Evaluation and ranking of manufacturing line non-numeric information

A system for quantitatively determining the performance of a plurality of non-numeric attributes of a manufacturing line comprising:

• (a) a manufacturing line configured to receive input materials, to process said input materials to produce a product, and to produce a measure signal that provides a quantitative measure of each manufacturing run;
• (b) attributes configured to operate on said input materials to perform said material processing;
• (c) means for generating attribute ID signals to identify the attributes;
• and
• (d) a processor configured to receive said attribute ID signals and said measure signal, to normalize said recorded measure signal, and to deconvolute said normalized recorded measure signals and said attribute ID signals using a convergent iterative process to generate a quantitative numeric measure for said attributes.

A method for quantitatively determining the performance of a plurality of non-numeric attributes of a manufacturing line, comprising the steps of:

• recording a measure signal for each of a plurality of manufacturing runs on the manufacturing line, wherein each said measure signal comprises data indicating an output measure of the manufacturing line and said data are obtained by operating the manufacturing line to produce a product;
• (b) recording attribute ID signals associated with each of said plurality of manufacturing runs, wherein each of said attribute ID signals identifies a non-numeric. attribute that contributed to the manufacturing run;
• (c) normalizing said recorded measure signal for each of said plurality of manufacturing runs;
• (d) using a convergent iterative process to deconvolute said normalized recorded measure signals and said attribute ID signals to generate a quantitative numeric measure signal for the non-numeric attributes;
• and
• (e) adjusting the non-numeric attributes based on said quantitative numeric measure signal to optimize the manufacturing line, wherein production of said product is optimized as a result of said adjusting.

A system for quantitatively determining the performance of a plurality of non-numeric attributes of a manufacturing line, comprising:

• (a) means for recording a measure signal for each of a plurality of manufacturing runs on the manufacturing line, wherein each said measure signal comprises data indicating an output measure of the manufacturing line and said data are obtained by operating the manufacturing line to produce a product;
• (b) means for recording attribute ID signals associated with each of said plurality of manufacturing runs, wherein each of said attribute ID signals identifies a non-numeric attribute that contributed to the manufacturing run;
• (c) means for normalizing said recorded measure signal for each of said plurality of manufacturing runs;
• and
• (d) means for deconvoluting said normalized recorded measure signals and attribute ID signals using a convergent iterative process to generate a quantitative numeric measure signal for the non-numeric attributes.