Lot management production method and product carrying container
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorTomohide Jozaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lot management production method in which the lot size is reduced in order to respond to an order for small volume of large variety, without increasing the intermediate inventory and reducing lead-time, however without reducing the productivity of a production of large volume of small variety. Part of the processes in a production line are performed for pieces, or products to be manufactured, in a single lot, while other processes are done for pieces in a group or aggregate of single lots.
Claims4
A production method of performing lot management on a production line of a large volume of a large variety of products, said production line having at least each one of a variety of processing apparatuses, said production method including a series of processes for a lot having a number of pieces of a same product contained in a carrying container as a minimum unit of production, said series of processes performed according to a corresponding product, wherein said production method comprises:
- processing each piece of product in a single lot for a portion of said processes to be performed on said production line;
- and
- processing each piece of product in a group of said lots for another portion of said processes.
A container for carrying a piece of product constituting a lot in a production line, said container comprising:
- a connecting means for connecting another container, wherein a plurality of said containers can be attached/detached to each other through said connecting means and said attached containers comprise a container for carrying a group of said lots on said production line.
A production method for a production line having a plurality of processing steps, the method comprising:
- determining a number of pieces constituting a single lot, based on a number of ordered pieces;
- identifying a common processing step for two or more of said single lot, among said plurality of processing steps;
- aggregating said two or more single lots having said common processing step, as one aggregated lot;
- processing said aggregated lot as a minimum unit for said common processing step;
- and
- processing said single lot as a minimum unit for other processing steps in said production line.
A container for carrying a plurality of single lots including pieces to be processed in a production line, said container comprising:
- a detachable unit for carrying a single lot;
- and
- a retaining part for retaining two of said detachable units when aggregated with each other;
- wherein
- a plurality of compartments are uniformly spaced when said detachable units are aggregated to each other and retained by said retaining means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.