Line management in manufacturing execution system

A system for providing a production metric about a physical production line comprising an arrangement of physical entities at a plurality of line positions in the physical production line, the system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• a display operatively connected to the at least one processor;
• a user input device for receiving user inputs operatively connected to the at least one processor;
• a production line input for receiving production data inputs from the physical production line operatively connected to the at least one processor;
• and
• a memory comprising one or more tangible, non-transitory processor-readable media storing instructions that configure the processor to perform a method of providing a production metric about the physical production line comprising:
• generating an entity data model for each of the physical entities in the physical production line based on user inputs to the user input device;
• generating a line data model based on user inputs to the user input device graphically associating entity configuration objects displayed on the display to represent said entity data models with the physical production line;
• including in the line data model an indication of the line positions of the physical entities based on user inputs to the user input device graphically arranging the entity configuration objects on the display at locations representative of the line positions of the respective physical entities in the physical production line,
• determining a production metric of the physical production line using the line data model and production data about at least one of the physical entities;
• and
• displaying the production metric on the display.

A method of operating a physical production line comprising an arrangement of physical entities at a plurality of line positions in the physical production line, the method comprising:

• performing one or more work orders by executing jobs on the physical entities of the production line in a sequence of the respective line positions;
• executing a processor-executable method on a processor for providing a production metric about a physical production line, the method for providing the production metric comprising;
• (a) presenting one or more interactive entity configuration views on a display of a workstation;
• (b) receiving user inputs to said one or more interactive entity configuration views, said user inputs including entity data representing one of said physical entities;
• (c) generating an entity data model from said entity data;
• (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) to generate an entity data model for each of the physical entities in the physical production line;
• (e) presenting one or more interactive line configuration views on said display of the workstation, at least one of said one or more interactive line configuration views having a work area and a palette of entity configuration objects, at least a plurality of said entity configuration objects representing said entity data models generated in steps (c) and (d);
• (f) receiving user inputs selecting said plurality of said entity configuration objects and placing them on the work area at displayed locations on the work area representative of the line positions of the respective physical entities in the physical production line to create a graphical object model representing the physical production line;
• (g) generating a line data model based on said user inputs, said step of generating the line data model comprising including in the line data model an indication of the line positions of the physical entities based on said displayed locations of the entity configuration objects on the work area;
• (h) receiving production data about the physical entities executing said jobs while performing said one or more work orders;
• (i) determining a production metric of the physical production line using said production data and the line data model;
• and
• (j) displaying the production metric on said display;
• and
• adjusting one or more aspects of the physical production line based on the production metric displayed on the display.