Automated manufacturing system
AssigneeShutterfly, Inc.
InventorsXin Wen, Russ Muzzolini, Jeff Boone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automated manufacturing system comprises a computer processing system and a plurality of consolidation systems. The computer processing system receives information on product subbatches and product packages and consolidation status information to produce consolidation assignment information, each product package comprising one or more product subbatches. The consolidation systems receive the product subbatches in accordance to the consolidation assignment information and consolidate the product subbatches into product packages, wherein the status of the consolidation systems are tracked and the consolidation status information is sent to the computer processing system.
Claims50
An automated manufacturing system, comprising
- a) a computer processing system that defines product packages and one or more product subbatches within each product package in response to input product information;
- and
- b) a plurality of consolidation systems that receive the product subbatches in accordance to consolidation assignment and consolidate the product subbatches into product packages, wherein the computer processing system receives the status information of the consolidation systems and produces consolidation assignment.
An automated manufacturing system, comprising
- a) a computer processing system that defines product packages and one or more product subbatches within each product package in response to input product information;
- b) one or more production systems that produce the product subbatches;
- and
- c) a plurality of consolidation systems that receive the product subbatches in accordance to consolidation assignment and consolidate the product subbatches into product packages, wherein the computer processing system receives the status information of the consolidation systems and produces consolidation assignment.
A method of automated manufacturing, comprising
- a) defining product packages and one or more product subbatches within each product package in response to input product information;
- b) tracking the status of a plurality of consolidation systems to produce consolidation status information;
- c) producing consolidation assignment in accordance to the consolidation status information;
- d) distributing product subbatches to the consolidation systems in accordance to the consolidation assignment;
- and
- e) consolidating the product subbatches into product packages at the assigned consolidation systems.
A method of automated manufacturing, comprising
- a) providing or receiving product subbatches and product packages, each product package comprising one or more companion product subbatches;
- b) providing a plurality of consolidation systems;
- c) specifying a first load level for at least one of the consolidation systems;
- and
- d) if the consolidation system exceeds the first load level, sending the consolidation systems only product subbatches that have companion product subbatches already stored in the consolidation system.
A method of automated manufacturing, comprising
- a) providing or receiving product subbatches and product packages, each product package comprising one or more companion product subbatches;
- b) providing a plurality of consolidation systems;
- c) specifying consolidation priority to product subbatches according to the status of their companion product subbatches;
- and
- d) sending the product subbatches to the consolidation systems in accordance to the specified priority of the product subbatches, wherein the product subbatches are consolidated into product packages.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.