JP2839010B2 - Production control method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production control method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a semi-finished product other than a predetermined in-process storage shelf in a production line including a plurality of processes such as a semiconductor production line or a liquid crystal production line. The present invention relates to a production control method and apparatus suitable for use on a production line where it is desirable to minimize the number of processes other than a production-process storage shelf that is not capable of storing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 15A shows a production line on which a semi-finished product cannot be stored except for the predetermined work-in-progress storage shelf.
FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a production process of a product in a production line in which it is desirable to minimize a work in process other than a predetermined work in progress storage shelf. FIG.
In (A), the process procedure proceeds from left to right, and in a “process block” composed of a subsequence of process procedures separated by a work-in-progress storage shelf, process work is usually disabled or a predetermined work-in-progress. There is a demand for minimizing processes other than storage shelves. FIG. 15B is a diagram schematically showing an example of the flow of a semi-finished product in this type of production line.

Conventionally, this type of production control apparatus has been used for improving productivity and controlling the progress of semi-finished products in semiconductor manufacturing lines and the like.

For example, various production control systems have been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-7104 and 3-35965.

[0005] Among them, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-7104 discloses that
A production control method has been proposed to reduce the absolute number of types in control by managing each type of workpiece and each processing path using storage shelves provided in front of the equipment module.
In this method, a module is constructed for each equipment that forms a series of processing paths, and a work-in-progress or a buffer is provided in front of the module,
The production is performed by controlling the timing at which a semi-finished product is unloaded from a work-in-progress shelf or a buffer. Note that this Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-7
Japanese Patent Publication No. 104 does not describe a specific method such as what kind of information is used to determine a delivery timing.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-35965 discloses that
By controlling the flow of a single device or group of devices for a processing step that repeatedly passes through the same device or group of devices,
A production control method has been proposed that simplifies the management of the entire product flow and enables effective control of production progress. The publication discloses a method of determining a delivery timing, in which a semi-finished product is transported in response to a request from a post-process. However, this method is a job shop type such as a semiconductor production line or a liquid crystal production line. In a complicated line, production efficiency may be significantly reduced.

[0007]

The problems of the conventional production control system will be described below. FIG. 19 is an example of a time chart showing a flow of a semi-finished product when control is performed only by a simple post-process transfer request. In FIG. 19, the semifinished product (A) processed in the order of the equipment group 11 and the equipment group 12 and the semifinished product (B) processed in the order of the equipment group 11 and the equipment group 13 are provided in the in-process storage shelf 1. It is assumed that is in progress.

Referring to FIG. 19, at time t ₁ , the equipment group 1
After the processing in 3 is completed, a transport request is issued to the equipment group 11 which is the previous process. In the equipment group 11, since the semi-finished product to be transported to the equipment group 12 is staying, the transportation request is immediately sent to the equipment group 11. I can't respond. Then, at time t _2, the end processing in equipment group 12, the transport request is issued, when the semi-finished product is removed to be transported to the equipment group 12, first, the transport of semifinished products to be processed in the equipment group 13 The request can be issued to the in-process storage shelf 1. That is, from time t ₁ when the transportation request is issued from the equipment group 13, the semi-finished product is
Until time t ₅ to arrive, equipment group 13 becomes the idle state. Similarly, an idle state occurs in each equipment group, and the production efficiency decreases.

A kanban method is known as a production method for suppressing a work in process on a flow shop type production line. However, since it is a method based on a flow shop type production line, semiconductor production lines and liquid crystal production It cannot be applied to job shop type complicated lines such as lines.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a production line which cannot store semi-finished products except for a predetermined single or plural in-process storage shelves. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for realizing production control with high production efficiency in a production line where it is desirable to minimize the number of processes other than a predetermined work-in-process storage shelf.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a production control apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of steps, and a production line which cannot store a semi-finished product except for a predetermined in-process storage shelf; In a production line where it is desirable to minimize work in process other than the specified in-process storage shelves, calculate the appropriate flow rate in the process line between the in-process storage shelves from equipment operation schedule information, process procedure information, and processing time information Flow-out calculating means, a delivery time calculating means for calculating a time series of a time at which a work-in-progress storage shelf is taken out based on the calculated appropriate flow rate, and a delivery to the work-in-progress storage shelf based on the delivery time and the work-in-process information. Delivery instruction means for issuing an instruction.

A production control apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that, in a production system for producing multiple types, the flow rate calculating means calculates the appropriate flow rate with reference to a mixing ratio of a type or a type group. .

Further, the production control method according to the present invention comprises:
(A) calculating an appropriate flow rate in each process block, which is a sub-sequence of a process procedure divided by a work-in-process storage shelf in a production process, based on production information including facility operation schedule information, process procedure information, and processing time information; (B) chronologically calculating the unloading time of the semi-finished product from the in-process storage shelf based on the calculated appropriate flow rates of the respective process blocks; and (c) the in-process storage shelf based on the in-process status and the unloading time. Is given a delivery instruction.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of the present invention includes a shortest processing interval, a process procedure, a product mixing ratio,
A production information storage unit 2 for storing the equipment operation schedule and the equipment state; an input device 1 for inputting these information stored in the production information storage unit 2; , A work-in-progress storage shelf 7 that receives a delivery instruction from the control section 3 and issues a semi-finished product, and a work-in-progress status of each of the work-in-progress storage shelves 7 that receives a receipt or exit report from the work-in-progress storage shelf. And an in-process information storage unit 6 for storing the information.

The production information storage unit 2 includes a processing time (shortest processing interval) storage unit 21, a process procedure storage unit 22, a product mixture ratio storage unit 23, a facility operation schedule storage unit 24,
Equipment status storage means 25.

Among them, the process procedure storage means 22 stores, for each product type, the order of each process including the in-process storage shelves, the equipment group used in the process, the processing conditions in the process, and the in-process storage shelves. It is stored in association with the standard required time until. FIG. 5A shows an example of the configuration of the process procedure information stored in the process procedure storage means 22. For each type, for example, the process 1 to process block 1 including the in-process storage shelf 1 are described. 10 equipment groups, processing conditions, standard required time from the in-process storage shelf 1 to the process,
Is stored.

The processing time storage means 21 stores the shortest processing interval, the residence time, and the number of parallel operations for each processing condition and equipment. Here, the “shortest processing interval” is a time interval from the start of processing of a semi-finished product until the processing of the next semi-finished product becomes possible, and the “residence time” is the half-life of the semi-finished product after the start of processing. This is the time until the product can be transported to the next process. FIG.
(B) shows an example of the configuration of the processing time information stored in the processing time storage unit 21.

The production information is inputted in advance by the input device 1 or the production equipment 8.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the control unit 3 calculates a proper flow rate in each process block based on the production information stored in the production information storage unit 2.
A delivery time calculation means 4 for calculating a delivery time of a semi-finished product based on an appropriate flow rate of each process block, a delivery instruction means 5 for giving a delivery instruction to each in-process storage shelf based on a work-in-progress status and the delivery time, It has. Here, the “process block”
As shown in FIG. 15A, it means a partial sequence of process steps divided by the in-process storage shelf.

The flow rate calculating means 30 calculates the processing capacity of the equipment group as a ratio of the flow rate of the process using the equipment group to the product mixing ratio, and the equipment group processing capacity calculating means 31 calculates the processing capacity and the product mixing ratio. And a process block flow rate calculating means 32 for calculating an appropriate flow rate of each process block from the product.

As an example, the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 calculates the ratio of the flow rate flowing through each process to be equal to the product mixing ratio, and calculates the product of the flow rate allocated to each process and the shortest processing interval in each process. Take the sum for each equipment group used,
A calculation method is used in which this sum is equal to the sum of the values for each equipment group, with the operable state of the equipment being "1" and the impossible state being "0". This method is represented by the following equation (1).

[0023]

(Equation 1)

[0024] Here, K _i ^s is the i-th step of the s-th varieties, _{G g} is the g-th of the equipment group,

(Equation 2)

[0025] The equipment group to be used in step K _i ^s, _{R r} is r
Th equipment, tau _ir ^s shortest processing interval when using the facilities R _r in step K _i ^s, B _r is parallel work number of facilities _{R r,} A _r (t)
Is the operation status of the equipment R _r when the operable state is “1” and the non-operational state is “0”, p ^s is the product mixture ratio of the s-th type, and s _g ^max (t) is the equipment group The ratio of the flow rate of the process using G _g to the product mixing ratio.

Also, the left denominator of the right side denominator

[0027]

(Equation 3)

Means the sum over all types s process i in which the equipment group used is G _g ,

[0029]

(Equation 4)

[0030] refers to the sum over all of the equipment _{R r} belonging to equipment group _{G g.}

FIG. 6 shows this method expressed in a logic circuit diagram. Referring to FIG. 6, the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 calculates, for each equipment group, the largest semi-finished product that can be processed simultaneously by each equipment from the equipment state, the equipment operation schedule information, and the parallel work number information of each equipment. Equipment operation information calculation means 311 for calculating a time series of numbers, a maximum flow rate calculation means 312 for calculating a time series of a maximum flow rate when the equipment group is occupied in each process from the equipment operation information and the shortest processing interval, Appropriate flow rate calculating means 31 for calculating the time series of the ratio of the flow rate of the process using each equipment group to the product mixture ratio from the calculated maximum flow rate of each process.
And 3. Here, “AND” in the figure indicates the minimum value operation, “MUL” indicates the integration, “INV” indicates the reciprocal operation, and “ADD” indicates the addition.

Returning to FIG. 1, as an example of the process block flow rate calculating means 32, for each process block, the product of the flow rate ratio and the product mixture ratio calculated by the equipment group processing capacity calculating means 31 is stored in the in-process storage shelf. A method of calculating the minimum value by taking into account the standard required time from the time. This method is expressed by the following equation (2).

[0033]

(Equation 5)

[0034] Here, P _k ^s is the k-th step block of the s-th varieties, t _i ^s standard time required from widget storage shelf to step ^{_{K i s, s k smax (}} t) the process blocks P is a proper flow rate in the _k ^s. Also, on the right side

[0035]

(Equation 6)

[0036] compares all steps K _i ^s belonging to s-th k-th step block P _k ^s varieties means for calculating a minimum value at each time point.

FIG. 7 shows the processing in the process block flow rate calculating means 32 equivalently represented by a logic circuit.
Here, “SFT” in the figure means an operation for shifting the time-series information along the time axis. The input terminal Ti2 in FIG. 7 is connected to the output terminal To1 of the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 in the equipment group used in the corresponding process.

[0038] Figure 3, shows the flow chart a processing flow of the embodiment of the present invention. The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the input device 1 preliminarily inputs production information such as a processing time, a process procedure, a product mixing ratio, and a facility operation schedule. The equipment status information is input by the input device 1 or reported from the production equipment 8.

Next, the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 calculates the processing capacity of the equipment group from the production information as a ratio of the flow rate of the process using the equipment group to the product mixture ratio (see step S31). .

FIG. 8 shows the operation on the logic circuit diagram shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 6, in the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31, first, the equipment operation information calculation means 311 obtains each of the equipment state, the equipment operation schedule, and the time series information of the number of parallel operations of each equipment by using each time series information. Calculate the time series data of the maximum number of semi-finished products that can be processed simultaneously by the equipment.

Here, the equipment state takes "1" if the latest equipment information can be processed or is being processed, and takes "0" if it is in a state in which processing is impossible such as failure or inspection. . The equipment operation schedule is time-series data that takes “0” during a scheduled equipment stoppage period such as periodic inspection and “1” during other periods. The number of parallel operations is the number of semi-finished products that can be processed simultaneously in each facility.

The equipment operation information calculating means 311 calculates the minimum value of the equipment status and the time series of the equipment operation schedule, and outputs time series data obtained by integrating the number of parallel operations of each equipment. FIG. 8A shows an example of a part T11 of this time-series data output. FIG. 8A shows operation information of the facilities 1 to k as time-series data.

Next, the maximum flow rate calculating means 312 calculates the maximum flow rate when the facility group is occupied in each process from the time series information of the maximum number of processes of each facility and the shortest processing interval information. "Shortest processing interval" is the processing of semi-finished products in one facility,
This is the time interval until processing can be performed again. The shortest processing interval is assigned to each product type / section process and each facility from the process procedure information and the processing time information.

The maximum flow rate calculating means 312 calculates the sum of the product of the reciprocal of the shortest processing interval and the time series data of the maximum processing number of each equipment in equipment capable of processing each process of each type. Is output as the maximum flow rate. Here, the “maximum flow rate of each process” is the maximum flow rate when all the processing capacity of the equipment used in each process is allocated to the process of one process. FIG. 8B shows an example of a part T21 of this output.
FIG. 8B shows, as time-series data, the maximum flow rate when the equipment group 1 is occupied in each process for each product type 1 to p.

Finally, the appropriate flow rate calculating means 313 calculates
From the calculated maximum flow rate and product mixing ratio of each process, the ratio of the appropriate flow rate of each process to the product mixing ratio is calculated for each equipment group. Here, the “product mixture ratio” means a ratio of each product to the entire target production volume.

The appropriate flow rate calculating means 313 integrates the product mixture ratio with the reciprocal of the time series of the maximum flow rate of each process, adds the product mixture ratio for each equipment group used in each process, and calculates the reciprocal operation for each equipment group. Output as ratio of appropriate flow rate. FIG. 8C shows an example of the output To1. FIG. 8C shows, as time-series data, the appropriate flow rates of the processes using the equipment groups 1 and 2.

Next, the process block flow rate calculating means 32 (see FIG. 1) refers to the process procedure information and, for each process block of each type, calculates the equipment group processing capacity calculating means 31 for each equipment group. An appropriate flow rate in each process block is calculated from the product of the flow rate ratio and the product mixture ratio of each type (see step S32 in FIG. 3). FIG. 9 shows the operation of the process block flow rate calculating means 32 shown in FIG. 7 on the logic circuit diagram.

Referring to FIG. 7, the input terminal Ti2 corresponds to each process of each type, and is connected to the output terminal To1 of the corresponding equipment group of the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31, respectively. The process block flow rate calculating means 32 first shifts the input Ti2 of each process of each type in the negative direction of the time axis by the standard required time. Here, "standard time"
This is the standard required time from when the leading in-process storage shelf of each process block is unloaded to when each process block is reached. FIG. 9A shows an example of a part T31 of the calculation result. FIG. 9A shows a graph in which the appropriate flow rate is shifted to the left by the required time for each process block of product type 1.

Next, the minimum value of the operation result is calculated for each process block, and the time series data obtained by integrating the product mixture ratio is output as the process block proper flow rate. FIG. 9B shows an example of the output To2. In FIG. 9B, the appropriate flow rate for each process block of product type 1 is indicated by thick lines as time-series data.

Referring again to FIG. 1, next, the retrieval time from the in-process storage shelf is calculated by the retrieval time calculating means 4 from the time-series information of the appropriate flow rate for each process block described above (FIG. 3). Step S41). As an example of this, there is a method of calculating the leaving time so that the integrated value of the time-series data of the appropriate flow rate for each of the process blocks between the adjacent leaving times is equal to one semi-finished product. FIGS. 10A and 10B show an example of the input and output of the leaving time calculation means 4, respectively. In the output information (delivery time of each process block) of the retrieval time calculation means 4 shown in FIG. 10 (B), the area divided by hatching, meshes, etc. indicates the area corresponding to one lot. .

Finally, referring to FIG.
Accordingly, a dispatch instruction is issued to the in-process storage shelf 7 based on the in-process status of each of the in-process storage shelves stored in the in-process information storage section 6 and the above-mentioned exit time (see step S51 in FIG. 3).

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

Referring to FIG. 11, in the second embodiment of the present invention, processing time storage means 21 (see FIG. 1)
Is the processing time storage means 2 in the first embodiment.
In addition to the function 1 (see FIG. 5B), the number of parallel operations is also stored for each processing condition. Further, the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 (see FIG. 1) is a facility operation information calculation means 311 of the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 in the first embodiment.
The difference is that a part for integrating the number of parallel operations is removed from (see FIG. 6), and a part for integrating the number of parallel operations is added to the maximum flow rate calculating means 312 instead. The following expression (3) expresses this method by a mathematical expression.

[0055]

(Equation 7)

[0056] Equation (3), it said in place of the parallel work number B _r of formula (1) in the first embodiment, step K _i ^s parallel work number when using the facilities R _r in B _ir ^s It is different in that.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the number of parallel operations depends on the processing conditions by managing the number of parallel operations for each processing condition and referring to the number of parallel operations for each product type, process and equipment in the flow rate calculation. Can be adapted to the production process.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, according to a third embodiment of the present invention, the flow rate calculating means 30 is different from the flow rate calculating means 30 in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 31, in addition to the process block outflow calculation means 32,
A remaining capacity calculating means 33 for calculating a remaining capacity of the equipment from the processing capacity calculated by the equipment group processing capacity calculating means 31 and the appropriate flow rate of each process once calculated and stored in the appropriate flow rate storing means 34; The sequential flow rate optimizing means 36 for sequentially calculating the optimum flow rate by further distributing the surplus power to each process, the processing capacity distribution ratio storing means 35 for storing the distribution ratio, and the flow rate sequential optimizing means 36 And an appropriate flow rate storage means 34 for storing the flow rate calculated in (1).

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the process block flow rate calculating means 32 is calculated by the remaining capacity calculating means 33 instead of the flow rate ratio calculated by the equipment group processing capacity calculating means 31. The flow rate ratio and the appropriate flow rate stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 are input, and
Calculate the appropriate flow rate for each process block.

FIGS. 13 and 1 show the remaining power calculation means 33 and the process block flow rate calculation means 32 expressed in a logical circuit diagram.
4 respectively. In the figure, “COM” means a complement operation, that is, an operation for obtaining a time series that adds up to “1”.

The input terminal Ti4 in FIG. 13 and the input terminal Ti7 in FIG. 14 receive the processing power distribution ratio of each process stored in the processing power distribution ratio storage means 35. The input terminal Ti5 of FIG. 13 is connected to the output terminal To1 of the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 of FIG. 6, and the input terminal Ti6 of FIG.
3 is connected to the output terminal To4. Input terminal T of FIG.
In i8, the appropriate flow rate of each step stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 is input.

Next, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG.
The operation of the embodiment will be described.

First, production information such as a processing time, a process procedure, a product mixing ratio, and a facility operation schedule is input in advance by the input device 1. The equipment status information is input by the input device 1 or reported from the production equipment 8.

Next, the product mixture ratio information is read from the product mixture ratio storage unit 23 by the flow rate sequential optimization unit 36,
This product mixing ratio is stored in the processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 35 as an initial value of the processing capacity distribution ratio (step S36).
1) The proper flow rate of each process stored in the proper flow rate storage means 34 is initialized to 0 (step S362).

Next, the equipment group processing capacity calculation means 31 calculates the distribution information for each process stored in the product information storage unit 2 and the time series information of the distribution ratio in each process stored in the processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 35. Then, the processing capacity of each facility group is calculated as a ratio to the distribution ratio (step S31).

The surplus calculating means 33 calculates the surplus of each facility group from the ratio of the processing capacity to the distribution ratio, the distribution ratio of each process, and the appropriate flow rate of each process stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34. Calculated as a ratio (step S
33).

The process block flow rate calculation means 32 calculates the product of the ratio of the remaining capacity of the equipment group calculated in step S 33 to the distribution ratio and the distribution ratio, and the appropriate flow rate of each process stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34. Then, an appropriate flow rate of each process block is newly calculated from the process procedure information stored in the process procedure storage means 22 (step S32).

Next, after determining whether or not the appropriate flow rate of the process block calculated in step S32 has converged,
The flow rate is converted into a flow rate for each step and stored in the appropriate flow rate calculation means 34. If it is determined that the convergence has occurred, the process proceeds to step S364, and if it is determined that the convergence has not occurred, the process returns to step S31 (step S363).

In this determination method, the appropriate flow rate calculated in step S32 is compared with the appropriate flow rate stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34. If the difference is within a predetermined range, convergence is achieved. For example, a determination method of determining that the information has been performed is used.

The above steps S31 to S363
Expressions (4), (5), and (6) represent an example of the processing up to the numerical expression.

[0072]

(Equation 8)

Here, p _i ^s (t) is the i of the s-th variety.
A time series of distribution ratio th ^{_{process, s i s (n) (}} t)
Is a time series of the appropriate flow rate of the i-th process of the s-th type stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 in the n-th repetition. Equation (4) corresponds to steps 31 and 33, equation (5) corresponds to step 32, and equation (6) corresponds to step 363.

After repeating the processing from step S 31 to step S 363, each of the values is determined from the appropriate flow rate stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 and the product mixture ratio stored in the product mixture ratio storage means 2. A new distribution ratio is calculated for the process (step S364). At this time, a new distribution ratio is calculated by dividing the product mixture ratio stored in the product mixture ratio storage means 2 by the average value of the appropriate flow rates of the respective steps stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34. Is multiplied by the distribution ratio stored in the processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 35 to obtain a new distribution ratio.

Next, it is determined whether or not the distribution ratio has converged.
The distribution ratio calculated in step S364 is stored in the processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 35.

If it is determined that the convergence has occurred, the process proceeds to step S41, and if it is determined that the convergence has not occurred, the process returns to step S362 (step S365).

As the determination method, step S364
Is compared with the distribution ratio stored in the processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 35, and the difference or ratio is
If it is within a predetermined range, a determination method for determining that the convergence has been achieved, or the average value of the appropriate flow rate stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 and the product mixing ratio stored in the product mixing ratio storage means 2 are used. If the difference or the ratio is within a predetermined range, a determination method or the like for determining that convergence is used is used.

After the processes from step S362 to step S365 are repeatedly performed, the retrieval time is calculated by the retrieval time calculating means 4 from the time series information of the appropriate flow rate stored in the appropriate flow rate storage means 34 (step S4).
1).

Finally, the dispatch instruction means 5 issues a dispatch instruction to the in-process storage shelf 7 based on the in-process status of each of the in-process storage shelves stored in the in-process information storage section 6 and the above-mentioned exit time.

In order to show the effect of the first embodiment of the present invention, the time transition of the work in progress in front of each equipment group is simulated for the case where the control based on the flow rate of the present invention is performed and the case where the control is not performed. The evaluation results are shown in FIG.
7, shown in FIG. FIG. 16 shows the process procedure data used for this comparison. Each equipment group other than the in-process storage rack was stopped asynchronously.

As shown in FIG. 18, when the control is not performed, the work is intermittently or continuously generated in each equipment group.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 17, when control based on the flow rate is performed, no work is generated in each equipment group.

First, FIGS. 19 and 20 show examples for comparing the effects of the present invention and the prior art. FIG. 19 is an example of a time chart showing a flow of a semi-finished product when control is performed only by a transfer request from a simple post-process,
FIG. 20 is a time chart showing the flow of a semi-finished product when the production control according to the present invention is performed. 19 and 20
In the in-process storage shelf 1, the semi-finished product (A) processed in the order of the equipment group 11 and the equipment group 12, the equipment group 11, the equipment group 1
It is assumed that a semi-finished product (B) to be processed in the order of 3 is in process.

Referring to FIG. 19, for example, from time t ₁ to time t ₅ or from time t ₇ to time t
It can be seen that the idle state has long occurred in each equipment group, such as up to ₁₁ , and production efficiency has been reduced.

On the other hand, when the control using the present invention is performed, the processing end time in each facility is predicted in advance, and the semi-finished product is ejected from the in-process storage shelf, and as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the production efficiency is improved by suppressing the occurrence of the idle state.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention have been proposed in conventional production control systems, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-42709 and 4-73925.
When applied to production control of single-wafer management in a semiconductor production line, the advantage of shortening the semiconductor production period of single-wafer management can be exhibited more effectively. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 42709/1990 discloses the status of process progress on a sheet-by-sheet basis by transferring an identification symbol indicating a processing step to a portion of a semiconductor wafer that does not affect the end product. A production management method that makes it possible to grasp
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-73925, identification information of each wafer required for manufacturing is coded and recorded on the back surface of the wafer, and data on product characteristics, defect and foreign matter analysis, production, and the like are managed on a wafer basis. A data management method for a wafer that can perform the data processing has been proposed.

[0086]

As described above, according to the production control apparatus of the present invention, the production procedure (process procedure) and product mixing ratio for each product type or product type group, the potential processing capacity of each facility, and the maintenance Based on an equipment stop plan such as a plan and information on whether or not there is a failure, a time series of an appropriate flow rate of the semi-finished product in each process block is calculated, and the delivery from the in-process storage shelf is controlled according to the flow rate. Therefore, there is an effect that the work in process other than the work in progress storage shelf is minimized, the waiting time is shortened, and the production efficiency is improved. This also has the effect of suppressing extra conveyance.

The same effect can be obtained by incorporating the control method according to the present invention into a conventional production control device. For example, JP-A-2-42709, JP-A-4-7
In the case of performing single-wafer management in a semiconductor production line as proposed in Japanese Patent No. 3925, etc., when the production control is performed by the production control method of the present invention, the advantage of shortening the semiconductor production period of the single-wafer management can be further effectively reduced. Can be demonstrated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of process procedure information according to the first embodiment of the present invention. (B) It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the processing time information in the 1st Embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a calculation method in a facility group processing capacity calculation unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention by an equivalent logic circuit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a calculation method in a process block flow rate calculation unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention using an equivalent logic circuit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the logic circuit of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the logic circuit of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the operation of a leaving time calculation unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing time information according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a calculation method by a facility group processing capacity calculation unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention, using an equivalent logic circuit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a calculation method by an available power calculation unit in an equivalent logic circuit according to a third embodiment of the present invention (see FIG. 3).

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a calculation method by a process block flow rate calculation unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention (see FIG. 3) using an equivalent logic circuit.

FIG. 15 (A) is an explanatory diagram related to a process procedure. (B) It is explanatory drawing regarding the physical flow of a semi-finished product.

FIG. 16 is data showing a specific example of process procedure information.

FIG. 17 is a graph showing the effect of the embodiment of the present invention using the data of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a graph showing a result of a conventional example using the data of FIG. 16 as a comparative example.

FIG. 19 is a time chart for explaining a principle of occurrence of an idle state of equipment according to a conventional method as a comparative example.

FIG. 20 is a time chart showing the effect of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 2 Production information storage part 3 Control part 4 Departure time calculation means 5 Departure instruction means 6 In-process information storage part 7 In-process storage rack 8 Production equipment 21 Processing time storage means 22 Process procedure storage means 23 Product mixing ratio storage means 24 Equipment Operation schedule storage means 25 Equipment state storage means 30 Flow rate calculation means 31 Equipment group processing capacity calculation means 32 Process block flow rate calculation means 33 Remaining capacity calculation means 34 Appropriate flow rate storage means 35 Processing capacity distribution ratio storage means 36 Flow rate sequential optimization means

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A production line comprising a plurality of processes, in which semi-finished products cannot be stored except for a predetermined in-process storage shelf, and a production in which it is desirable to minimize the number of processes other than the predetermined in-process storage shelf. At the line, flow rate calculating means for calculating an appropriate flow rate in the process sequence between the in-process storage shelves from the equipment operation schedule information, the process procedure information, and the processing time information, and in-process storage shelves based on the calculated appropriate flow rates A production control device, comprising: a delivery time calculating means for calculating a time series of times to be executed; and delivery instruction means for issuing a delivery instruction to the in-process storage shelf based on the delivery time and the in-process information. 2. A production system for producing a variety of products, wherein the flow rate calculating means determines the processing capacity of the equipment group and the processing capacity of the equipment group.
Calculated as the ratio of the flow rate of the process used to the product mixture ratio
And a process block flow rate calculating means for calculating an appropriate flow rate of each process block from a product of the processing capacity and a product mixing ratio. The production control device as described. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said flow rate calculating means is provided with a processing capacity of said equipment group.
Processing capacity calculated by calculation means and appropriateness of each process
From the flow rate, a remaining capacity calculating means for calculating the remaining capacity of the equipment , and the remaining capacity of the equipment is further distributed to each process by successively
3. The production control device according to claim 2 , further comprising: flow rate optimizing means for calculating an optimum flow rate . (A) equipment operation schedule information, process procedure information,
And production information, including processing time information,
Each of which is a sub-sequence of the process procedure
Calculate the appropriate flow rate in the process block , and (b) calculate the appropriate flow rate based on the calculated
Hanging storage time series calculate the unloading time of the semi-finished product from the shelf, out to the widget storage shelf on the basis of (c) progress status and said output chamber Time
Give compartment instruction, production control method characterized by.