Vehicle assembly line control system and method
AssigneeHyundai Motor Company
InventorDong-kil Nam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a pull-type vehicle assembly line control system and method in which a production plan for a final assembly process, or a trim process, is established first, and, using this as a basis, a production plan for a paint process then that for a vehicle body assembly process are set up. Further, in the present invention, information on the progress for the three main assembly processes--the vehicle body assembly process, paint process, and trim process--is mutually exchanged such that a dynamic re-specification assembly process is utilized in which operational sequences for each of the process are continuously readjusted to adapt to the overall assembly process.
Claims6
A vehicle assembly line control method for controlling a vehicle assembly process having a vehicle body line for assembling vehicle bodies, a paint line for painting vehicle bodies after the same pass through the vehicle body line, a trim line in which various trim parts are mounted to the vehicle bodies after the same pass through the paint line, a WBS buffer positioned between the vehicle body line and the paint line and in which vehicles passing through the vehicle body line are temporarily stored, and a PBS buffer positioned between the paint line and the trim line and in which vehicles passing through the paint line are temporarily stored, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
- (a) assigning vehicle identification numbers, signifying vehicle type, paint color, options, etc., to order numbers;
- (b) establishing a trim line production sequence plan using leveling based on options for the trim line;
- (c) dividing the vehicles to be fed to the trim line in predetermined PBS bucket sizes;
- (d) establishing a paint line production sequence plan for the vehicles divided into PBS buckets using grouping to determine a sequence to which vehicles are fed to the paint line;
- (e) dividing the vehicles to be fed to the paint line in predetermined WBS bucket sizes;
- (f) establishing a vehicle body line production sequence plan for the vehicles divided into WBS buckets using leveling to determine a sequence to which vehicles are fed to the vehicle body line;
- (g) assembling vehicle bodies according to the vehicle body line production sequence plan determined in step f;
- (h) storing the vehicle bodies after the vehicle body assembly process in the WBS buffer;
- (i) re-sequencing the vehicles in the WBS buffer that have become disordered from defects, then feeding the vehicles to the paint line;
- (j) painting the vehicles fed to the paint line to predetermined colors and designs, and storing the same in the PBS buffer;
- (k) re-sequencing the vehicles in the PBS buffer that have become disordered from defects, then feeding the vehicles to the trim line;
- and
- (l) mounting trim parts to the vehicles in the trim line to complete the vehicle assembly process, wherein the re-sequencing the vehicles in the WBS buffer in step (i) is performed using a dynamic re-specification method in which order number and vehicle identification numbers are exchanged to re-sequence the vehicles, and wherein the re-sequencing the vehicles in the PBS buffer in step (k) is performed using a dynamic re-specification method in which order number and vehicle identification numbers are exchanged to re-sequence the vehicles.
A vehicle assembly line control system for controlling a vehicle assembly process having a vehicle body line for assembling vehicle bodies, a paint line for painting vehicle bodies after the same pass through the vehicle body line, a trim line in which various trim parts are mounted to the vehicle bodies after the same pass through the paint line, a WBS buffer positioned between the vehicle body line and the paint line and in which vehicles passing through the vehicle body line are temporarily stored, and a PBS buffer positioned between the paint line and the trim line and in which vehicles passing through the paint line are temporarily stored, wherein said system comprises:
- a host computer system electronically connected to and controlling business, production, and sales computer networks;
- a production management control system controlling all production processes;
- a trim line control slave system receiving commands from the production management control system and which controls trim line assembly processes;
- a paint line control slave system receiving commands from the production management control system and which controls paint line assembly processes;
- a vehicle body line control slave system receiving commands from the production management control system and which controls paint line assembly processes;
- a paint dynamic re-specification control system for re-sequencing the vehicles in the WBS buffer, which have become disordered as a results of discovered defects, using a dynamic re-specification method;
- and a trim dynamic re-specification control system for re-sequencing the vehicles in the PBS buffer, which have become disordered as a results of discovered defects, using the dynamic re-specification method.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.