Assembly line manufacturing control apparatus
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsKazuyoshi Abe, Masahiko Kawasaki, Kazuhiko Yazaki, Yoshitada Sekine
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bar-code control for a manufacturing process employs a bar-code label with a combination of narrow and wide slots constituting a bar code in combination. The bar-code label is attached to a base component to which various other components are to be assembled in an assembly process and a painting process. In the assembly process, information and instructions represented by the bar code are optically read to identify the components to be assembled to the base component and to control the assembly operations. In the painting process, the bar code is read to identify the required color to be painted and to control the painting operation.
Claims45
A control system for an industrial manufacturing process for manufacturing products to be assembled from a plurality of components, comprising:
- first means for obtaining information and instructions related to each of the products to be manufactured according to a predetermined production plan and for generating electrical signals representative of the obtained information and instructions at predetermined time intervals;
- second means, responsive to said electrical signals from said first means, for converting each of the electrical signals into a bar-code pattern and encoding the bar-code pattern in a blank label, said bar-code pattern comprising a combination of first slots having a first width and second slots having a second width different from said first width, and said first and second slots being arranged to represent the contents of said electrical signal;
- third means for attaching said encoded label to a base component to which other components are to be assembled;
- and
- fourth means for reading said bar-code and for obtaining information which identifies components to be assembled to said base component and for obtaining instructions for controlling manufacturing process operations, said fourth means producing a control signal based on said label, said control signal being indicative of said identified components and required manufacturing process operations.
An automotive vehicle assembling system for assembling various models and types of vehicle components to be assembled through a single common line and for painting the assembled components comprising
- a control system means for controlling assembling and painting operations comprising:
- first means for obtaining information and instructions relating to a specific model, type and/or specifications of each vehicle to be assembled and converting the obtained information and instructions into a digital code representative thereof;
- second means, responsive to said digital code, for encoding a blank bar code in a label, said bar code comprising a combination of identical first slots and identical second slots, said second slots differing in size from said first slots, and said first and second slots being arranged in said label to indicate said digital code;
- third means for attaching said encoded label to a base component of the vehicle;
- fourth means for reading said encoded label and producing a first control signal for identifying vehicle components to be assembled and for controlling the assembling operations, and
- fifth means for reading said encoded label and producing a second control signal for controlling painting operations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.