Quality management in process flows

#This invention relates to process flows.

#A process flow is a sequence of chemical, physical, or biological activities for the conversion, transport, or storage of material or energy. For example, process flows are used for the production of specialty chemical products, pharmaceutical products, fuels, cosmetics, and foodstuffs. Recipes include information related to the process flow for the production of a product. Recipes can also include definitions of resources such as equipment that is deployed to perform the process flow, as well as materials input to perform the process flow and output materials resulting from performance of the process flow.

#There are different classes of recipes. General recipes (“GR”) include information related to the process flow independent of specific production resources. General recipes identify raw materials, relative quantities, and required processing, but lack specific information regarding a particular site or the resources available at that site. Site recipes (“SR”) include site-specific information related to the local constraints, such as language and available raw materials at a particular production locale. Master recipes (“MR”) include resource capabilities such as equipment deployable to perform a process flow, and describe activities for a specific production on a specific line. Master recipes can also include information that is specific to a process cell.

#FIG. 1 shows a method for combining quality management with process flows.

#FIG. 2 shows an example table that includes quality management information.

#FIG. 3 shows another method for combining quality management with process flows.

#Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

#FIG. 1 shows a method 100 for combining quality management with a process flow. A system performing the method 100 receives process flow information describing a process flow (step 105). A process flow is a sequence of chemical, physical, or biological activities for the conversion, transport, or storage of material or energy. The process flow information can describe the process flow even in the absence of information about the resources used to perform the process flow. For example, the process flow information can describe that a mixture with a certain viscosity is to be mixed at a certain rate and temperature without identifying a particular mixing vessel. The process flow information can be received, e.g., directly from a user, retrieved from a process flow database, or received from a second, remote system.

#The system also receives quality management information describing the quality management of an activity described in the process flow information (step 110). The quality management information can include, e.g., information about methods for managing the quality and traits of equipment and materials involved in the process flow. For example, the quality management information can specify a method for measuring the transmissivity of a temporary suspension, the range of acceptable transmissivities of a particular temporary suspension, the acceptable black noise of a spectrophotometer for making a transmissivity measurement, and what to do if the transmissivity of the temporary suspension is outside the acceptable range.