Production management system with simultaneous multiple data transmission

A production management system comprising:

• production line means having a plurality of movable carriages for carrying workpieces and a plurality of work stations for processing the workpieces;
• and
• control means for controlling said work stations to process the workpieces, said carriages having first data communication means for transmitting carriage identification data descriptive of said carriages to said control means, said control means comprising
• memory means for storing said carriage identification data transmitted from said carriages and workpiece type data descriptive of the workpieces carried on respective carriages, said workpiece type data including instruction data of details of work to be performed on the workpieces at said work stations and data about parts to be installed on said workpieces at said work stations,
• second data communication means for receiving said carriage identification data from said carriage,
• comparator means for comparing said carriage identification data transmitted from said carriages and said carriage identification data stored in said memory means, and
• third data communication means for transmitting said workpiece type data to said work stations depending on the result of comparison effected by said comparator means,
• the production management system operable such that when one of said carriages arrives at one of said work stations, said carriage identification data from said one carriage are transmitted from said one carriage through said first and second data communication means to said control means, said carriage identification data transmitted from said one carriage and said carriage identification data stored in said memory means are compared by said comparator means, and, if the compared carriage identification data agree said workpiece type data corresponding to said carriage identification data are transmitted through said third data communication means to said one work station, the workpiece in said one work station is processed based on said transmitted workpiece type data.

A production management system comprising:

• production line means including a plurality of movable carriages for transporting workpieces along said production line means to plural work stations to be machined;
• control means, operatively coupled between said control means and said movable carriages, for transmitting identification data of each respective movable carriage therefrom to said control means for storage therein in memory means;
• and
• second communication means, operatively coupled between said control means and said work stations, for respectively transmitting to each of said work stations said stored identification data and workpiece type data descriptive of said workpieces and processing steps to be performed on workpieces of a particular movable carriage located at a particular work station and for a subsequent movable carriage to arrive following said particular movable carriage along said production line means under direction of said control means.

A method of controlling a production system including production line means having a plurality of movable carriages for transporting workpieces along the production line means to plural work stations to be machined comprising the steps of:

• transmitting identification data of each respective movable carriage therefrom through first communication means to a control means;
• storing in a memory means of the control means the transmitted identification data;
• and
• transmitting from the control means to each respective work station, through second communication means, the stored identification data and workpiece type data descriptive of the workpieces and processing steps to be performed on workpieces of a particular movable carriage located at a particular work stations and for a subsequent movable carriage to arrive following the particular movable carriage along the production line means under direction of the control means.