retrieve, manipulate and
update data stored within the relational database. U.S. Pat. No.
5,530,857 to Gimza describes a shop floor control method and system
having a menu-based user interface employed by the interface units
of the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] This invention provides a graphical user interface shop
floor control system.
[0007] This invention further provides a graphical user interface
shop floor control system that graphically represents the factory,
including individual production machines, storage locations,
offices and other pertinent areas.
[0008] This invention additionally provides a graphical user
interface shop floor control system that uses selectable icons to
represent the individual factory entities or elements, such as the
production machines, storage locations, offices and other pertinent
areas and elements of the factory.
[0009] This invention additionally provides a graphical user
interface shop floor control system that displays areas of the
factory, where the selectable icons are positioned within the
interface at relative locations corresponding to the locations on
the factory floor occupied by the represented element.
[0010] This invention further provides a graphical user interface
shop floor control system where the selectable icons, when
selected, allow information relating to the represented factory
element within the shop floor control system to be displayed and/or
updated.
[0011] This invention also provides a graphical user interface shop
floor control system where the selectable icons are color-encoded
according to the status of the represented factory element.
[0012] In the graphical user interface shop floor control system of
this invention, a company, and particularly a factory, are
represented at different levels of detail. A main menu screen of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system provides
buttons for accessing subscreens for particular portions of the
factory, or more generally, the company. A manufacturing menu
screen accessible through a manufacturing button of the main menu
provides manufacturing-specific buttons providing access to
different schedules, statistical analyses, supplies and inventories
and the like. Most importantly, the manufacturing menu provides a
shop layout button that provides access to factory screens that
represent the actual physical layout of a factory at different
levels of detail. Thus, the main menu screen and the various menus
immediately under the main menu, such as the manufacturing menu
screen, provide differing levels of details of the organizational
structure of the company, while the shop layout screens provide
differing levels of detail of the physical structure of the
factory. A first shop layout screen of the shop floor graphical
user interface depicts a factory at a first level of detail.
Additional shop layout screens of the shop floor graphical user
interface depict portions of the factory shown in the first level
at increasing levels of detail, until a shop floor screen of the
shop floor graphical user interface control system is reached.
[0013] At each level of detail, the displayed shop layout screen of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system contains a
scale representation of the corresponding portion of the factory.
Displayed entities or elements of the factory having corresponding
screens in the graphical user interface shop floor control system
are represented by selectable icons. The selectable icons have
shapes or graphics that correspond to the actual shapes or
appearances, respectively, of the represented entities or elements.
Thus, on the first shop layout screen, the entire factory site is
represented, in scale, with each area of the factory having its own
screen in the graphical user interface shop floor control system
represented by either a correspondingly-shaped icon or an icon
containing a graphic corresponding to an appearance of the
represented area. In a small factory, it is likely the next level
of detail contains the shop floor screens for the actual shop
floors of the factory, and the selectable icons on the first level
screen represent those shop floors. In a very large factory, there
may be intermediate level screens between the first level screen
and the shop floor screens.
[0014] Each shop floor screen depicts the actual shop floor of the
factory and includes icons representing the various machines,
storage locations, offices and other factory elements of the shop
floor. These icons are positioned at locations within the shop
floor screen corresponding to the actual locations on the shop
floor occupied by the represented factory elements. Each of the
icons representing the various factory elements of the depicted
shop floor either is shaped according to the actual shape of the
represented factory element, or includes a graphic modeled after
the represented factory element, or both. Each icon can be shown
using a color coding that represents the actual status of the
represented element. Most icons on the shop floor screen are
selectable. The shop floor screen also includes a number of global
function buttons that control the user's interaction with the
selectable icons representing the factory elements of the depicted
shop floor.
[0015] Depending on the function button selected, different control
events or dialogue boxes are immediately displayed, or are
displayed once one of the selectable icons is selected. These
dialogue boxes include a machine status screen that allows the user
to view and update the status of a machine element of the factory;
a containers screen that allows the user to view and update data
regarding containers stored within a storage area of the factory; a
machine log-in screen that allows a user to determine which
employees are logged into the various machines or onto other
elements of the factory; a production screen that allows a user to
assign new production jobs to various machine elements of the
factory floor; and a machine log screen that allows maintenance on
the machine elements of the factory floor to be scheduled and
recorded.
[0016] Depending on the size and nature of the factory, additional
shop layout screens for other functions can also be implemented.
Such screens can include materials receiving and shipping docks,
materials transport systems and the like. Similarly, other
organizational portions of the company, such as sales, shipping and
receiving, materials, supplies, purchasing, personnel, accounting
and the like can have subsidiary screens allowing particular data
to be viewed and/or entered into the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention, and providing physical
layouts of the offices of the company corresponding to these
organizational structures.
[0017] Additionally, the various layout screens do not have to be
static. That is, various animations can be provided for these
layout screens to represent movement of materials both on the shop
floor and acceptance of movement information corresponding to the
moved materials by the graphical user interface shop floor control
system. Furthermore, such movement information is not limited to
materials but could include purchase orders and the like. Such
animations also can include status-dependent animations of the
various factory element icons of the various layout screens.
Similarly, the data entry screens do not need to be static, but can
import and display information on the various data entry screens
from bar code scanners, keyboards, scales, and the like, and from
the database of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system. Moreover, one or more of the various selectable icons of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention can be color encoded based on an assigned status of the
underlying factory element represented by a particular selectable
icon.
[0018] The shop floor screen also allows the status of machines to
be changed, employees to be logged onto various machines; and data
concerning the location of materials on the shop floor to be
updated.
[0019] These and other features and advantages of this invention
are described in or are apparent from the following detailed
description of the preferred embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The preferred embodiments of this invention will be
described in detail, with reference to the following figures,
wherein:
[0021] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a networked computer
system on which the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention can be implemented;
[0022] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing in greater
detail the elements of the server system of FIG. 1;
[0023] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing in greater
detail the elements of the client systems of FIG. 1;
[0024] FIG. 4 is a main menu screen of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention depicting the
organizational structure of a company;
[0025] FIG. 5 is a menu factoring menu screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention depicting the
organizational and physical structures of the manufacturing
structure shown in FIG. 4;
[0026] FIG. 6 is a factory layout screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0027] FIG. 7 is a first shop floor screen for a production shop of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention depicting the Threaded Rod area of FIG. 6;
[0028] FIG. 8 is a second shop floor screen for a production shop
of the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention depicting the Specials Area 2 of FIG. 6;
[0029] FIG. 9 shows a machine status screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention for a machine
having a "production" status;
[0030] FIG. 10 shows a second machine status screen of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention for a machine having a "maintenance" status;
[0031] FIG. 11 is a containers screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0032] FIG. 12 is a shelf screen of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention for a large storage
location;
[0033] FIG. 13 shows the threaded rod area shop floor screen when
used to log a worker onto or off of one or more machine elements of
the factory floor;
[0034] FIG. 14 shows a machine log-in screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0035] FIG. 15 shows a new production screen of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0036] FIG. 16 shows a select production screen of the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0037] FIG. 17 shows a machine log-maintenance record screen of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention;
[0038] FIG. 18 shows the Threaded Rod Area shop floor screen of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention used to display the current location of a given container
on the depicted shop floor;
[0039] FIG. 19 shows the Specials Area 2 shop floor screen used to
enter data to the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention when transferring materials within the
depicted shop floor;
[0040] FIG. 20 is a compilation of a number of slightly different
icon graphics for a particular machine for animating the production
status for that machine;
[0041] FIG. 21 is a machine log screen of the manufacturing menu of
FIG. 5 according to this invention;
[0042] FIG. 22 is a machine status summary screen of the reports
and graphs menu of the manufacturing menu of FIG. 5 of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention;
[0043] FIG. 23 is a machines list screen of the manufacturing menu
of FIG. 5 of the graphical user interface shop floor control system
of this invention;
[0044] FIG. 24 is a preventative maintenance schedule screen of the
manufacturing menu of FIG. 5 according to the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention;
[0045] FIG. 25 is a task list screen of the manufacturing menu of
FIG. 5 according to the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention;
[0046] FIG. 26 is a third type of shop screen for a job or
production shop according to the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention; and
[0047] FIG. 27 is a layout screen for a job shop according to the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0048] The graphical user interface shop floor control system of
this invention represents a factory and its various departments,
production areas, shop floors and other factory elements. Such
factory elements can include machines, storage locations, shop
floor offices, work centers, loading docks, material transport
systems and the like. In general, in the following detailed
description and claims, the term "shop floor" means any area or
portion of the factory, or more generally, the manufacturing
operation, that generates information about the manufacturing
operation to be stored in the manufacturing information database
described below.
[0049] As shown in FIG. 1, the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention is preferably implemented using a
local area network 100. In particular, the local area network 100
comprises a server system 112 positioned in a location A 110 of the
factory. In general, the location A 110 will usually be in the
administrative offices of the factory. The server system 112 is
connected by the communications network 114 to a number of client
systems. While only three client systems 124, 128 and 132 are shown
in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that any number of client
systems can be connected to the server system 112 by the
communications network 114.
[0050] As shown in FIG. 1, the client system 124 is located on the
shop floor of a shop 122 of a location B 120 of the factory. The
location B 120 of the factory also includes a second shop 126 in
which the second client system 128 is located. Similarly, the
client system 132 is located in a material storage location A 130
of the factory. It should also be appreciated that, if the shop
floors of the shops 122 and 126 are sufficiently large, any number
of client systems can be located on such shop floors. Likewise, if
the material storage location A 130 is sufficiently large,
additional client systems can also be located in the material
storage location A 130. It should further be appreciated that the
typical factory will have additional material storage locations and
other material storage areas, and each of these will have at least
one client system.
[0051] FIG. 2 shows in greater detail the server system 112 of FIG.
1. As shown in FIG. 2, the server system 112 is preferably
implemented on a general purpose computer 200 comprising, in part,
a controller 210, a ROM 220, a hard drive 230, a RAM 240, a
relational database 250 that stores the information described
below, a display generator/interface 260, a network interface 270,
and an input interface 280. A touch-screen display 262 is connected
to the output of the display generator-interface 260. Connected to
the general purpose computer 200 through the input interface 280
are one or more of a mouse 282, a keyboard 284, a bar code scanner
286 and the touch-screen display 262.
[0052] It should be appreciated that, in FIG. 2, the various
elements of the general purpose computer 200 are represented on a
functional basis, rather than a structural basis. Thus, the input
interface 280 and the display generator/interface 260 may actually
be implemented by a number of different hardware structures, by a
single hardware structure, or by two or more hardware structures
that combine different ones of the functional features provided by
the input interface 280 and the display generator/interface 260.
Similarly, the data structures represented by the relational
database 250 may be stored, at various times, on the hard drive
230, the RAM 240, and/or an internal cache memory of the controller
210.
[0053] Finally, it should be appreciated that, while FIG. 1 shows
the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention implemented as a client/server local area network, any
known system for interconnecting the server system 112 and the
various client systems 124, 128 and 132 can instead be used. In
particular, a wide area network, an intranet, the Internet, or any
other type of distributed network can be used to implement the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention.
[0054] Additionally, while FIG. 2 shows the server system 112
implemented using a general purpose computer 200, it should be
appreciated that the server system 112 can also be implemented on a
special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or
microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, and
ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a
hard wired electronic or a logic circuit such as a discrete element
circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA or
PAL, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing
the relational database 250 and generating the various screens and
other elements of the graphical user interface described below can
be used to implement the server system 112.
[0055] Similarly, the RAM 240 is preferably implemented using
static or dynamic RAM. However, the RAM 240 can be implemented
using any alterable randomly accessed memory, such as a floppy disk
and disk drive, a writable optical disk and disk drive, a hard
drive, flash memory or the like. Similarly, the hard drive 230 can
be alternately implemented using a floppy disk and disk drive, a
writable optical disk and disk drive, flash memory or the like. In
general, the RAM 240 is used to provide operating memory to the
controller 210, while the hard drive is used to provide long-term
non-volatile storage for the server system 112. Accordingly, it may
not be necessary to implement both the RAM 240 and the hard drive
230.
[0056] The ROM 220 is preferably implemented using a standard ROM.
However, the ROM 230 can also be implemented using a PROM, an
EPROM, an EEPROM, or a CD-ROM and disk drive, or the like. In
general, the ROM 220 is used to store boot programs and other
operating system programs for the controller 210. However,
depending on the implementation of the server system 112, the RAM
240 and/or the hard drive 230, it may not be necessary to include
the ROM 220.
[0057] Finally, while FIG. 2 shows the mouse 282, the keyboard 284,
the bar code scanner 286 and the touch-screen display 262 connected
to the input interface 280, it may not be necessary to implement
all of these elements. Thus, any one or more of these elements can
be omitted from the server system 112. It should be appreciated
that it is not necessary to provide a touch-screen display 262 or
362. Rather, the mouse 282 or 382 can instead be provided to allow
the various buttons and selectable icons on the various screens of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system to be
selected. In addition, rather than a mouse 282 or 382, another
controllable selection device, such as a joystick, a track ball, a
touch pad, light pen or the like, can be used. However, due to the
usually environmentally unfriendly conditions of the shop floor
relative to mice, the touch-screen displays 262 and 362 are
preferred. However, a touch pad can be used in place of the
touch-screen display without generating the environmental
contamination concerns present when using a mouse, a joystick or a
track ball.
[0058] In operation, the server system 112 is connected to the
communications network 114 via the network interface 270. The
server system 112 receives, from the various client systems
distributed throughout the factory, data concerning the various
factory elements and workers and uses this data to update the
information about the manufacturing operation stored in the
relational database 250.
[0059] Each factory element of the factory and each worker has a
corresponding record in the relational database 250. As the
operational status and jobs assigned to the various factory
elements change, this information is updated using the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention, and the
updated information is stored in the corresponding records of the
relational database. Similarly, as workers log onto and out of
various factory elements of the factory and alter the jobs
performed by such factory elements, the factory element records and
workers records are correspondingly updated in the relational
database. The relational database also includes records concerning
the various jobs or orders the factory elements are to perform, so
that material usage and labor hours associated with those jobs can
be tracked. Thus, as information concerning material usage and
labor hours by workers logged onto various factory elements
performing the work necessary to complete various jobs are input to
the relational database 250 using the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention, the labor hours and
materials consumed for such jobs are updated on the records in the
relational database 250 for such jobs.
[0060] The relational database 250 is preferably any commercially
available relational database capable of implementing manufacturing
information functions, including, but not limited to, inventory
tracking, production tracking and labor hours tracking, of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. In particular, the relational database 250 is preferably
implemented using the PROGRESS RDBMS.RTM., available from the
Progress Software Corp., Bedford, Mass.
[0061] Similarly, any graphical user interface operating system or
shell program can be used to implement the graphical user interface
of the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. In particular, Microsoft Windows 95.RTM. graphical user
interface operating system is preferably used as the graphical user
interface operating system for implementing this invention.
Likewise, any graphical programming language, or integrated
application program and graphical programming language, can be used
to implement the graphical user interface screens of the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention. In
particular, the PROGRESS 4GL.RTM. and the PROGRESS ADE.RTM.,
available from the Progress Software Corp., Bedford, Mass., are
preferably used to compliment the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention.
[0062] FIG. 3 shows in greater detail the client systems 124, 128
and 132 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the client system is
implemented on a general purpose computer 300, comprising, in part,
a controller 310, a ROM 320, a hard drive 330, a RAM 340, a display
generator/interface 360, a network interface 370 and an input
interface 380. A touch-screen display 362 is connected to an output
of the display generator/interface 360. One or more of a mouse 382,
a keyboard 384, a bar code scanner 386, and the touch screen
display 362 are connected to the input interface 380.
[0063] In operation, the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention is controlled primarily by the
touch-screens display 262 and 362. The user moves between the
various screens of the graphical user interface and selects factory
elements preferably using the touch-screen display 262 or 362. The
information from the touch screen display 262 or 362 is entered via
the input interface 260 or 360 and processed by the controller 210
or 310, which is executing the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention. From the controller 310, the
processed information is then transmitted through the network
interface 370, over the communication network 114, the network
interface 270 and the controller 210, to the relational database
250. Other information not directly related to a factory element,
such as employee information or container information can be
entered via the keyboard 284 or 384 or the bar code scanner 286 or
386.
[0064] For example, rather than creating separate icons for each
material container, each material container is provided with a bar
code label. When that container is moved about the factory floor,
for example from a storage location to a machine tool, a particular
container can be identified by scanning the bar code and then
associating it with a particular factory element, such as a storage
location or machine tool, by selecting that factory element.
Alternately, a separate icon can be created for each container and
accessed by selecting a storage location. This icon can then be
moved about the graphical user interface from the storage location
to another storage location or a production machine for converting
the materials stored in that container into work-in-progress or
finished goods.
[0065] FIG. 4 shows an exemplary main menu screen 400 of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. The exemplary main menu screen 400 includes a menu bar
410 containing standard graphical user interface buttons, and
therefore will not be further described herein. The exemplary main
menu screen 400 further includes a number of buttons 420-494 that
generally correspond to the organizational structure of the
particular exemplary company implementing this example of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. Accordingly, while the exemplary main menu screen 400
shows particular buttons 420-494, any combination of one or more of
these buttons, and/or other buttons, could be used.
[0066] For the particular exemplary company represented by the
exemplary main menu screen 400, this company is organizationally
divided into a sales department, represented by a SALES button 420,
a manufacturing department, represented by a MANUFACTURING button
430, a shipping and receiving department, represented by a SHIPPING
AND RECEIVING button 440, a materials department, represented by a
MATERIALS button 450, a supplies department, represented by a
SUPPLIES button 460, a purchasing department, represented by a
PURCHASING button 470, a personnel department, represented by a
PERSONNEL button 480, an accounting department, represented by an
ACCOUNTING button 490, a mailroom, represented by a MAIL button
492, and a system administration department, represented by a
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION button 494.
[0067] Upon pressing any one of these buttons 420-494, the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention will display additional screens generally specific to
that particular portion of the organizational structure of the
exemplary company. For example, when the MANUFACTURING button 430
is selected, the graphical user interface shop floor control system
of this invention displays an exemplary manufacturing menu screen
500 shown in FIG. 5.
[0068] As set forth above, FIG. 5 shows the exemplary manufacturing
menu screen 500. The exemplary manufacturing menu 500 includes the
menu bar 410 described above. The exemplary manufacturing menu
screen 500 includes a number of buttons representing both the
organizational structure of the manufacturing portion of the
exemplary company, and the physical layout of the manufacturing
portions of the exemplary company. The exemplary manufacturing menu
screen 500 includes a SHOP LAYOUT button 510, a CONTAINERS button
520, a MACHINE LOG button 530, a REPORTS AND GRAPHS button 540, a
MACHINE LIST button 550, a PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE button
560, a TASK LIST button 570, a JOB SUPERVISION button 580, a
MACHINE SCHEDULE button 590, and a RESTOCK ANALYSIS button 595.
When the SHOP LAYOUT button 510 is selected, the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention displays a
first level, or factory, screen, such as the exemplary screen 600,
of the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, as shown in FIG. 6.
[0069] When the CONTAINERS button 520 is selected, the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention displays
a containers screen, such as the exemplary screen 1000, of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, as shown in FIG. 11. When the MACHINE LOG button 530 is
selected, the graphical user interface shop floor control system of
this invention displays a machine log screen, such as the exemplary
screen 1800, of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention, as shown in FIG. 21. When the REPORTS AND
GRAPHS button 540 is selected, the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention displays a reports and
graphs menu, which provides a list of different reports and graphs
that can be created. FIG. 22 shows an exemplary graph, a machine
status summary graph 1900 of the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention. When the MACHINE LIST
button 550 is selected, the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention displays a machines screen, such
as the exemplary screen 2000, of the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention, as shown in FIG. 23. When
the PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE button 560 is selected, the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention displays a preventative maintenance schedules screen,
such as the exemplary screen 2100, of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention, as shown in FIG. 24.
When the TASK LIST button 570 is selected, the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention displays a
task list screen, such as the exemplary screen 2200, of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, as shown in FIG. 25. When the MACHINE SCHEDULE button
590 is selected, the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention displays a machine schedule screen, such
as the exemplary screen 1400, of the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention, as shown in FIG. 16. Each
of these screens will be described in greater detail below.
[0070] When either the JOB SUPERVISION button 580 or the RESTOCK
ANALYSIS button 595 is selected, a specific data entry and/or data
viewing screen is displayed that allows a user to view data stored
by, and/or add data to, the database 250 of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention.
[0071] It should also be appreciated that it is not necessary to
use either the main menu screen 400 or the manufacturing menu
screen 500 as the initially displayed screen initially displayed
when the graphical user interface shop floor control system is
opened on a particular one of the client systems 124, 128 and/or
132 or the server system 112. Rather, an appropriate one of the
factory screen 600 or the shop floor screens 700, 800, 2300 or 2400
described below or some other appropriate one of the various
screens of the graphical user interface shop floor control system
disclosed herein can be used as the initially displayed screen.
This is especially true when the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention is used to represent a job
shop, as in the job shop represented in FIG. 27, rather than the
production factory represented in FIG. 6 and the production shops
represented in FIGS. 7, 8 and 26.
[0072] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary embodiment of the first level, or
factory, screen 600 of the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention. In particular, the exemplary
factory screen 600 represents a production factory having a number
of distinct shop floors. The factory screen 600 includes the menu
bar 410 described above.
[0073] As shown in FIG. 6, the factory screen 600 presents an
overhead plan view of the buildings, parking lots and other areas
forming the factory represented by the factory screen 600.
Moreover, the various buildings, parking lots and other areas are
shown in their actual relative locations and are shown to scale.
Preferably, the various areas of the factory screen, are colored
according to their function. For example, the non-improved, or
grassy, areas 604 are colored green, while the various parking
areas 606, 607, 608 and 609 are preferably colored light gray.
Similarly, the road 602 cutting through the factory site is
preferably colored dark gray. The light and dark gray colors are
selected to represent the asphalt or concrete materials used to
form the road 602 and the parking areas 606-609. The various
buildings 610, 620, 630 and 640 are preferably colored using some
other distinctive color.
[0074] Selectable icons representing the various shop floors of the
factory, for a small factory, or the various shop floors and
intermediate functional or structural divisions of the buildings,
for a large factory, are positioned within the bounds of the
building icons representing the particular buildings containing the
particular shop floors or intermediate functional or structural
divisions. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, the icon 630 representing
Building 7 contains selectable icons 632 and 634 representing the
Bar Mill and the Wire Mill, respectively, contained within Building
7. Similarly, the icon 640 representing Building 10 contains within
its bounds the selectable icons 642, 644, 646 and 648, representing
the Finished Goods Area, the Threaded Rod Shop, the Specials 2 Area
and the Specials 1 Area, respectively, contained within Building
10. Likewise, the icon 620 representing Building 14 contains within
its bounds the icons 622 and 624 representing the TR area and the
Spec Area, respectively, contained within Building 14.
[0075] As shown in FIG. 6, each of the icons 610, 620, 630 and 640,
representing Buildings 12, 14, 7 and 10, respectively, is shaped
corresponding to the shape of the particular building that icon
represents. Furthermore, each of the icons 610, 620, 630 and 640 is
positioned within the plant screen 600 at a relative location and
orientation corresponding to the actual relative location and
orientation of the corresponding Buildings 12, 14, 7 and 10,
respectively. Additionally, the road 602, the unimproved areas 604,
the parking areas 606-609 and the coil storage areas 650 and 652
are also positioned in the factory screen 600 at locations and
orientations corresponding to the various represented portions of
the actual factory.
[0076] In operation, the factory screen 600 is generally used by
the various factory managers, who need to access all areas of the
factory represented by the factory screen 600. The factory screen
600 will generally be used by the workers of the factory only when
they need to navigate among the various shop floor screens used to
represent the various production areas of the factory, such as the
shop floor screens representing the Bar Mill and Wire Mill of
Building 7, the Finished Goods, Threaded Rod, Specials 2, and
Specials 1 Areas of Building 10 and the TR and Spec Areas of
Building 14, as well as any outside storage areas outside of the
various buildings, such as the coil storage areas 650 and 652.
Thus, the first level screen will usually not be the primary
display of the various client systems, such as the client systems
124, 128 and 132. Rather, each of these client systems will
preferably use as its primary display the particular shop floor
screen corresponding to the particular shop floor in which that
client system is located.
[0077] FIGS. 7 and 8 show two such exemplary shop floor screens 700
and 800, representing the Threaded Rod area, represented by the
selectable icon 644, and the Specials Area 2, represented by the
selectable icon 646, of the factory represented by the factory
screen 600 of FIG. 6. In particular, the exemplary shop floor
screens 700 and 800 each represents the shop floor of a distinct
production shop.
[0078] As shown in FIG. 7, the shop floor screen 700 comprises a
menu bar 710 and a shop floor representation 750. The menu bar 710
includes an EXIT button 712, a HELP button 714, a PRINT button 716,
a MAIN MENU button 718, a MACHINE LOG button 720, a LOGIN/OUT
button 722, a SELECT EMPLOYEES button 724, a PULL PRODUCTION button
726, a REFRESH button 728, a PRODUCTION button 730, a WAIT/MATL
button 732, a SETUP button 734, a WAIT/SETUP button 736, a
MAINTENANCE button 738, a WAIT/MAINT button 740, a TASK LIST button
742 and an IDLE button 744. The menu bar 710 also includes a bar
code area 746 containing a bar code input box 748.
[0079] The shop floor representation 750 comprises a number of
material storage location icons, production machine element icons
and other area icons, such as office area icons and the like. In
particular, the material storage location icons of the shop floor
representation 750 include a number of material storage location
icons, including a YARD icon 752, a pair of first COIL icons 754, a
BAR icon 756, a trio of SHEAR icons 760, a RACK icon 764, a THREAD
icon 766, a second COIL icon 774 and a third COIL icon 776.
Similarly, the production machine element icons of the shop floor
representation 750 include machine icons 758 representing six
first-type wire drawing machines W01-W06, machine icons 762
representing twenty-one thread cutting machines T01-T21, a machine
icon 768 representing a bar straightener machine, machine icons 770
representing two other thread cutting machines TS1 and TS2 and
machine icons 772 representing six second-type wire drawing
machines W07-W12. Finally, the shop floor representation 750
includes an office icon 780 representing the maintenance office for
the Threaded Rod area.
[0080] It should be appreciated that each of the different types of
machines represented by the machine icons 758, 762, 768, 770 and
772 are identified by using different graphic representations of
the corresponding machines that are embedded in or contained within
the various machine icons 758, 762, 768, 770 and 772. In
particular, each different graphic representation closely
corresponds to the visual appearance of the correspondingly
represented machine. Furthermore, the machine icon representing
each particular machine is physically located within the shop floor
representation 750 at a location that closely corresponds to the
actual location of the represented machine on the shop floor of the
Threaded Rod Area. Accordingly, even unsophisticated workers or
workers completely unfamiliar with the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention can readily relate each
selectable machine icon with the corresponding machine on the shop
floor.
[0081] Similarly, each of the various material storage location
icons 752, 754, 756, 760, 764, 766, 774 and 776 include a graphic
representation of, and alpha-numeric name indicating, the type of
material stored in the corresponding materials storage locations on
the shop floor of the Threaded Rod Area. Thus, the material storage
location icons 752 and 754 for the YARD storage area and the COIL 1
and COIL 2 storage areas incorporate the same graphic, indicating
these storage areas generally store the same type of material, but
using names that distinguish the particular storage areas that
store the same types of material. Thus, the material storage
location icons 774 and 776 for the COIL 3 and COIL 4 storage areas,
respectively, of the Threaded Rod Area use different graphics from
each other and from the material storage location icons 752 and
754. This clearly indicates that these storage areas generally
store different types of materials from the COIL 1 and COIL 2
storage areas, even though their names are very similar. In
contrast, the material storage location icons 756, 760, 764 and 766
use the same graphic icon to represent the BAR 01, SHEAR 1 -SHEAR
3, B7 RACK, and THREAD 1 storage areas, thus clearly indicating
that these storage areas store generally the same type of material
despite the very different names of these storage areas.
[0082] Referring again to the menu bar 710, the EXIT button 712,
the HELP button 714 and the PRINT button 716 provide the
conventional functions for such buttons, as is commonly understood
by those familiar with MS Windows 95.RTM. operating system. The
MAIN MENU button 718 closes the currently displayed screen of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention and returns the user to the main menu 400 of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention shown in FIG. 4.
[0083] The MACHINE LOG button 720 is used to access the machine
log-maintenance record screen 1500, as shown in FIG. 17 and
described in greater detail below. The MACHINE LOG button 720 also
contains a graphic showing a generic machine and a logbook. This
graphic clearly indicates to unsophisticated or unfamiliar users
that the MACHINE LOG button is used to access the maintenance
record for the machine represented by the selected one of the
various machine icons shown in the shop floor representation
750.
[0084] The LOGIN/OUT button 722 is used to switch the bar code
portion 746 of the MENU button 710 to the login/out portion 790, as
shown in FIG. 13 and described in greater detail below. The SELECT
EMPLOYEE button 724 is used to access the machine login screen
1200, as shown in FIG. 14 and described in greater detail below.
The PULL PRODUCTION button 726 is used to open the new production
screen 1300, as shown in FIG. 15 and described in greater detail
below. The REFRESH button 728 is used to refresh the data of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system stored locally
on the particular client system displaying the currently displayed
screen. The operation of the REFRESH button 728 will be described
in greater detail below.
[0085] The right-most eight buttons 730-744 are collectively known
as the machine status buttons. For the particular factory shown in
FIGS. 6-25, the implemented machine status buttons include the
PRODUCTION button 730, the WAIT/MATL button 732, the SETUP button
734, the WAIT/SETUP button 736, the MAINTENANCE button 738, the
WAIT/MAINT button 740, the TASK LIST button 742 and the IDLE button
744. However, it should be appreciated that the particularly
implemented machine status buttons will differ between different
implementations of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention, depending on the particular needs and
machines of the particular factory represented by the particular
implementation of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention.
[0086] The machine status buttons are used to update the data
stored in the relational database 250 on the server system 112 when
the status of one of the represented machines changes. In
particular, to change the status of a particular machine, the user
first selects one of the machine status buttons 730-744, and then
selects the machine icon corresponding to that particular machine.
Furthermore, depending on the particular implementation of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, the machine status buttons can be used to submit
requests for materials, setup or maintenance on a particular
machine.
[0087] In addition, each of the machine status buttons has
associated with it a particular color encoding. Accordingly, when a
factory element icon displayed in the shop floor representation 750
is assigned a particular machine status, that icon takes, in
addition to its embedded graphic, a color encoding corresponding to
the particular assigned machine status. In this way, the various
users of the system, including the workers and the supervisors on
the shop floor and the various supervisors and managers in other
parts of the factory, including the administrative offices, can
quickly and visually determine the status of the various machines
and other factory elements on the various shop floors.
[0088] In particular, the PRODUCTION button 730 uses a solid green
color encoding, as shown in FIG. 7. In an analogy to a green
traffic light, the green color encoding indicates machines assigned
the production status are currently operating to produce finished
goods or work in progress. The WAIT/MATL button 732 has a green
frame color encoding, as shown in FIG. 7. This green frame
indicates that while the particular machine is waiting for
materials, as soon as the materials are provided, it can go into a
production mode.
[0089] The SETUP key 734 uses a solid blue color encoding. The
setup status indicates that the particular machine is currently
being prepared for a new production operation and will be ready to
be placed into either a production mode or the
waiting-for-materials status as soon as the setup operation has
been completed. The WAIT/SETUP button 736 uses a blue frame color
encoding. The wait/setup status indicates the particular machine
has finished its current production run and is waiting to be setup
for a new production run but that the setup process has not yet
begun.
[0090] The MAINTENANCE button 738 uses a solid red color encoding.
The red color encoding, in an analogy to a red traffic light,
indicates the machine has been stopped from a production run due to
some maintenance problem, but that the machine is currently being
maintained in order to resolve the maintenance problem. The
WAIT/MAINT button 740 is color encoded using a red frame encoding.
The red frame encoding indicates that the particular machine has
been taken off line and is no longer in a production run due to a
maintenance problem, but that the particular machine is not yet
being maintained.
[0091] It should be appreciated that the WAIT/MATL, WAIT/SETUP and
WAIT/MAINT buttons 732, 736 and 740 can be used merely to reflect
the status of a particular machine. However, these buttons can also
be used to generate material, setup or maintenance requests to the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. That is, these buttons can be additionally used to send
messages to various departments and/or workers to notify those
departments and/or workers that a particular machine is currently
waiting for materials, waiting for a setup crew or waiting for a
maintenance crew. Thus, these buttons are not only capable of being
used to passively provide data concerning the status of the
represented machine to the relational database 250 of the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention, but can
also be used in actively participation in the day-to-day management
of the factory.
[0092] The TASK LIST button 742 is used to access the exemplary
task list screen 2200 shown in FIG. 25 without having to return to
the exemplary manufacturing menu 500 shown in FIG. 5.
[0093] Alternatively, instead of, or in addition to, the TASK LIST
button 742, the menu bar 710 can include a CLOSE DEPT button. The
CLOSE DEPT button is used to close down the shop floor. That is,
the CLOSE DEPT bottom represents a "lights out" state of the shop
floor, such as when the shop floor is closed down between shifts.
For example, a shop floor supervisor will use the CLOSE DEPT button
to change the status of all factory elements of the shop floor to
"closed" or "shut down" just before the shop floor is closed for
the night. The CLOSE DEPT status is used to distinguish time
periods when the entire shop is shut down from time periods where
the shop floor is open, but various machines are idle or otherwise
not producing parts. The CLOSE DEPT button could use a gray color
encoding.
[0094] The IDLE button 744 is used to indicate that a particular
machine is currently inactive, i.e., not running production or
otherwise engaged, and thus it is available to be used for any new
production orders that may be received. As shown in FIG. 7, the
IDLE button 744 uses a yellow frame color encoding.
[0095] The bar code portion 746 of the menu bar 710 is used to
display the data input when scanning a bar code, or when inputting
the bar code data through the keyboard 284 or 384. The bar code
scanner 286 or 386 is used to scan bar code labels. These bar code
labels are generally used to identify containers of input
materials, work-in-progress, or finished goods. In addition, each
worker can be issued a badge containing a bar code that identifies
that worker. A worker's bar code can then be scanned by the worker
when logging into or out of various machines or other factory
elements of the factory.
[0096] Alternately, rather than, or in addition to, the bar code
scanner, the keyboard 284 or 384 can be used to input the
alphanumeric bar code by hand. However, it is not necessary to
provide both the bar code scanner and the keyboard. Furthermore, if
the keyboard 284 or 384 is provided, it does not need to be a full
typewriter-style keyboard. Rather, the keyboard 284 or 384 need
merely have enough keys to input the alphanumeric bar codes
associated with the containers, and possibly the workers.
[0097] In operation, when the status of a machine on the actual
shop floor changes, one of the workers on the shop floor goes to
the nearest client system. If the shop floor screen for this shop
floor is not already displayed on the display 262, the worker
navigates through the various screens of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system until the shop floor screen for
the particular shop is displayed. That worker, who is generally the
operator of the particular machine, selects the particular machine
status button corresponding to the current status of the particular
machine for which the operator wishes to update the status. The
operator then selects the icon corresponding to that machine.
Because the display 262 or 362 is a touch-screen display, the
worker selects the various icons by physically touching the
touch-screen display 262 or 362. In response, the touch-screen
display 262 or 362 generates electrical signals that indicate to
the graphical user interface shop floor control system which button
and which machine icon were touched. Thus, when the term "selected"
is used herein, it should be understood that "selected" includes
selecting a button or selectable icon with a mouse, touch-pad,
track ball, light pen, joystick or the like, or touching a button
or selectable icon using the touch screen 262 or 362.
[0098] The graphical user interface shop floor control system then
alters the displayed shop floor screen to change the color coding
for the selected icon so that it corresponds to the color coding of
the selected status button. At the same time, the graphical user
interface shop floor control system provides updated status
information for the particular machine to the relational database
250. In particular, the particular record in the relational
database 250 corresponding to that machine is a machine log record
that maintains a detailed log of every action and status change
that occurs to that machine.
[0099] The REFRESH button 728 is used to control how the displayed
information is updated on the various screens of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention. In
particular, because there will generally be a number of client
systems within each shop floor, data concerning the various
machines on each particular shop floor will be input to the
relational database 250 through a number of different client
systems. The information displayed on those client systems can be
updated using any one of a number of refresh modes. In general, the
information displayed in any screen of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention is updated each time
that screen is initially displayed. The refresh modes described
below are used after the particular screen is initially
displayed.
[0100] After the particular screen is initially displayed, the
graphical user interface shop floor control system is in a first
refresh mode. In this first refresh mode, the displayed screen of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system is updated
only to reflect information entered through that particular client
system. Thus, in this first refresh mode, the displayed screen on a
particular client system is not updated to reflect other
information entered into the relational database 250 through other
ones of the client systems.
[0101] This other information can be obtained in either one of two
ways. First, the currently displayed screen can be closed and
reopened, thus again initially displaying the screen with the
complete current information for this screen as stored in the
relational database 250. Alternately, the REFRESH button 728 can be
pressed a single time to place the graphical user interface shop
floor control system for this client system into a second refresh
mode.
[0102] In the second refresh mode, the displayed screen is updated
automatically once every predetermined time period. Preferably,
this predetermined time period is one second. Thus, every one
second, the client system placed in the second refresh mode obtains
a complete snapshot of the information currently stored in the
relational database 250 for the factory elements being displayed.
Accordingly, for each shop floor screen 700 placed in this second
refresh mode, the instantaneous status of the various factory
elements in the shop floor representation 750 of the particular
shop floor represented by the shop floor screen 700 are
continuously displayed.
[0103] The MAINTENANCE icon 780, representing the maintenance
office of the Threaded Rod Area shop floor, can also be selected.
When selected, various maintenance system screens can be displayed,
such as, for example, the exemplary preventative maintenance screen
2100, as shown in FIG. 24 or a screen providing a more detailed
representation of the maintenance office. This more detailed screen
could allow the preventative maintenance schedule and the specific
supply stores for this shop floor to be selected. The particular
maintenance system screens that can be displayed will depend upon
the various preventative maintenance systems and/or schedules that
are used by the particular factory represented by the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention. In
addition, various spare parts screens can be implemented to allow
spare parts inventory to be maintained and accessed. Again, the
particular supplies and/or spare parts screens to be implemented
will depend upon the supplies and/or spare parts systems used by
the factory represented by the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention.
[0104] As set forth above with respect to the main menu screen 400
shown in FIG. 4, various organizational entities of the exemplary
company represented by the main menu screen 400 shown in FIG. 4 can
be accessed through the buttons 420-494. By selecting one or more
of the buttons 420-494, specific further screens, including one or
more of data input screens or data displaying screens, can be
accessed to allow the employees of the company to provide data to,
or view data in, the database 250 of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention.
[0105] Alternately, rather than providing the organizational
structure shown in the main menu screen 400, one or more shop floor
screens for the non-manufacturing portions of the company,
comprising the various organizational offices of the company, could
be provided. That is, offices can be represented as information
processing factory elements. For example, an order can be received
by a sales office and entered into the relational database 250
using one or more screens accessed through a "Sales Office" icon of
an "Administration" shop floor screen. The "Sales Office" can thus
represent a gateway into an order inputting procedure controlled by
one or more "Order Input" screens. For example, the
"Administration" shop floor screen of the factory represented by
the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention could represent the administrative offices of the
factory. This "Administration" shop floor screen could include the
"Sales Office", an "Engineering Office", a "Purchasing Office", a
"Quality Control Office" and the like.
[0106] When the sales staff of the factory receives a new order,
the sales staff would enter the order into the relational database
250 through one or more screens entered by selecting the "Sales
Office" icon of the "Administration" shop floor control screen.
This order would indicate the customer, the part ordered and all
other relevant information. The order could then be placed in a
first storage location of the "Administration" shop floor control
screen. Then, one of the engineering staff could move the order
from the first storage location into the "Engineering Office", to
indicate that the order is being worked on by the engineering
staff. For example, the engineering staff may need to either create
the engineering drawings for the particular part indicated in the
order, pull the engineering drawings for that part from archives,
or modify a current engineering drawing to represent a new part.
Once the engineering office staff has completed processing the
order, the order could be placed in a second storage location of
the "Administration" shop floor control screen, between the
"Engineering Office" and the "Purchasing Office".
[0107] Someone in the purchasing staff could then move the order
from the second storage location into the "Purchasing Office", to
indicate that the order is being worked on by the purchasing office
staff. In particular, this involves generating the purchasing
orders for obtaining the materials necessary to produce the
requested part at the requested quantities. Once the purchasing
office staff has completed processing the order, the order can then
be moved to a third storage location of the "Administration" shop
floor control screen, between the "Purchasing Office" and an office
for the manager of the particular shop floor responsible for
producing the requested part. The manager of that shop floor could
then move that order into a "Manager's Office" for scheduling that
order on one or more of the machines of the shop floor. In this
way, the various offices of the factory can be modeled and the
information flow between the various offices tracked and
maintained.
[0108] FIG. 8 shows a second shop floor screen 800 having a
different shop floor representation 850 that represents a different
shop floor of the factory. In particular, the shop floor
representation 850 represents the shop floor of the Special Areas 2
of the factory. As shown in FIG. 8, the various buttons 712-744 and
the bar code area 746 and input box 748 are the same as in the
first shop floor screen 700. In general, these buttons will not
change between the various shop floor screens representing the
various shop floors of the factory.
[0109] As shown in FIG. 8, the shop floor representation 850 of the
second shop floor screen 800 includes a material storage location
icon 862, representing a MISCELLANEOUS storage area, a material
storage location icon 864, representing a SPCL-FG (special FG)
storage area and a material storage location icon 866 representing
the STAINLESS 3 storage area. The shop floor representation 850
also includes PALLET work center icons 870 representing PALLET work
centers, PKBG and PKBG1 work center icons, 876 representing bagging
packaging work centers, and a WRAPPER work center icon 880
representing a WRAPPER work center. A work center is an area of the
shop floor that represents a group of employees performing a
physical task, such as packaging parts into bags, wrappers or
pallets, or the like. In particular, the work centers are not
associated with any specific machine, and so cannot be represented
with a machine icon. Likewise, the work centers are not merely
storage locations, as work is performed on the parts in the work
centers. Thus, they cannot be represented by storage location
icons.
[0110] The shop floor representation 850 also includes machine
icons 852 representation the machines BEB1-BEB3, UB1-UB5, AB1 and
AB6-AB11, SL1 and D1-D3, machine icons 854 representing the
machines F1-F7, machine icon 856 representing the machine PS1, a
machine icon 858 representing a welding machine WLI, a machine icon
860 representing the machine P7, machine icons 868 representing
machines V1 and V2, machine icons 872 representing the machines
BR1-BR3, a machine icon 874 representing the press machine BRS1, a
machine icon 878 representing the machine SM1, and machine icons
882 representing the header machine H12, PUC1, CS1 and CS2.
[0111] It should be appreciated that similar types of machines use
the same type of machine icon, while different makes or subtypes of
machines use different letter codes and individual machines use
different number codes. Thus, the machines BEB 1-BEB3, UB1-UB5, AB1
and AB6-AB11, and D1-D3 are all represented on the shop floor
representation 850 with the same machine icon, while the machine
icons 852 use different letter codes to distinguish between the
anchor bolt producing machines, the U-bolt producing machines, and
the various makes of particular anchor bolt and/or U-bolt producing
machines. Similarly, machine icons 856, 872, 874, 878 and 882 all
represent different presses, while the letter codes indicate the
different makes and/or the different subtypes of presses. Thus,
while the same icon is used to represent similar types of machines,
the alphanumeric code for each particular icon indicates both the
specific type of machine and the particular machine represented by
each icon.
[0112] The shop floor representation 850 of the shop floor screen
800 also includes a BAB truck icon 884 and a Spec Truck icon 886.
These truck icons 884 and 886 represent different loading docks of
the Special Area 2. The graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention can use a number of different types of
loading docks. For example, one of these loading docks can be used
to represent the location of containers that have been shipped
off-site to subcontractors for specialized processing, such as
plating. In this case, when a container has been shipped off-site
for such special processing, the container icon for that container
is moved from one of the storage areas 862-866, one of the machines
852-860, 868, 872, 874, 878 or 882, or one of the work centers 870,
876 or 880 to the corresponding one of the truck icons 884 or 886
to advise the database 250 that that container has been shipped to
the offsite subcontractor. When that container is returned from the
off-site special processing, the container icon for that container
is moved from the corresponding truck icon to the appropriate next
location on the shop floor representation to advise the database
250 that that container has been returned by the off-site
subcontractor.
[0113] Alternatively, one of these loading docks can be used to
represent the location of containers that have been shipped to the
customer ordering the parts stored in that container. Accordingly,
when a container has been placed onto a truck for transport to a
customer, the container icon representing that container is moved
from one of the storage areas 862-866, one of the machines 852-860,
868, 872, 874, 878 or 882, or one of the work centers 870, 876 or
880 to one of the truck icons 884 or 886 to advise the database 250
that that container has been placed onto the truck.
[0114] The shop floor representation 850 also includes a scroll
button 888 that allows a portion of the shop floor representation
850, which does not fit onto the touch screen 262 or 362 at the
required resolution, to be viewed.
[0115] As in FIG. 7, the various machine icons 852, 860, 864, 868,
872, 874, 878, and 882 are color-encoded according to the status
information for the represented machines stored in the relational
database 250. In particular, the color encoding of the machine
icons for the machines F7, UB1 and SL1 indicate these machines are
being maintained, the color encoding of the machine icons for the
machines UB2, F4, AB7, AB8, AB10, BRS1, BR1-3, SM1, H12, and CS1
indicate these machines are in production, and the color encoding
of the machine icons for the other machines indicate the other
machines are idle.
[0116] FIG. 9 shows the machine status screen 900. As described
above, when one of the shop floor screens, such as the first or
second shop floor screens 700 and 800, is displayed, and the user
first selects one of the machine status buttons 730-744, and then
selects one of the machine icons, the user can alter the status
information for that machine. In contrast, if the user selects one
of the machine icons in the shop floor representation 750 or 850
without first selecting one of the status buttons 730-744, the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention instead displays the machine status screen 900. The
machine status screen provides more details about what is currently
happening on the machine represented by the selected machine icon.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the machine status screen 900
shows the machine status information for machine T15 located on the
Threaded Rod shop floor.
[0117] As shown in FIG. 9, the machine status screen 900 includes a
menu bar 910, a status portion 920, a production portion 930, an
employee logged-in portion 940, a containers produced portion 950,
a containers at machine portion 960, and a machine schedule 970. In
particular, the menu bar 910 includes a CANCEL button 912, a HELP
button 914, a PRINT button 916, a JOB button 917, and an OK button
918. The menu bar 910 also indicates the particular machine number
and the machine name for the selected machine. In this case, the
machine number is T15 and this machine is, in particular, a TESKER
35 cylinder threader. The CANCEL button 912 closes the machine
status screen 900 and cancels any changes that have been made to
any of the various portions of the machine status screen 900 while
the OK button 918 closes the machine status screen 900 and accepts
any changes. The HELP button 914 and the PRINT button 916 operate
similarly to the HELP button 714 and the PRINT button 716 of the
menu bar 710 of the shop floor screens 700 and 800.
[0118] The status portion 920 indicates the current status of the
selected machine, the date and time the status was last changed,
and any flags that may be present on that machine. In particular,
the status portion 920 of the machine status screen 900 for the
machine T15 indicates this machine is currently in a production run
and has been in the production run since 11:20 a.m. on Sep. 25,
1997. Additionally, there are no flags set on the status of this
machine.
[0119] The status flag includes a CLEAR FLAG check box portion 922
and a details portion 924. When the check box portion 922 is not
checked, the alphanumeric machine identifier portion of the machine
icon corresponding to the machine displayed in the machine status
screen is changed from black to red. That is, when the flag portion
922 is checked, the alphanumeric identifier is displayed using
black text. However, when the flag portion 922 is not checked,
indicating this machine has a status flag associated with it, that
flag is indicated on the shop floor screen by changing the
alphanumeric identifier from black to red color encoding.
[0120] The details box 924 is used to indicate the nature of the
flag. The flag can be used to provide any additional information
about the corresponding machine to the system. In particular, the
flag is often used to indicate that some preventative maintenance
needs to be performed on the machine, even though it is not
necessary to take the machine out of production status. The flag
can also be used to indicate to the graphical user interface shop
floor control system some other piece of information about the
particular machine. To access the information input into the
details box 924, the machine screen 2000 shown in FIG. 23 or the
machine log screen 1800 shown on FIG. 21 can be displayed, or a
report requesting all flag details from the relational database 250
can be generated.
[0121] The production portion 930 indicates the particular part and
job number of the production run being produced by the selected
machine, as well as the quantity and the order number, if any. In
particular, the production portion 930 of the machine status screen
900 for this machine indicates that it is currently producing part
number ATR 3/8X10 for job number J0007405 and is producing 500,000
pounds of these parts. It should also be appreciated that, as the
status indicated in the status portion 920 changes, the information
disclosed in the portion 930 of the machine status screen 900
changes correspondingly, as shown in the machine status screen 900
of FIG. 10.
[0122] The employee logged-in portion 940 indicates all of the
employees currently logged onto this machine and the time and date
each employee logged on. The graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention uses this information to attribute
labor hours to different production jobs, and to determine
maintenance activity, production efficiency calculations, and the
like.
[0123] The employee logged-in portion 940 includes a NAME title
button and column 941, a LOGIN DATE title button and column 942 and
a TIME title button and column 943. The name column 941 lists the
names of the employees currently logged onto the selected machine.
The login date column 942 indicates the date at which that person
last logged in for the current machine. The time column 943
indicates the time of day that the employee last logged in. The
employees logged-in portion 940 also includes a scroll bar 944.
[0124] The containers produced portion 950 is used to indicate the
full or completed containers of work-in-progress or finished goods
that have been produced by this machine, and transferred to another
machine, a storage location or shipping to the customer. In the
containers produced portion 950 of the machine status screen 900
for the machine T15, at least three different containers have been
produced by this machine.
[0125] The containers produced portion 950 includes a CONTAINER
title button and column 951, a TYPE title button and column 952, a
QUANTITY title button and column 953, a UNIT title button and
column 954, a DATE title button and column 955, a TIME title button
and column 956 and a USER title button and column 957. The
container column 951 lists the number of bar code label attached to
each of the various containers produced by the selected machine.
The type column 952 indicates the type of storage in that
container. The quantity column 953 indicates the amount of material
in the container. The unit column 954 indicates the units of the
quantity. The date column 955 indicates the date the container was
produced, while the time column 956 indicates the time of day that
container was produced. The user column 957 indicates the
particular operator that produced that container. The containers
produced portion 950 also includes a scroll bar 958.
[0126] The containers-at-machine portion 960 indicates the source
containers that are currently at the selected machine, i.e., the
containers supplying source material for the production of the part
indicated in the production portion 930. In particular, as shown in
FIG. 9, the containers-at-machine portion 960 of the machine status
screen 900 for the machine T15 lists three containers, having ID
numbers C010739, C0107373 and C0107413, and which contain a bundles
of 254, 243 and 2656 pounds, respectively, of parts having a part
number DSC330X120.
[0127] The containers-at-machine portion 960 includes a CONTAINER
title button and column 961, a PART NO title button and column 962,
a TYPE title button and column 963, a QUANTITY title button and
column 964, a PACKS title button and column 965, a UNITS title
button and column 966, a STATUS title button and column 967 and a
NOTE title button and column 968. The containers-at-machine also
includes a scroll bar 969. The container column 961 indicates the
number of the bar code label of the source container associated
with the selected machine. The part number column 962 indicates the
part number of the material or work in progress stored in that
container. The type column 963 indicates the storage type for the
part or materials stored in that container. The quantity column 964
indicates the amount of parts in that container when it was first
associated with the selected machine. The packs column 965 is used
to indicate the type of packaging or grouping when the parts are
stored in the container in packages or groups, such as boxes or
other types of packaging. The unit column 966 indicates the units
for the quantity of parts, or packages, stored in that container.
The status column 967 indicates the status of that container. In
general, the status will be "source", indicating this container is
being used as a source of material to produce the parts selected in
the machine schedule portion 970. The note portion 968 provides a
location for the operator or other worker of the factory to provide
notes about the material stored in that particular container.
[0128] Finally, the machine schedule portion 970 of the machine
status screen 900 indicates the current job being produced and the
next jobs that have already been scheduled for production on the
selected machine. In particular, as shown in FIG. 9, the machine
schedule portion 970 of the machine status screen 900 for the
machine T15 indicates that for the current job, the current job was
due on Feb. 23, 1998. The machine schedule portion 970 also
indicates that of the 500,000 pounds of parts to be produced,
approximately 91,000, or 18%, have been produced and an estimated
408.7 hours of production run time are required to complete the
job.
[0129] In addition to the current job, the machine schedule portion
970 shows the next two jobs scheduled for machine T15. If there are
other jobs scheduled for this machine, they can be viewed by
selecting the up and down arrows of the scroll bar 972 to display
such jobs. It should be appreciated that each of the employee
logged-in portion 970, the containers produced portion 950 and the
containers-at-machine portion 960 also have scroll bars that allow
additional information to be viewed that could not otherwise be
displayed. In response to selecting the JOB button 917, the job
sheet, described below with respect to the JOB SHEET button 1420 of
the machine schedule screen 1400 shown in FIG. 16, is displayed for
the selected job in the machine schedule portion 970.
[0130] The machine schedule portion 970 includes a DUE DATE title
button and column 980, a JOB NO title button and column 981, a
ORDER NO title button and column 982, a PART NO title button and
column 983, a OPERATION title button and column 984, a QUANTITY
title button and column 985, a PRODUCED title button and column
986, a UNIT title button and column 987, a COMPLETE title button
and column 988 and an HOURS LEFT title button and column 989. The
due date column 980 indicates the due date for the particular job.
The job number column 981 indicates the particular job numbers
assigned to the particular jobs associated with the selected
machine. The order number column 982 indicates any particular order
number that may be associated with the particular job. The part
number column 983 indicates the particular part number that is to
be produced for the particular job. The operation column 984
indicates the next operation to be performed on the particular part
for the particular job.
[0131] The quantity column 985 indicates the number of units of the
particular part to be produced for that job. The produced column
986 indicates the number of units of parts that have actually been
produced based on the current information stored in the database
250 of the graphical user interface shop floor control system. The
unit column 987 indicates the number of units of the quantity that
is to be produced. As shown in FIG. 9, the units can be pounds or
pieces or the like. The complete column 988 indicates, based on the
value in the produced column 986 and the quantity column 985, the
percentage of completion of that job. The hours left column 989
indicates, based on current production rates, the amount of machine
hours required to produce the remaining amount of quantity of parts
for that job.
[0132] It should be appreciated that each of the title buttons
941-943, 951-957, 961-968 and 980-989 is selectable. Selecting any
one of these title buttons sorts the records displayed in that
particular portion of the machine status screen 900 in descending
order based on the data for that column. Pressing that title button
again resorts the records for that portion based on the data for
that column in ascending order. Pressing a different title button
of that portion resorts the records for that portion in descending
order based on the data for that column.
[0133] It should be appreciated that the employee logged-in portion
940 can be used to indicate to the database 250 of the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention which of
the logged-in employees is currently operating the selected
machine. This is performed by selecting the row corresponding to
that employee or by using the scroll bar 942 to scroll through the
list of logged-in employees.
[0134] It should be appreciated that, as set forth below with
respect to FIG. 15, that a particular container is associated with
a particular job when that container is pulled from a previous
machine or storage location and moved to the selected machine.
Thus, indicate the various source containers located at the
selected machine. In general, because each source container is
associated with a specific job, selecting a particular job for
production when the PRODUCTION button 730 is pressed, as set forth
below with respect to FIG. 16, automatically selects the associated
source container. However, the containers-at-machine portion 960
could be used to select the particular source container that is
being used to supply input parts and/or raw materials to the
selected machine for generating the currently produced parts. As
above, the particular source container can be selected either by
directly selecting the particular row associated with that
container or by using the scroll bar 962 to scroll through the
source containers at the selected machine.
[0135] Finally, while a particular job for production is usually
selected when the PRODUCTION button 730 is pressed, as set forth
below with respect to FIG. 16, the machine schedule portion 970 can
be used to select the particular job to which the current operation
of the selected machine should be attributed. As indicated above,
the particular job can be either directly selected by sorting the
particular column corresponding to that job, or by using the scroll
bar 972 to select the job.
[0136] As set forth above, if the status is SET UP, MAINTENANCE,
IDLE, WEIGHT/MATL, WEIGHT/SETUP or WEIGHT/MAINT instead of
PRODUCTION, the information displayed in the production portion 930
of the machines status screen 900 will change correspondingly to a
setup portion, a maintenance portion, an idle portion, a
waiting-for-materials portion, a waiting-for-setup portion or a
waiting-for-maintenance portion, respectively. For example, as
shown in FIG. 10, when the status in the status portion 920 is
"maintenance" instead of "production", the production portion 930
is replaced with the maintenance portion 930'. The maintenance
portion 930' includes a type 932' that identifies the type of
maintenance to be performed on the machine and an input box
934'.
[0137] As shown in FIG. 10, in this example, the type 932'
indicates an electrical problem with this machine. Once the
technician has fixed the problem on this machine, the description
of the maintenance performed on the electrical systems of this
machine is input to the database 250 of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention through the
input box 934'. In all other respects, except that the JOB button
917 is grayed-out, the machine status screen 900 as shown in FIG.
10 is identical to the machine status screen 900 shown in FIG.
9.
[0138] FIG. 11 shows the containers screen 1000 of the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention. In the
same way that the machine status screen 900 pops up whenever a
machine icon is selected, as described above, whenever a storage
location icon is selected, the containers screen 1000 is displayed
to display the current information stored in the relational
database 250 concerning the various containers stored within that
storage location. In particular, the containers screen 1000
includes a menu bar 1010, a container type selection portion 1040,
a containers display portion 1050 and an inventory portion
1060.
[0139] The menu bar 1010 includes an EXIT button 1012, a HELP
button 1014, a PRINT button 1016, a FILTER button 1018, a LOOKUP
button 1020, an ADD button 1022, a COPY button 1024, an EDIT button
1026, a RETIRE button 1028, a VIEW button 1030, a REPORTS button
1032, a STATUS button 1034, a LABEL button 1036, and a SETUP button
1038. The EXIT, HELP, and PRINT buttons 1012, 1014 and 1016 operate
as described above with respect to the EXIT, HELP, and PRINT
buttons 712, 714, and 716. Accordingly, no further description of
these buttons is provided. The FILTER button 1018 is used to input
search parameters to select certain ones of the containers for
display in the display portion 1050. The EDIT button 1026 allows
the information displayed in the display portion 1050 to be
modified. The RETIRE button 1028 retires the selected container
from the containers list displayed in the display portion 1050.
That is, the RETIRE button 1028 changes the status of the selected
container from "current" to "retired". The VIEW button 1030 allows
all database record fields for the selected container to be
displayed. That is, the VIEW button 1030 displays detailed
information about the selected container. The REPORTS button 1032,
when selected, causes the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention to display the available reports
for the container screen 1000. Once a particular report has been
selected, it can be viewed on screen or printed.
[0140] The LABEL button 1036 generates bar code labels for the
selected containers selected in the display portion 1050. The SETUP
button 1038 is used when initially setting up the containers screen
when initially setting up the graphical user interface shop floor
control system for a particular factory or application. The set-up
screens include one to twelve screens that are used to identify the
allowable storage locations, the allowable types of containers,
allowable container states, and other configuration information.
Generally, this button will not be used after initial setup.
[0141] While the LOOKUP button 1020, the ADD button 1022 and the
COPY button 1024 are provided on the menu bar 1010, these buttons
are not enabled and thus are shown in a grayed-out format. The
LOOKUP button 1020 provides a way of obtaining a list of available
choices when entering data into data input boxes or data input
screens. Thus, when the LOOKUP button 1020 is selected, the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention displays a pop-up window for a selected field of an input
box or screen. The ADD button 1022 adds a record to the containers
file of the database 250. In response to selecting the ADD button
1022, the graphical user interface shop floor control system of
this invention displays a data input screen that allows the
relevant data for a new container to be added to the database 250.
The COPY button 1024 works similarly to the ADD button 1022, but
not only creates a new record but adds the data of an existing
selected record to that new record. However, because these buttons
are grayed-out, this indicates that these functions are not
normally available when the container screen 1000 is displayed on
one of the client systems 124, 128 or 132 present on the shop
floor.
[0142] The container type portion 1040 contains a pair of option,
or "radio", buttons 1042 and 1044. When the current containers
option button 1042 is pressed, only the current containers stored
in the selected storage area will be displayed in the display
portion 1050. In contrast, if the retired containers option button
1044 is selected, only the retired containers associated with the
selected storage location will be displayed in the display portion
1050.
[0143] The display portion 1050 displays all of the containers that
have been identified to the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention as being located in the selected
storage location. In particular, only the containers meeting the
filter parameters, if any, and corresponding to the selected option
button 1042 and/or 1044 will be displayed in the display portion
1050. For each such displayed container, data corresponding to the
container number, the part number, the quantity and units of
material stored in the storage container, its current location
(which should be the selected storage location when the containers
screen 1000 is accessed by selecting a particular storage location
icon), the operation to be performed on that container, the status
of that storage container, and the type of that storage container
are displayed. The particular containers are selected by selecting
them using the touch-screen display 262 or 362. If more containers
are to be listed than can be displayed on the container screen
1000, the scroll bar 1052 can be used to display any information
extending off the bottom of the container screen 1000.
[0144] The display portion 1050 includes a CONTAINER title button
and column 1070, a PART NO title button and column 1071, a QUANTITY
title button and column 1072, a UNIT title button and column 1073,
a JOB NO title button and column 1074, a LOCATION title button and
column 1075, an OPERATION title button and column 1076, a STATUS
title button and column 1077, a TYPE title button and column 1078
and a NOTE title button and column 1079. The container column 1070
indicates the number of the bar code label for each container
displayed in the display portion 1050. The part number column 1071
indicates the part number stored in that container. The quantity
column 1072 indicates the quantity of materials stored in the
particular container. The unit column 1073 indicates the units of
quantity for each particular container.
[0145] The job number column 1074 indicates any particular job
number that may be associated with a container when that container
contains work in progress rather than raw material. The location
column 1075 indicates the particular storage location for each
container. In general, when the container screen 1000 is accessed
by selecting a particular storage location icon and a particular
shop floor screen, the location column 1075 will indicate that
location. In contrast, when the container screen 1000 is accessed
through the CONTAINERS button 520 of the manufacturing menu 500,
the list of displayed containers will not be limited to a single
storage location.
[0146] The operation column 1076 indicates the particular operation
last performed on the part stored in the particular container. The
status column 1077 indicates the particular status for that
container. For example, if the container stores raw materials, the
status for that container will be "source". In contrast, when a
particular container stores work in progress, whether for a
particular job or in anticipation of future jobs, that container's
status will be "storage". The type column 1078 indicates the type
of storage of the parts in a particular container. The note column
1079 provides a place for an operator to provide comments about the
particular part or material stored in a particular container.
[0147] As set forth above with respect to the machine status screen
900, each of the buttons 1070-1079 is selectable and operates as
described above with respect to the buttons 941-943, 951-957,
961-968 and 980-989. Accordingly, no further description of the
operation of these title buttons will be provided.
[0148] The FILTER button 1018 can be used to filter the list of
containers. Finally, the CALCULATE INVENTORY button 1062 of the
inventory portion 1060 is used to calculate the totals for the
displayed fields for the listed containers. As shown in FIG. 11,
the displayed fields for the inventory portion 1060 can include the
amounts for the different units such as pounds or pieces, and the
number of containers based on the containers displayed in the
display portion 1050.
[0149] It should also be appreciated that the containers screen
1000 is accessible not only by selecting a particular storage
location of a shop floor screen of the shop floor control system of
this invention. Rather, as indicated above, the containers screen
1000 can also be accessed by selecting the CONTAINERS button 520 of
the manufacturing menu 500. In this case, the container screen
1000, if otherwise unfiltered, would display all of the containers
for the entire manufacturing operation. In contrast, by accessing
the container screen 1000 by selecting a particular container icon
of a particular shop floor screen of the shop floor control system
of this invention, the container screen 1000 is displayed with an
initial filter to limit the displayed containers to those stored in
the selected storage location.
[0150] FIG. 12 shows an exemplary shelf screen 2200. When a storage
location is very large, such as when the storage location is part
of a warehouse or other area storing a large number of containers,
parts or the like, that storage location may be organized into a
number of sublocations to aid the worker in locating the container,
the part or the like that is being pulled from or added to that
storage location. In the previous discussion of a storage location,
the storage location was assumed to be small enough that any
container, part or the like could be readily located within the
storage location without any specific notation indicating where in
the storage location that container, part or the like was actually
located.
[0151] However, when the storage location is sufficiently large,
this assumption no longer holds true. In this case, when the
storage location is selected, before the containers screen 1000 is
displayed, the shelf screen 1100 is displayed to allow the user to
select a sublocation within the selected storage location, where
each sublocation is represented by one of the shelves of the shelf
screen. It should be appreciated that a "shelf" can represent any
type of sublocation with in a storage location, not just a
"shelf".
[0152] The shelf screen 1100 includes the menu bar 910 of the
machine status screen 900 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and a shelf
portion 1110. The menu bar 910 is identical to the menu bar 910
shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, except that it also includes a LOOK-UP
button 919 corresponding to a LOOK-UP button 1020 of the container
screen 1000 shown in FIG. 11, and does not include the JOB button
917.
[0153] The shelf portion 1110 includes a SHELF 1 portion 1120, a
SHELF 2 portion 1130, a SHELF 3 portion 1140, a SHELF 4 portion
1140, a SHELF 5 portion 1150 and a SHELF 6 portion 1170. Each of
these SHELF portions 1120-1170 can be further selected to display
the containers screen 1000 for the containers that are stored on
that shelf, and thus have been associated with that shelf portion.
Similarly, when moving a container to a particular sublocation of
such a large storage location, the shelf screen 1100 will be
displayed to allow that container to be associated with a
particular shelf portion corresponding to the particular
sublocation of that large storage location.
[0154] FIG. 13 shows how the shop floor screen 700 is modified when
the LOGIN/OUT button 722 is pressed. In particular, when the
LOGIN/OUT button 722 is pressed, the bar code portion 746 is
replaced with the employee login portion 790 and all of the menu
buttons 712-744 are grayed-out except the PRINT button 716, the
LOGIN/OUT button 722 and the TASK LIST button 742.
[0155] When the employee login portion 790 is displayed, the input
box 792 is used to display the employee number of the employee
being logged into or out of various ones of the machines of the
shop floor represented by the shop floor representation 750. In
operation, the employee number data is input either by using the
bar code scanner 286 or 386, or the keyboard 284 or 384. Once the
employee number is entered, the user logs the employee represented
by the input employee number onto machines that that employee is
not already logged into by selecting the machine icon corresponding
to that machine. At the same time, the user can log out the
employee corresponding to the input employee number from any
machines that that employee is already logged into by selecting the
machine icons corresponding to those machines. That is, selecting
any machine icon toggles its status from logged-in to logged-out
and back.
[0156] In particular, in the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention, each operator is responsible for
logging himself or herself into the machines he or she is running.
That operator's labor hours are then allocated to the jobs that are
produced with that machine while that operator is logged onto that
machine. When the operator selects the LOGIN/OUT button 722, the
shop floor representation 750 is modified to display a color coded
graphic with the word "logged in" on each machine that operator is
already logged into. In particular, the color coding should be
different from the color coding for any other machine status.
Preferably, as shown in FIG. 13, the color purple is used as the
color coding indicating that the identified operator is logged onto
a particular machine. The operator then selects the machine icons
corresponding to the machines that he is not already logged into
and the icon for that machine is converted to display the purple
"logged in" graphic. Alternately, when the operator selects machine
icons for machines that that operator is already logged into, the
purple "logged in" graphic is replaced with the normal graphic for
that machine.
[0157] As shown in FIG. 13, the employee having the employee number
"123456" is currently logged into the machines W01, W02 and W03, as
indicated by the purple "logged in" graphic displayed on the
machine icons corresponding to these machines. Once the operator
has finished logging him or herself into and out of the appropriate
machines, the operator again presses the LOGIN/OUT button 722 to
finish the login/out process and send the updated login/out
information to the relational database 250.
[0158] FIG. 14 shows the machine login screen 1200. The machine
login screen 1200 is displayed when the SELECT EMPLOYEE button 724
is selected. The machine login screen 1200 provides a list of all
machines and all of the operators logged into those machines. In
general, the machine login screen is used by a supervisor who may
want to log an operator into a machine, see an overview of all
those logged onto all the various machines of the factory, or log
an operator out of the machine.
[0159] The machine login screen 1200 includes a menu bar 1210, a
SELECT button 1220, an option, or "radio", button portion 1230, and
a display portion 1240. The menu bar 1210 includes the buttons
1012-1032 of the menu bar 1010 shown in FIG. 11. Moreover, the menu
bar 1210 includes the same active and disabled ones of the buttons
1010-1032 as the menu bar 1010, except that the ADD button 1022 is
active, rather than disabled, in the menu bar 1210 and that the
RETIRE button 1028 is replaced with a DELETE button 1029, which is
grayed out. The DELETE button 1029, if it were enabled, would allow
the user to delete the selected record from the database 250. Thus,
in the machine login screen 1200, only the EXIT button 1012, the
HELP button 1014, the FILTER button 1018, the PRINT button 1016 and
the ADD button 1022 are not grayed out.
[0160] The SELECT button 1220 allows a supervisor to "become" the
selected employee, so that the supervisor can log that employee
onto or off of various ones of the machines, as described above
with respect to FIG. 13. Thus, if a particular employee had to
leave the shop floor due to an emergency, the supervisor can use
the SELECT button 1220 to "become" that employee so that the
supervisor can log that employee off of whatever machines that
employee may be logged onto. Alternately, if the employee is a
temporary or new employee who is either unfamiliar with the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, or for some reason has been denied access to the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention, the supervisor can act in that employee's stead to log
that employee onto or off of various machines.
[0161] The option button portion 1230 includes a "Me" option button
1232, a "People I supervise" option button 1234 and an "Everyone"
option button 1236. The option buttons 1232, 1234 and 1236 are used
to easily change the selection, or filter, rules for selecting the
employees to be displayed in the display portion 1240. The "Me"
option button is used to select only the current operator and the
machines that operator is logged into for display in the display
portion 1240. In contrast, the "People I supervise" option button
1234 is used to select the people supervised by the current
operator for display in the display portion 1240. Finally, the
"Everyone" option button 1236 is used to display everyone who is
currently logged onto at least one machine.
[0162] The display portion 1240 displays the name of each person
logged onto at least one machine that meets the selection rules
input through the selection buttons 1232-1236 and/or the FILTER
button 1018. The NAME title button and column 1241 of the display
portion 1240 displays the name of the employee. The TITLE title
button and column 1242 displays the title of that employee, while
the SHIFT title button and column 1243 indicates that employee's
shift. The DEPARTMENT title button and column 1244 indicates that
employee's department. The MACHINE title button and column 1245
indicates the machine or machines that employee is logged onto. In
particular, if an employee is logged onto more than one machine,
one row for that employee will be displayed for each such machine.
The LOGIN DATE title button and column 1246 indicates the date that
employee was logged onto that machine, while the TIME title button
and column 1247 indicates the time of day that employee was logged
onto that machine. The scroll bar 1248 allows the data displayed in
the display portion 1240 that extends beyond the bottom of the
display portion 1240 to be viewed.
[0163] The sorting order for the employees to be displayed in the
display portion 1240 can be controlled by selecting one of the
title buttons 1241-1247 for the columns 1241-1247. The first time a
title button 1241-1247 is selected, the employees are sorted in
alphabetical or numerical order for that column, in descending
order. Selecting that title button again sorts the employees
alphabetically and/or numerically in ascending order. Selecting the
title button 1241-1247 for another column sorts the employees in
descending order according to the data for that column.
[0164] FIG. 15 displays the new production screen 1300 displayed in
response to selecting the PULL PRODUCTION button 726. As a machine
produces either work-in-progress or finished goods, containers of
produced parts are completed either when the container is filled or
when the particular job is completed. When a machine produces a new
container of parts, the operator of the machine or a materials
transport worker, such as a forklift driver, selects the PULL
PRODUCTION button 726 on the shop floor screen 700 or 800. As a
result, the new production screen 1300 is displayed.
[0165] As shown in FIG. 15, the new production screen 1300 includes
the menu bar 910, a source container portion 1310, a machine
portion 1320 and a new production container portion 1330. The menu
bar 910 includes the menu buttons 912-918 and has been described
previously. Accordingly, no further description of these buttons
will be made.
[0166] The source container portion 1310 identifies the part number
of the parts stored in that container, that container's container
number, the job number for which the parts stored in that source
container were produced, the operation used to generate those
parts, a lot number, a current quantity of parts stored in the
source container, including the units for that quantity, the type
of storage, and any notes. The source container was previously
associated with a particular one of the machines, using the
container moving procedure described below with respect to FIGS. 18
and 19. The machine portion 1320 displays the machine number that
the source container has been associated with and the graphic for
that machine. Similarly, the new production container portion 1330
indicates the part number of the part produced, the new container
number to be assigned to the container storing that part and the
corresponding job number, the operation, and the lot number.
[0167] Because the relational database 250 had been previously
provided with the information about the source container when it
was associated with the particular machine, and the particular part
being produced by the machine when the order was associated with
that machine, the part number, job number, operation and lot number
are automatically added to the new production container portion
1330 when the new production container screen 1300 is displayed. In
particular, the part number, the job number and the operation are
obtained from the order being produced by the particular machine.
The lot number is taken directly from the source container to allow
the material lot to be fully traced through the production of
parts. Finally, the container number is automatically assigned by
the graphical user interface shop floor control system when the new
production container screen 1300 is displayed.
[0168] In particular, the new production container portion 1330
provides input boxes 1332-1338 for inputting the quantity, the
units, the type and any relevant notes for this container.
Typically, the quantity units and type are automatically entered
into the quantity input box 1332, the unit input box 1334, and the
type input box 1336 of the new production container portion 1330
because the quantity would be read electronically from a production
weight-count scale attached to the client system and the unit and
the type would be automatically provided by the database 250. When
production is pulled, a bar code label is printed and a new
container record is created, which updates the real-time inventory
and the production tracking records.
[0169] That is, after the operator either fills the container or
finishes producing the part, the operator carries the container
over to the client system for entering the information via the new
production container screen 1300. Typically, an electronic scale
will also be attached to the client system and the container would
be placed on that electronic scale. That electronic scale will
automatically fill in the quantity information in the quantity
input box 1332 while the database 250 automatically supplies the
data for the unit input box 1334 and the type input box 1336. The
user can also select the unit and type using the drop-down menus
available at the center input box 1334 and the type input box 1336.
Finally, the user can enter any information in the note input box
1338 of the new production container portion 1330.
[0170] The user then selects the OK button 918. At that time, the
new production container information is transmitted to the
relational database 250 and a new production container record is
created. At the same time, the client system generates a new bar
code label for attaching to the container. The new production
container screen 1300 then closes and the container moving process
and animation, described below with respect to FIGS. 18 and 19, is
used to indicate the new location for this new production container
to the graphical user interface shop floor control system.
[0171] FIG. 16 shows the machine schedule screen 1400, which is
displayed in response to selecting the PRODUCTION button 730 of the
shop floor screen 700 or 800. As set forth above, when the status
of a particular machine is to be changed to "production", the
worker at that machine selects the PRODUCTION button 730 and then
selects the machine icon corresponding to that particular machine.
Similarly, if the worker needs to stop producing parts for one job
and being producing parts for another job, the worker at that
machine selects the PRODUCTION button 730 and then selects the
machine icon corresponding to that particular machine. This is true
even if the part to be produced is the same part. In either case,
the machine schedule screen 1400 is displayed to allow the worker
to select the job to which the next use of the selected machine
will be attributed.
[0172] Thus, the machine schedule screen 1400 is displayed to allow
the worker to select the particular job to which the currently
produced parts will be attributed. The machine schedule screen 1400
includes the menu bar 1210, a machine schedule portion 1410 and a
JOB SHEET button 1420.
[0173] Normally, a job is scheduled on a machine using the new
production screen 1300 described above and the container movement
process described below with respect to FIGS. 18 and 19, when a new
container is produced and moved to the selected machine for further
processing of the parts stored in that container. Similarly, when a
container storing work-in-progress is moved from a storage location
to a particular machine, the job associated with that container is
scheduled to that particular machine. The JOB SUPERVISION button
580 of the manufacturing menu 500 can also be used to schedule a
job on a particular machine, for example, as part of moving a
container storing raw materials to that particular machine. Often,
a container storing raw materials does not yet have a job
associated with it. One use of the JOB SUPERVISION button 580 is to
associate a job with that raw materials-storing container.
[0174] The machine schedule portion 1410 includes a JOB NO title
button and column 1411, a PART NO title button and column 1412, a
QUANTITY title button and column 1413, a PRODUCED title button and
column 1414, a NOTE title button and column 1415, a COMP title
button and column 1416, a DUE DATE title button and column 1417, an
HOURS column 1418, and a scroll bar 1419. As set forth above with
respect to the display portion 1240 of the machine login screen
1200, selecting any one of the title buttons 1411-1418 of the
machine schedule portion 1410 sorts the records of the machine
schedule for the selected machine in descending order based on the
values for the selected title button. Selecting that title button
again resorts the records in the machine schedule for the selected
machine so they are displayed in the machine schedule portion 1410
in ascending order based on the values for the selecting column.
Selecting a different one of the title buttons 1411-1418 causes the
records displayed in the machine schedule portion 1410 to be
resorted in descending order according to the values for that
column.
[0175] The JOB NO column 1411 indicates the job number assigned to
the particular jobs scheduled for production on the selected
machine. The PART NO column 1412 indicates the part number to be
produced for this job. The QUANTITY column 1413 indicates the total
quantity of parts, in pieces, weight, packages or the like. The
PRODUCED column 1414 indicates the quantity of parts actually
produced so far for this job. The NOTE column 1415 provides a place
for the worker or others to put notes about the job. The COMP
(completed proportion) column 1416 indicates the proportion of the
total quantity for the job that the quantity in the PRODUCED column
represents. The DUE DATE column 1417 indicates the date by which
the job should be completed. The HOURS column 1418 indicates the
number of labor hours that have been consumed so far in completing
the job. The scroll bar 1419 allows the worker to scroll through
the jobs scheduled on the selected machine if more jobs than can be
displayed in the machine schedule portion 1410 have been scheduled
on the selected machine.
[0176] When the machine schedule screen 1400 is displayed in
response to selecting the PRODUCTION button 730, the displayed
machine schedule is for the selected machine. The machine schedule
screen 1400 can also be displayed in response to selecting the
MACHINE SCHEDULE button 590 of the manufacturing menu 500. In this
case, the displayed machine schedule is for all machines. In this
case, the FILTER button 1018 is used to select the particular
machine or machines the machine schedule screen 1400 will display
the schedule for. Additionally, the machine schedule screen could
include the department and machine portions 1810 and 1820,
described below with respect to FIG. 21, to allow the user to
select the particular department and machine the machine schedule
screen 1400 will display the schedule for.
[0177] The JOB SHEET button 1420 is used to view a description of
the machining operations that are necessary to complete a job.
Thus, if the worker at a particular machine is not sure what
machining operation or operations that worker is to perform next on
the part for the selected job, that worker can select the JOB SHEET
button 1420 to review the description of the machining operations
for the selected job.
[0178] FIG. 17 shows the machine log-maintenance record screen
1500, which is displayed in response to selecting the MAINTENANCE
button 738 of the shop floor screen 700 or 800. In particular, when
a maintenance crew begins performing maintenance on a particular
machine, the maintenance crew first selects the MAINTENANCE button
738, then selects the particular machine icon corresponding to the
machine that is about to be serviced. As a result, the machine
log-maintenance record screen 1500 is displayed.
[0179] The machine log-maintenance record screen 1500 includes the
menu bar 910, a maintenance type input box 1510, a notes input box
1520, and a flag input box 1530 and a flag check box 1540. The menu
bar 910 contains the menu buttons 912-918 and has been described
previously. Accordingly, no further description of these buttons is
provided.
[0180] The maintenance type input box 1510 is used to identify the
general type of maintenance being performed on the machine. In
general, the various maintenance types will include electrical,
mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and the like. The particular
maintenance types will of course depend on the particular types of
machines present in the factory. The maintenance type input box
1510 includes a drop down menu to aid the maintenance crew in
selecting the type of maintenance performed.
[0181] The notes input box 1520 is used to input a detailed
description of the maintenance services provided by the maintenance
crew on the selected machine. This data becomes part of the
permanent machine log and is also provided to a preventative
maintenance system, if the factory has such a system. The flag
input box 1530 is used to provide a description of ongoing problems
or warnings that should be provided to the next maintenance crew
when that next maintenance crew next works on the selected machine.
The flag check box 1540 is used to indicate whether the flag color
encoding of the alpha-numeric code for the machine icon for this
machine should be set or cleared.
[0182] Additionally, in an alternative embodiment, the machine log
maintenance record screen 1500 can also be accessed through the
WAIT/MAINT button 740. In this case, the machine log maintenance
record screen 1500 would be used by an operator of the selected
machine to notify the maintenance department of a particular
maintenance problem that needs to be dealt with for the selected
machine. That is, the machine log-maintenance record screen 1500
can also be used to provide details of a maintenance problem to the
maintenance department and/or to input data into a maintenance
queue. Accordingly, the machine log maintenance record screen 1500
can also be used to actively request maintenance on a particular
machine, as well as to passively record the maintenance performed
on a particular machine.
[0183] FIGS. 18 and 19 illustrates how the shop floor screen 700 or
800 of the graphical user interface shop floor control system of
this invention can be used to provide data to the relational
database 250 about the location and movement of storage containers
about the shop floor. As described above, bar code labels are used
to track containers as they move through the factory. In general,
containers are usually moved as part of the process of creating a
new container, as described above with respect to FIG. 15. To move
a container outside of creating a new container, the operator
either scans the bar code label attached to the container using the
bar code scanner 286 or 386, or uses the keyboard 284 or 384 to
enter the alphanumeric bar code in the input box 748 of the bar
code portion 746 of the shop floor screen 700 or 800.
[0184] In either case, the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention then accesses the relational
database 250 to determine the current location of the identified
container from the data stored in the relational database 250. The
current location of the container, as indicated by the data stored
in the relational database 250, is displayed on the shop floor
representation 750 or 850 as a red-colored square box or "dot"
1610, as shown in FIG. 17. This red-colored "dot" 1610 corresponds
to the "you are here" dots displayed on maps of malls, theme parks
and the like. The red-colored box or dot 1610 is displayed in the
shop floor representation 750 or 850 overlying the icon
representing the factory element where that container is located.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 18, when a bar code, such as the bar code
"C0107459" is entered into the bar code input box 748 of the bar
code portion 746, all of the menu buttons 710-744 of the menu bar
710, except the PRINT button 726 and the TASK LIST button 742, are
grayed out. At the same time, the current location of the container
"C0107459" is displayed on the shop floor representation 750 as the
red-colored box or dot 1610. It should also be appreciated that, as
shown in FIG. 19, it is not necessary to gray out the menu buttons
712, 714 718-740 or 744 of the menu bar 710. As shown in FIG. 18,
the container having the bar code label "C0107459" is associated
with the machine W03, and thus is displayed as the box 1610
overlying the machine icon for the machine W03. Similarly, as shown
in FIG. 19, the red block or dot 1620 for the container having the
bar code label "C0107458" is displayed overlying the machine icon
852 for the machine UB3.
[0185] Then, the operator selects the factory element displayed in
the shop floor representation 750 or 850 that corresponds to the
location to which that container will be, or has been, moved. In
response, as shown in FIG. 19, the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention displays a graphic animation
1620 of an employee. The animated employee 1620 "picks up" the red
block or dot 1610 representing the container at its current
location, "walks" the red block or dot 1610 over to the new
location and "sets" the red block or dot 1610 down over the
selected factory element representing the new location for the
selected container. At the same time, the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention updates the record in
the relational database 250 corresponding to that container to
indicate its new location. This animation is designed to inform the
operator in a graphical way, that the system has acknowledged the
movement of the container from the current location to the next
location.
[0186] In operation, the user will either inform the relational
database 250 of the movement of the container using the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention either
immediately before or immediately after the corresponding container
is physically moved from its current location to its next location.
However, in a first preferred embodiment of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention, it is the
responsibility of the operator to ensure the container is actually
moved from its current location to its next location.
[0187] In an alternate embodiment of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention, this process cannot
only be used to inform the relational database of the new location
for this container, but can also be used to generate a request to a
materials handling department to have the particular container
moved from its current location to the new location. Thus, in this
embodiment, the operator does not actually move the container from
its present location to its new location. Rather, the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention uses
this movement procedure on the shop floor representation 850 to
dispatch a forklift driver or the like to move the container from
its present location to the new location.
[0188] In yet another embodiment of this movement procedure, it is
possible that the factory has an automated materials transport and
handling system. Such automated materials transport and handling
systems are used in, for example, semiconductor chip manufacturing
plants to transport the semiconductor wafers between processing
operations. Accordingly, if the factory is equipped with such an
automated materials handling and transport system, the graphical
user interface shop floor control system of this invention can use
this movement procedure to generate the routing information
required by the automated materials handling and transport system
to automatically move the container from its current location to
the next location.
[0189] In a further alternate embodiment of this invention,
additional animations can be provided. For example, rather than a
single static machine icon for each different type of machine, the
selectable icons associated with each machine can be formed as a
series of slightly different icons that are displayed in rapid
succession provide an animation of the machine. Thus, a press or
forge would have a portion that moves up and down or otherwise
reciprocates. Similarly, a thread cutter or lathe would have a
rotating spindle.
[0190] FIG. 20 shows a series 1700 of icons 1704-1792 used to
animate a threader machine, such as the threaders 762, labeled
T01-T21, and shown in FIG. 7. Because this series of animations
represents operation of the threader, the background for this
animation is green to indicate the production status. In the icon
1704, the threader is shown having a part to be threaded extending
out of the input side of the threader. As each of the icons
1708-1792 is displayed in sequence, the part to be threaded slowly
disappears from the input side of the threader and begins appearing
at the output side of the threader. Thus, by the time the icon 1792
is displayed, the part has completely passed through the threader
and is ready for removal at the output side. Then, after the icon
1792 is displayed, in quick succession, the icon 1704 is
redisplayed and the series begins again. Thus, the series 1700 of
the icons 1704-1792 shows a part being input by the threader and
subsequently output by the threader, thus animating the threading
operation provided by the threader.
[0191] In yet another embodiment of this invention, the machines
themselves can be directly connected to the graphical interface
shop floor control system of this invention, to provide real time
status information to the relational database 250. This allows more
accurate information to be provided to the relational database 250
and also reduces the burden on the operators to quickly and
accurately interact with the client systems to update the status
information each time the status of a particular machine changes.
However, the user can still enter this information through the shop
floor screens of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention. Thus, the relational database 250 can
obtain data through either path.
[0192] FIG. 21 shows a machine log screen 1800. As described above,
this machine log screen 1800 is accessible by selecting the MACHINE
LOG button 530 of the manufacturing menu 500. The machine log
screen 1800 includes the menu bar 1210 described above with respect
to the machine login screen 1200 shown in FIG. 14. The machine log
screen 1800 also includes a department portion 1810, a machine
portion 1820, a machine log portion 1830, a containers produced
portion 1840, a supplies portion 1850 and a labor portion 1860. In
particular, the department portion 1810 lists each of the
organizational departments that the manufacturing operation
represented by the various shop screens accessible through the SHOP
LAYOUT button 510 is divided into.
[0193] The departments displayed in the department portion 1810 can
be modified by scrolling through the various listed departments
using the scroll bar 1812. A particular department can be selected
either directly or by using the scroll bar. Once a particular
department has been selected, the machines organizationally
associated with that department are displayed in the machine
portion 1820. Again, the list of machines displayed in the machine
portion 1820 can be changed by scrolling through various machines
associated with the selected department using the scroll bar
1822.
[0194] Once a particular machine has been selected using the
machine portion 1820, a log for that machine is displayed in the
machine log portion 1830. The machine log portion includes a DATE
title button and column 1831, a STATUS title button and column
1832, a DAY title button and column 1833, a PART NO title button
and column 1834, a TIME title button and column 1835, a JOB title
button and column 1836, a OPERATION title button and column 1837, a
MAINT TYPE title button and column 1838, and an HOURS title button
and column 1839. As set forth above with respect to the display
portion 1240 of the machine login screen 1200, selecting any one of
the title buttons 1831-1839 of the machine log portion 1830 sorts
the records of the machine log for the selected machine in
descending order based on the values for the selected title button.
Selecting that title button again resorts the records in the
machine log for the selected machine so they are displayed in the
machine log portion 1830 in ascending order based on the values for
the selecting column. Selecting a different one of the title
buttons 1831-1839 causes the records displayed in the machine log
portion 1830 to be resorted in descending order according to the
values for that column.
[0195] As shown in FIG. 21, the machine log portion 1830 displays
the eight-most recent records in the machine log file stored in the
database 250 for the machine "T05" of the department
"TR-THREADING". As shown in the machine log portion 1830 of FIG.
21, the machine T05 is currently in production as of Feb. 15, 1998
producing part "ATR 3/4X10" beginning at 10:13 p.m., for job
"J007421". The previous two entries indicate that the machine T05
became idle beginning on Saturday, February 14 at 4:59 a.m. and
remained idle for 41.3 hours. The fourth entry in the machine log
1830 indicates the machine T05 began producing part "ATR 3/4X10" on
Friday, February 13, for job J007421, at 3:52 p.m. and produced
parts for this job for 13.1 hours. The next two entries displayed
in the machine log portion 1830 indicate that the machine T05 began
producing part "ATR 3/4X3" on February 13, for job "J007426", at
11:27 a.m. and worked on this job for 4.4 hours. The seventh entry
for the machine T05 indicates that this machine began producing
part "ATR 3/4X6" on Thursday, February 12 for job "J007423", at
10:49 and worked on this job for 12.6 hours. Finally, the last
displayed entry indicates that the machine T05 began producing part
"ATR 3/4X10" on February 12, for job "J00742", at 3:52 p.m. and
worked on this job for 7.0 hours.
[0196] If additional records stored in the machine log file of the
data 250 for the machine T05 need to be displayed, the scroll bar
1829 of the machine log portion 1830 can be used to scroll through
the records for this machine.
[0197] The containers produced portions 1840 includes a CONTAINER
title button and column 1841, a TYPE title button and column 1842,
a QUANTITY title button and column 1843, and a scroll bar 1844. The
containers produced portions 1840 displays the list of containers
produced by the selected machine. As set forth above with respect
to the machine log portions 1830, selecting a title button once
sorts the list of produced containers in descending order according
to the values for the selected column, selecting that title button
again resorts the list of produced containers in ascending order
for that column, and selecting a different title button resorts the
list of produced containers in descending order according to the
values of the newly-selected column.
[0198] The supplies portion 1850 includes a scroll bar 1852 and
displays a list of the supplies recently consumed by the selected
machine as it was used to produce the containers indicated in the
containers produced portion 1840. These supplies include
replacement parts installed in the selected machine in response to
either scheduled preventative maintenance or to a maintenance
problem. These supplies also include tools used by the machine to
produce the parts stored in the containers indicated in the
containers produced portion 1840. These tools can include things
like saw blades, cutting bits, dies, drill bits, taps, grinding or
polishing wheels, sanding belts, welding tips, workpiece holding
devices, and other tools that must either be discarded or
resharpened based on the number of parts produced. These supplies
also include consumables used to produce the parts, such as cutting
oils and fluids, polishing pastes and the like, bluing fluids,
paints, filters, binders, welding rods, solders, gases, and the
like. These supplies are associated with the selected machine and
are managed using a graphical user interface supplies control
system accessible through the MATERIALS and SUPPLIES buttons 450
and 460 of the main menu 400. This graphical user interface
supplies control system will not be further described herein.
[0199] The labor portion 1860 includes an EMPLOYEE title button and
column 1861, a START title button and column 1862, a STOP title
button and column 1863, an HOURS title button and column 1864 and a
USAGE title button and column 1866 and a scroll bar 1866. The labor
portion 1860 is used to attribute the labor hours, and thus the
labor cost of the various employees logged onto the selected
machines, to the various jobs produced by the selected machine
while the selected employee was logged on that machine. Thus, the
employee column 1861 lists the various employees, while the start
column 1862 and the stop column 1863 indicates when that employee
logged on and the subsequently logged off the selected machine. The
hours column 1864 indicates the total number of hours, while the
user was logged onto the selected machine, that machine was
producing that particular part indicated in the usage column
1865.
[0200] It should be appreciated that there are two different modes
for attributing an employee's labor hours to particular jobs. In a
first mode that is less computationally complex but more intrusive
on the employee as each employee arrives each morning, that
employee is required to log on to the machine he will initially be
working on. As that employee works on different machines throughout
the day, he is required to log on and log off of the various
machines so that his labor hours for that day are properly
attributed. Furthermore, when the employee leaves for the day, he
is required to log off of all machines which he is currently logged
onto. Moreover, if the employee should work overtime, he is
nevertheless required to log off and then re-log on to the various
machines so that his differential labor costs can be properly
attributed.
[0201] In a more sophisticated version of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system with this invention, the
employee does not have to log on a machine each morning and log off
the machines each evening. Rather, the graphical interface shop
floor control system of this invention recognizes which shift a
particular employee is on and recognizes, when the status of the
machine is changed from production to idle at the end of a shift,
and then changed from idle to production at the beginning of a
shift, the production time for that machine for the previous shift
is attributed to the employee who works the previous shift and the
production time for the current shift is attributable to the
employee for this current shift. Furthermore, the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention can attribute
the production hours when there is no idle time between shifts or
after a final shift for a particular day, to the employee for the
previous shift as overtime hours.
[0202] FIG. 22 shows an exemplary graph screen 1900 accessible
through the REPORTS AND GRAPHS button 540 of the manufacturing menu
500. It should be appreciated that when the REPORTS AND GRAPHS
button 540 is selected, an intermediate screen providing a list of
available reports and graphs is displayed. FIG. 22 shows one of the
available graphs, a graph displaying a machine status summary as a
pie chart. Thus, while the following description is described
relative to this machine status summary pie chart, it should be
appreciated that the exemplary graph screen 1900 shown in FIG. 22
is not limited to either displaying the machine status summary or
displaying a pie chart.
[0203] Thus, the exemplary graph screen 1900 includes a menu bar
1910, a department portion 1920, a machine portion 1930, a time
portion 1940, a graphing type 1950, and a graph portion 1960. The
menu bar 1910 includes an EXIT button 1912, a HELP button 1914 and
a PRINT button 1960, which provide the standard functions
attributable to these buttons, as described above. The menu bar
1910 also includes a GRAPH button 1918 that causes a graph to be
generated and displayed in the graph portion 1960 based on the
particular items set forth in the department portion 1920, the
machine portion 1930, the time portion 1940 and the type portion
1950.
[0204] The department portion 1920 displays the particular
department for which a graph will be created in the graph portion
1960. In particular, the graph portion 1920 includes a drop down
menu 1922 that lists all of the possible departments that could be
selected in the department portion 1920, including groupings of
departments, such as all of the sub-departments in the threading
department, and an "ALL" entry for selecting all departments,
and/or any other desired supersets and subsets of these
departments. The machine portion 1930 displays the selected machine
for which the graph displayed in the graph portion 1960 will be
created. The machine portion 1930 also includes a drop down menu
1932, that, like the drop down menu 1922, allows any single
machine, all machines, or any desired set, subset or superset of
machines to be selected.
[0205] The time portion 740 displays the time period over which the
data for the selected department and the selected machine will be
selected from the database 250 to generate the graph displayed in
the graph portion 1960. The time portion 1940 includes an up button
1942 and a down button 1944 to allow the time period to be easily
adjusted. It should be understood, depending on the particular
graph to be generated in the graph portion 1960, that the
department portion 1920, the machine portion 1930 and the time
portion 1940 either be slightly different, or replaced by other
portions. Thus, the particular portions 1920-1940 and their
particular structure as shown in FIG. 22 is exemplary only and
should not be considered limiting. Those of ordinary skill in the
art who clearly understand how to modify the exemplary graph screen
1900 depending on the particular information to be displayed in the
graph potion 1960.
[0206] The display type portion 1950 is used to control how the
graph 1966 displayed in the graph portion 1960 is displayed. In
particular, as shown in FIG. 22, the display type portion 1950
includes a solid option button 1952 and an exploded option button
1954. When the solid option button 1952 is selected, the graph 1966
shown in the graph portion 1960 is shown as a solid graph. When the
exploded option button 1954 is selected, the graph 1966 is shown in
exploded form, as in FIG. 22.
[0207] The graph portion 1960 includes a title portion 1962, a
legend portion 1964 and a graph 1966. The title portion 1962
indicates the particular information displayed in the graph 1966.
The legend portion 1964 provides a key indicating the color coding
of the particular data values used to create the graph 1966. The
graph 1966, which is shown as a pie chart in FIG. 22, provides a
graphical representation of the information in the database 250 for
the selected time period, the selected department and the selected
machines, for example. It should be appreciated that the graph
portion 1966 is not limited to a pie chart, and can include a bar
chart, a histogram, a two or three axis scatter plot, or any other
known or later developed graphing technique.
[0208] FIG. 23 shows an exemplary machines screen 2000 accessible
by selecting the MACHINE LIST button 550 of the manufacturing menu
500. The machines screen 2000 is used to view more details about
each of the machines than can be obtained by viewing the
corresponding shop floor screen. That is, the corresponding shop
floor screen indicates the statuses of the various machines, but
does not directly indicate what parts the production-status
machines are producing, or what maintenance is being performed on
the maintenance-status machines, unless the machine icon for a
particular machine is selected to view the machine status screen
900 for that machine. The machines screen 2000 allows this
information to be viewed for all of the machines of a selected
department.
[0209] The machines screen 2000 includes the menu bar 1210,
described above with respect to the employees screen 1200 shown in
FIG. 14. However, in the machines screen 2000, the menu bar 1210
also includes the SET-UP button 1038 described above with respect
to the containers screen 1000 shown in FIG. 11. Furthermore, in the
machines screen 2000, the REPORTS button 1032 is enabled and thus
is not shown in grayed-out format.
[0210] The exemplary machines screen 2000 also includes a
department portion 2010, a machines portion 2020 and an operations
portion 2030. The department portion 2010 includes a scroll bar
2012 for scrolling through the list of departments for the
particular factory and operates similarly to the department portion
1810, and thus will not be described further.
[0211] The machines portion 2020 includes a MACHINE title button
and column 2021, a MODEL title button and column 2022, a FLAG title
button and column 2023, a STATUS title button and column 2024, a
PART NO title button and column 2025, a MAINTENANCE title button
and column 2026 and a scroll bar 2027. The title buttons 2021-2026
operate as described above with respect to FIGS. 9-11. Thus, the
particular operation of these title buttons 2021-2026 will not be
further described. The machine column 2021 lists the machine
numbers for the machines associated with the particular departments
selected in the department portion 2010. The model column 2022
indicates the particular model for each machine of the selected
department. The flag column 2023 displays any flags that may have
been set for the machines of the selected department using the flag
portion 924 of the machine status screens 900 shown in FIGS. 9 and
10.
[0212] The status column 2024 indicates the particular statuses for
the various machines of the selected department currently stored in
the database 250 and set using the status buttons 730-744 of the
menu bar 710 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The part number column 2025
displays the current part number being produced by the machines of
the selected department based on the part number displayed in the
production portion 930 and selected using the machine schedule
portion 970 of the machine status screens 900 shown in FIGS. 9 and
10. The maintenance column 2026 displays the type of maintenance
requested or being performed on the machines of the selected
department for those machines having either a MAINTENANCE or a
WAITING-FOR-MAINTENANCE status and based on the type of maintenance
indicated in the maintenance portion 930'. The scroll bar 2027
allows the user to scroll through the list of machines if the
number of machines of the selected department cannot fit in the
viewable area of the machines portion 2020.
[0213] The operations portion 2030 includes a scroll bar 2032 and
displays the various operations available for a particular selected
machine selected through the machines portion 2020. As shown in
FIG. 23, the machine T01 is selected and is only capable of a
threading operation.
[0214] FIG. 24 shows an exemplary preventative maintenance schedule
screen 2100 accessible by selecting the PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
SCHEDULE button 560 of the manufacturing menu 500. It should also
be appreciated that the preventative maintenance schedule screen
2100 could also be accessed by selecting a maintenance icon of a
shop floor screen, such as the maintenance office icon 780 of the
shop floor screen 700 shown in FIG. 7. In this case, the
preventative maintenance schedule would automatically select the
department of the department portion 2110 corresponding to the
particular shop floor screen containing the selected maintenance
icon.
[0215] The exemplary preventative maintenance schedule screen 2100
includes the menu bar 1210 except that the REPORTS button 1032 is
also enabled.
[0216] The exemplary preventative maintenance schedule screen 2100
also includes a department portion 2110, a machine portion 2120 and
a preventative maintenance schedule portion 2130. The department
portion 2110 and the machine portion 2120 are identical to the
department portion 1810 and the machine portion 1820 of the machine
log screen 1800 shown in FIG. 21. Thus, the department portion 2110
and the machine portion 2120 would not be further described.
[0217] The exemplary preventative maintenance schedule portion 2130
includes a MAINTENANCE TYPE title button and column 2131, a
FREQUENCY (DAYS) title button and column 2132, a RESPONSIBILITY
title button and column 2133, a LAST PERFORMED title button and
column 2134, a STATUS title button and column 2135, a DUE DATE
title button and column 2136, a NOTE title button and column 2137,
and a scroll bar 2138. The title buttons 2131-2137 and the scroll
bar 2138 operate identically to the various title buttons and
scroll bars described above, and thus the operation of these title
buttons 2131-2137 and the scroll bar 2138 will not be further
described.
[0218] The maintenance type column 2131 provides a general
description of the particular preventative maintenance to be
performed. The frequency (days) column 2132 indicates how often
that particular type of preventative maintenance is to be
performed. The responsibility column 2133 indicates the employee
whose responsibility it is to perform that particular preventative
maintenance. The last performed column 2134 indicates when that
particular type of preventative maintenance was last performed. The
status column 2135 indicates whether the particular preventative
maintenance for the selected machine was completed or whether there
was a problem. The due date column 2136 indicates when the
particular type of preventative maintenance is to be next performed
on the selected machine. The note column 2137 provides location
where notes, regarding the preventative maintenance performed,
entered through the note portion 1520 of the machine
log-maintenance record screen 1500, can be displayed.
[0219] FIG. 25 shows an exemplary task list screen 2200 accessible
by selecting the TASK LIST button 570 of the manufacturing menu
500. The exemplary task list screen 2200 includes the menu bar
1210, a department portion 2210 and a task portion 2220. The menu
bar 1210 is identical to the menu bar 1210 of the machine login
screen 1200 shown in FIG. 14, except that both the DELETE button
1029 and the REPORTS button 1032 are enabled. Moreover, the
department portion 2210 is identical to the department portion 1810
of the machine log screen 1800 and thus will not be further
described.
[0220] The task portion 2220 includes a TASK title button and
column 1021, an ASSIGNED TO title button and column 2222, a
PRIORITY title button and column 2223, a REQUIRED DATE title button
and column 1024, an "incomplete" option button 2225, a "complete"
option button 2226 and a scroll bar 1027. The exemplary task list
screen 2200 also includes a PRINT TASK button 2230.
[0221] The title buttons 2221-2224, the option buttons 2225 and
2226, and the scroll bar 2227 operate identically to the various
title buttons, option buttons and scroll bars described earlier and
their operation will not be described further herein, except to the
extent it departs from the previous descriptions. The task column
2221 provides a description of the various tasks, outside of the
preventative maintenance schedule and the like, that need to be
performed for the particular department selected in the department
portion 2210. The assigned to column 2222 indicates the particular
person to whom this particular task has been assigned.
[0222] The priority column 2223 indicates the priority of the
various tasks, where a lower number indicates a higher priority.
The required date column 2224 indicates the date by which the task
is required to be completed. The incomplete option button 1025 and
the complete option button 1026 are used to indicate, for a
selected one of the tasks, whether that task is incomplete or
complete. When a particular task is entered into the task list
displayed in the task portion 1020, it is automatically assigned an
incomplete status. When the task is completed, the particular task
is displayed and then selected on the task portion 2220 and the
complete option button 1026 is selected to change the status of
that task from incomplete to complete.
[0223] The PRINT TASK button 2230 is used to print a particular
task and a full description of what is involved in completing that
task.
[0224] It should also be appreciated that the task list screen 2200
shown in FIG. 25 can also be accessible using the TASK LIST status
button 742 of the menu bar 710 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In this
case, the department portion 1020 will automatically be set to the
particular department corresponding to the shop floor screen 700
displayed when the TASK LIST button 742 was selected.
[0225] FIG. 26 shows another exemplary production shop floor screen
2300 according to this invention for a different production factory
than the exemplary factory for which the exemplary factory and shop
floor screens 600-800 shown in FIGS. 6-8 were created. The
exemplary production shop floor screen 2300 includes the menu bar
410 of the main menu 400 shown in FIG. 4, a machine status legend
portion 2310 and a shop floor representation 2330. The shop floor
representation 2330 operates similarly to the shop floor
representations 750 and 850 described above, using the various
screens shown in FIGS. 9-25. Thus, the shop floor representation
2330 will not be further described. However, it should be
appreciated that the shop floor representation 2330 does not use
the same status buttons 730-744 as the shop floor representations
750 and 850 described above.
[0226] In particular, as shown in FIG. 26, the machine status
legend portion 2310 includes a PRODUCTION button 2312, a SETUP
button 2314, an EXCESS SETUP button 2316, a JOB TROUBLE button
2318, a MAINTENANCE button 2320 and an IDLE button 2322. The
PRODUCTION and SETUP buttons 2312 and 2314 operate identically to
the PRODUCTION and SETUP buttons 730 and 734 described above, and
thus will not be described further.
[0227] The MAINTENANCE and IDLE buttons 2320 and 2322 also operate
identically to the MAINTENANCE and IDLE buttons 738 and 744
described above, except that different color encoding is used for
the MAINTENANCE and IDLE buttons 2320 and 2322 of the shop floor
screen 2300 of FIG. 26. In particular, instead of the red color
coding used for the MAINTENANCE button 738, the MAINTENANCE button
2320 uses a blue color coding. Similarly, instead of the yellow
frame coloring coding used by the IDLE button 744, the IDLE button
2320 uses a gray coloring coding.
[0228] The EXCESS SETUP button 2316 is used to attribute the
initial set-up time, labor and supplies to a particular job
separately from the normal set-up time, labor and supplies. That
is, set-up procedures are classified as "excess set-up" the first
time a particular machine must be set up to produce a particular
part. Once a particular machine has been set up to produce a
particular part, setting up that machine, or other models of that
machine, to produce that part is generally straightforward and easy
to accomplish. This type of set-up procedures is thus classified as
regular "setup". In contrast, the first time a particular machine
must be set up to produce a particular part, the set-up of that
machine must be "debugged" in order to obtain the desired part.
This set-up debugging is often time and labor consuming and
requires consuming a significant amount of source materials before
the resulting parts are acceptable. The large number of
unacceptable parts are thus wasted. The excess setup status helps
account for the increased time, labor and materials consumed during
an initial setup of a particular machine to produce a particular
part.
[0229] The JOB TROUBLE button 2318 is not used to indicate a
maintenance problem, but rather is used to indicate that, while a
particular machine is producing parts, the produced parts are, for
some reason, unacceptable. This allows the shop floor manager to
quickly identify a machine that could be put back into production
if the reason why that machine is producing unacceptable parts were
determined and solved.
[0230] It should be appreciated, from FIGS. 7, 8 and 27, that any
set of appropriate machine statuses could be implemented in the
shop floor screen according to this invention. In particular, the
specific machine statuses that will be used for a particular
implementation of the shop floor screens according to this
invention will depend on the particular cost and/or labor
accounting systems used by the represented factory, the types of
machines used by, the types of products made by, and the size of
the jobs produced by the represented factory. Thus, the particular
status buttons and machine statuses described above are merely
illustrative, and a shop floor screen according to this invention
can use any combination of the statuses described above, and, more
generally, any combination of any known or later developed machine
statuses.
[0231] It should also be appreciated that, while FIGS. 9-11, 15,
18-19 and 21 are described above with respect to storage containers
storing collections of parts or material, when the various screens
shown in these figures are used with the job shop shown in FIG. 27,
these screens will be altered to refer to individual parts or
materials rather than storage containers of parts or material.
Thus, it should be understood that the terms "storage container"
and "containers" can equally apply to both individual parts or
materials as well as storage containers storing collections of
parts or material.
[0232] FIG. 27 shows yet another exemplary shop floor screen 2400
according to this invention. In contrast to the shop floor screens
shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 27, the shop floor represented by the shop
floor screen 2400 is a job shop rather than a production shop. In
general, a job shop differs from a production shop in that a
production shop produces large quantities of relatively low value
parts, while a job shop produces very small quantities of
relatively high value parts. Accordingly, while the production shop
floors described above stored, maintained and moved raw material
and parts around the shop floor using containers of parts, a job
shop stores raw material and parts on an individual basis. Thus, in
the job shop described below, individual parts, rather than
containers of parts, are bar-code labeled and their individual
locations maintained using the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention.
[0233] As shown in FIG. 27, the exemplary job shop floor screen
2400 includes a menu bar 2410, a bar code portion 2446 and a job
shop floor representation 2450. The menu bar 2410 includes a EXIT
button 2412, a HELP button 2414, a SHOP LOCATION LIST button 2416,
a BILL OF MATERIALS button 2418, a JOB/ORDERS button 2420, an
INVENTORY button 2422, a MATERIAL ORDERS button 2424, a LABOR
button 2426, a SHIPPING/INVOICING button 2428, an ATTEND button
2430, a NOTES button 2432 and an E-MAIL SYSTEM button 2434. Because
the shop floor screen 2400 represents a job shop, the shop floor
screen actually represents the entire factory for this job shop.
Accordingly, when this example of the graphical user interface shop
floor control system of this invention is initially opened, it
opens directly on the shop floor screen 2400.
[0234] The EXIT button 2412 allows the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention to be closed. The HELP
button 2414 provides help to the user of the graphical user
interface shop floor control system of this invention. The SHOP
LOCATION LIST button 2416 provides a list of suppliers to and
customers of the job shop represented by the shop floor screen
2400. The BILL OF MATERIALS button 2418 provides, for a particular
part, a list of raw materials and supplies that were consumed or
used to create that part. The JOB/ORDERS button 2420 provides a
list of jobs or orders and the current status of the jobs or orders
received by this job shop. The INVENTORY button 2422 provides a
list of work-in-progress. The MATERIAL ORDERS button 2424 allows a
user to order raw materials and provides a list of suppliers and
the materials each supplies, and possibly a list of available raw
materials at this job shop.
[0235] The LABOR button 2426 allows a worker to attribute his labor
time to a particular job or to a particular individual workpiece.
The SHIPPING/INVOICING button 2428 allows a user to access a
shipping and invoicing subsystem of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention for finished parts that
have been or are to be shipped to the customer. The ATTEND button
2430 provides access to an attendance and personnel subsystem of
the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention. The NOTES button 2432 allows a worker to enter notes
into the graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention on anything about the job shop, including notes for a
part whose bar code number appears in the bar code display portion
2448. The E-MAIL SYSTEM button 2434 provides access to the E-Mail
system of the represented job shop.
[0236] The bar code portion 2446 includes a display portion 2448
for displaying a bar code typed in through the keyboard 284 or 384
or scanned using the bar code scanner 286 or 386. The bar code
portion 2446 operates similarly to the bar code portion 746
described above and thus will not be further described.
[0237] The shop floor representation 2450 includes a number of
machine icons 2460 representing the different machines of this job
shop, a number of bench icons 24702474 representing different
places raw materials, work-in-progress and finished inventory can
be stored, a shipping icon 2480, a receiving icon 2482, a customer
icon 2490 and a supplier icon 2492.
[0238] Because the job shop works on a part-by-part basis, rather
than on a container basis, the shop floor representation 2400 does
not include container storage locations in the same way storage
locations were used by the shop floor representations 700, 800 and
2300. Rather, the shop floor representation 2450 includes the
"bench" icons 2470-2474, which represent the benches on which the
individual parts are placed and stored as work-in-progress or as
finished inventory. In the job shop represented by the shop floor
representation 2450, there are a number of different types of
benches.
[0239] A first bench icon 2470 is located adjacent to a machine
icon 2460, and represents the location of parts to next be worked
on by the machine represented by that machine icon. Thus, the parts
stored on a bench next to a machine also represent the schedule of
jobs for that machine. A second type of bench stores
work-in-progress that has not yet been assigned to a particular
machine. Thus, this second type of bench is not associated with any
particular machine. These second type benches are represented by
the second bench icons 2472 A third type of bench stores raw
materials. These third type benches are represented by the third
bench icons 2474.
[0240] The shipping icon 2480 represents a location where finished
inventory ready for shipping to the appropriate customer can be
placed for invoicing and shipping to that customer. In contrast,
the receiving icon 2482 represents a location where newly received
raw materials and other items from suppliers can be placed so they
can be entered into the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention and have bar code labels assigned to,
printed and affixed to each different item and/or each separate
piece of raw material.
[0241] The customer icon 2490 and the supplier icon 2492 are used
to display lists of customers and their orders for which parts are
to be produced and suppliers from which raw material is bought.
[0242] In operation, to produce a new part, a worker selects the
customer icon 2490 to view the uncompleted jobs, so that worker can
select a job or part for production. Once a job or part to be
produced is selected, the worker removes the appropriate raw
materials from a bench storing the piece or pieces of raw material
for that job or part. The worker scans the bar code or codes for
the selected raw materials, and an icon, corresponding to the
container icon 1610 shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, is displayed at the
bench icon 2474 corresponding to the location at which the selected
raw material is stored. The worker moves this icon to the bench
icon 2470 adjacent to the machine icon 2460 corresponding to the
machine the worker will use to being making the selected part.
[0243] As the worker uses that machine to make the selected part or
complete the selected job, the worker will select the LABOR button
2426 to attribute his labor to the selected job or part and the
BILL OF MATERIALS button 2418 to attribute to the selected job or
part any other materials or supplies used to complete the selected
job or make the selected part. Once the worker has finished using
that machine, the worker will move the work-in-progress from that
bench icon 2470 either to a bench icon 2470 adjacent to a machine
icon 2460 corresponding to the next machine to be used to complete
the selected job or make the selected part, or to a bench icon 2472
corresponding to a bench used to store work-in-progress until the
work-in-progress is moved to the next machine to be used to
complete that job or make that part.
[0244] When the worker has completed the selected job or finished
making the selected part, he will move that part, or the part or
part for the selected job, to the shipping area, and will move the
icon for that part, or the icons for each such part of the selected
job, to the shipping icon 2490. The part or parts can then be
shipped to the customer, and the shipping and invoicing will be
done by selecting the SHIPPING/INVOICING button 2428 to access the
shipping and invoicing subsystem.
[0245] It should be appreciated that, in FIGS. 7-25, the various
icons use graphics that show the represented machines and other
factory elements in a perspective view from a front of the machine
or other factory element. In contrast, in FIGS. 26 and 27, the
various icons use graphics that show the represented machines and
other factory elements in a plan view from above the machine or
other factory element. It should be appreciated that any desired
view could be used to generate the graphics for the machines and
other factory elements for the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention. It should also be appreciated
that any combination of the various sets of status buttons and the
various screens of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention described above with respect to FIGS. 4-27
could be used to implement the graphical user interface shop floor
control system of this invention for a particular factory or shop.
Thus, the various screens described above with respect to FIGS.
4-27 are exemplary only, and a particular implementation of the
graphical user interface shop floor control system of this
invention may use any one, any combination of, or all of the
various screens described above with respect to FIGS. 4-27.
[0246] It should be appreciated that the various menu bars 410,
710, 910, 1010, 1210, 1910 and 2310 that can be used in more than
one screen of the graphical user interface shop floor control
system of this invention can be implemented by one or more software
objects that can be reused and instantiated with different sets of
displayed buttons and different sets enabled ones of the displayed
buttons. Thus, the various screens of the graphical user interface
shop floor control system of this invention can easily be provided
with an appropriate menu bar with little programming overhead.
[0247] While this invention has been described in conjunction with
the specific embodiments outlined above, it is evident that many
alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments of
the invention, as set forth above, are intended to be illustrative,
not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from
the spirit and the scope of the invention.
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