JPH0945596A - Production controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress a generation of a work stand-by lot in an inline work block and realize a work start by process priority order of the lot without reducing a throughput. SOLUTION: Predicting means 301 predicts an arrival time and a work time band in respective facility groups in an inline work block in the case of immediate start in an unarrived lot at the inline work block and an arrived lot. Controlling means 302 handles, as a scheduling object lot, the arrived lot; and the lot which outruns the arrived lot in the unarrived lot in any one of facility groups in the inline work block, or in which the arrived lot is superimposed on the work time band. Controlling means 402 decides lot process order in the schedule object lot according to the lot process priority order. Administrating means 403 decides enabling or disabling of the work start each lot according to the process order, and the start disabling lot is registered in a work program schedule and the start enabling lot is immediately started for work.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production control device, and more particularly to a production control device for controlling a lot flow of an in-line work block composed of a plurality of equipment groups which are desired to work continuously.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a production line composed of a plurality of equipment groups, a lot that has arrived at the equipment group of a certain process and has been worked is transported to the equipment group of the next process. When the capacity of the equipment group at the destination is sufficient, work is immediately started in the equipment group. On the other hand, when the capacity of the equipment group of the transfer destination is insufficient, the transferred lot forms a queue for work in front of the equipment group and waits for processing. Therefore,
An appropriate waiting lot may occur in front of each equipment group depending on the relationship between the equipment capacity and the lot introduction plan. In order to store these waiting lots, large and small storage shelves, that is, buffer storages are provided in each equipment group in a general production line.

However, in a production line for manufacturing semiconductors, in some blocks of the production line, for example, blocks in which a diffusion process is performed, in order to prevent the contamination of the lot from the environment during the work waiting time, work is performed. It is necessary for manufacturing technology to continuously perform different operations without waiting for the start of the process. Such a continuous work block composed of a plurality of equipment groups desired to work continuously is called an inline work block. Therefore, in principle, no buffer storage is prepared between the equipment groups in the inline work block.

FIG. 11 shows an example of an inline work block. The in-line work block in this example is composed of four equipment groups, and is shared by a plurality of processes, process procedure 1 and process procedure 2. In the process procedure 1, all four equipment groups are used, and the standard work time in each equipment group is 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes, respectively. In the process procedure 2, the first, third, and fourth equipment groups are used, and the standard work time in each equipment group is 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes, respectively. In any of the process procedures, it is desired to continuously perform the work in each equipment group without waiting for the start of the work. Therefore, in principle, no buffer storage is provided between the equipment groups. Even with the same equipment group, the standard work time may differ depending on the process procedure.

As described above, in the inline work block, it is desired to start the work in the head equipment group once and then to continue the work to the last equipment group. Therefore, a buffer storage is provided at the entrance of the inline work block. It is necessary to establish a lot flow control according to the situation.

Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed for automation of lot flow control on a production line, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 12298/1993, all of which are non-inline work blocks, that is, in front of each equipment group. Assuming that the production line is equipped with a buffer storage, the lot flow is controlled while allowing lots waiting for work to occur in front of each equipment group. Therefore, when the existing lot flow control is applied to the inline work block, it is difficult to suppress the generation of waiting lots in each equipment group in the inline work block. For this reason, the lot flow control in the in-line work block is currently carried out manually without relying on automation, and the worker himself / herself determines the work start in consideration of the number of in-process lots at that time. ing.

[0007]

However, the in-line work block includes a plurality of equipment groups for continuous work as described with reference to FIG. 11, and the equipment groups to be used and standard work in each equipment group. Since it is often shared by a plurality of process steps with different times, it has a difficult problem that, for example, even if the leading process equipment group of the lot to be input is available, it is not always possible to start immediately. For this reason, manual lot flow control requires workers with a wealth of knowledge and experience, as well as a keen intuition, and even with such workers, the input lots wait for work in the in-line work block. It was extremely difficult to control the lot flow so that it would not occur.

For example, as shown in FIG. 12, when there is a lot a using the equipment groups # 1, # 2 and # 3 of the inline work block and a lot b using the equipment groups # 2 and # 3, the lot At the time t1 when the work of a is started in the equipment group # 1, when the lot b arrives at the buffer storage at the entrance of the inline work block, the equipment group # 2 is empty at that time, so the lot b is installed at the time t2. Group # 2
If the work end time t4 in the equipment group # 2 of the lot b is later than the work end time t3 in the equipment group # 1 of the lot a, the lots a and b are in the equipment group # 2. This will cause a collision, resulting in lots waiting for work.

Under the circumstances as described above, in reality, in the manual lot flow control, work-waiting lots are generated in the in-line work block.
For this reason, there is no choice but to take temporary measures such as temporarily preparing a lot storage shelf in front of the equipment group to store the waiting lot, and when the waiting lot occurs, a worker should take a convenient place to store the lot. In addition, extra work such as waiting lot storage and lot transfer work is required, and further, lot contamination from the environment progresses during the lot work waiting time.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a production control device capable of suppressing the production of a lot waiting for work in an in-line work block and preventing the lot from being adversely affected by a waiting time in the manufacturing process.

Further, when performing lot flow control of an inline work block, if the lot flow is controlled only as a lot to be scheduled in the buffer storage at the entrance of the inline work block, the lot waiting for work is controlled, a high priority is given to the processing priority. It becomes difficult to process a given lot preferentially over a lot having a lower processing priority. This is because the lot under operation in the pre-process equipment group of the inline work block is not considered.

Therefore, another object of the present invention is to overtake a lot which has not arrived at the buffer storage at the time of scheduling but which has already arrived by any of the equipment groups in the inline work block, or the work time zone. By adding lots that may overlap with each other to the scheduling target lot, it is possible to process lots with high priority as processing priority over lots with lower processing priority. To do.

Incidentally, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 12298/1993, in addition to the waiting lot existing in the buffer storage before the certain equipment group at the time of the current scheduling,
Lots that have not arrived at the buffer storage at the time of the current scheduling, but that require later work by the equipment group are also added to the scheduling target lot for the equipment group, and given priority based on the processing priority of the lot in the scheduling object. The lots with the highest degree start work with the equipment group in order. But,
In this conventional technique, the range of lots to be added to the scheduling target is one lot before the equipment group in question, or a lot being worked in the equipment group one before that,
It is assumed that the lot is in operation in the pre-equipment group within a predetermined range. Therefore, when this conventional technique is applied to the lot flow control of an in-line work block as the subject of the present invention, if the lot is within the range of a certain previous equipment group that has not arrived at the buffer storage at the time of scheduling,
Even if there is no possibility of overtaking an already arrived lot in the inline work block, or even if the lot does not overlap with the already arrived lot in the work time zone, depending on the processing priority of the lot, scheduling will be performed so that the earliest work can be started. Will be done. Therefore, if the lot arrives at the buffer storage late, the work start will be postponed even if there is a lot in the buffer storage arrival lot that can finish the work in the meantime. Each equipment group is in an unused state, and the throughput is reduced.

Therefore, in the present invention, as described above, a lot that has not yet arrived at the buffer storage at the time of scheduling and has already arrived has been overtaken by any equipment group in the inline work block, or the work time zone By adding a lot having a possibility of duplication to the scheduling target lot, the above-mentioned decrease in throughput is prevented.

[0015]

The production control device of the present invention has the following configuration. (1) Refer to the timetable that describes the standard work time of each process in the inline work block, and refer to the timetable for the lot that arrived at the buffer storage provided at the entrance of the inline work block In the work confirmation schedule, the work time prediction means for predicting the work time zone in each equipment group of, and the work time zone confirmed in each equipment group in the inline work block,
The operation stop schedule of each equipment group is managed by the operation stop schedule, and for each lot to be processed next in the inline work block, each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for that lot by the work time prediction means From the work time zone and the contents of the work confirmation schedule and the operation stop schedule, it is investigated whether or not work wait will occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when immediate work is started, and work wait does not occur A facility work schedule management means for commencing work in the inline work block of the lot under the above condition.

(2) Refer to the time table describing the standard work time of each process in the inline work block and the standard time required for arrival from the previous process of the inline work block to the buffer storage provided at the entrance of the inline work block. Then, for the lot that arrived at the buffer storage, while predicting the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when immediately started,
For a lot that has not arrived at the buffer storage, a work time prediction means for predicting a work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when the arrival time at the buffer storage and immediately after arrival arrives at the buffer storage, and an inline work block. Event management means for issuing a scheduling event at the time when the lot arrives at the buffer storage from the previous process and at the requested time, and an inline work block in the lot not yet arrived at the buffer storage at the time of issuing the scheduling event. A lot which has already arrived has been overtaken in any equipment group in the in-line work block, or a lot which has a possibility of overlapping the work time zone with the arrived lot is based on the prediction result of each lot of the work time prediction means. And the obtained lot and the above Scheduling lot management means that uses a set of lots that have arrived at the storage buffer as the scheduling lot, and the processing order of the lots in the scheduling lot determined by the scheduling lot management means at the time of issuing the scheduling event. It was not possible to immediately start the dispatching control means to determine the work schedule and the fixed work time of each equipment group in the inline work block with the work confirmation schedule and the operation stop schedule of each equipment group with the operation stop schedule. The scheduled work time zone for the lot is managed by the scheduled work schedule, each time the scheduling event is issued, the scheduled work schedule is once cleared, and according to the lot processing order determined by the dispatching control means, 1 b If the lot has already arrived at the buffer storage, the work time zone and the work confirmation schedule for each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means, Based on the contents of the operation stop schedule and the work schedule, it is investigated whether or not work wait will occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when the lot is immediately started. In addition, the work time zone of the lot is registered in the work confirmation schedule, work is started in the inline work block of the lot, and when work waiting occurs, the work time zone in which the work can be started is set to the work time. The work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the prediction means and the above-mentioned The event management means is configured to determine based on the contents of the work confirmation schedule, the operation suspension schedule, and the work schedule schedule, register the work schedule schedule, and issue a scheduling event at the scheduled work start time. In the case of a lot that has issued a request and has not yet arrived at the buffer storage, the work time zone in which work can be started is set by the arrival time predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means and each equipment group in the inline work block. And a facility work schedule management means for making a decision based on the work time zone, the work confirmation schedule, the operation stop schedule, and the work schedule schedule and registering the work schedule in the work schedule schedule.

The dispatching control means is
For example, the processing order of the lots in the scheduling target lot is determined based on the priority given to each lot and a predetermined priority processing lot determination standard.

[0018]

In the production control device having the structure (1), the work time predicting means is provided at the entrance of the inline work block with reference to the time table describing the standard work time of each process in the inline work block. For the lots arriving at the buffer storage, the work time zone for each equipment group in the inline work block when immediately starting is predicted, and the equipment work schedule management means determines for each equipment group in the inline work block. The work time zone is managed by the work confirmation schedule, the operation stop schedule of each equipment group is managed by the operation stop schedule, and the lot to be processed next in the inline work block is predicted by the work time prediction means. The work time zone for each equipment group in the inline work block and the work confirmation schedule and Based on the contents of the operation stop schedule, it is investigated whether or not a work wait will occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when the work is immediately started, and the lot inline work is performed on condition that the work wait does not occur. By starting the work in the block, the production of lots waiting for work in the inline work block is suppressed, and the production process is prevented from being adversely affected by the production of waiting time.

In the production control device having the configuration (2),
The work time prediction means refers to the time table that describes the standard work time of each process in the inline work block and the standard time required for arrival from the previous process of the inline work block to the buffer storage provided at the entrance of the inline work block. For the lots that have arrived at the buffer storage, the working time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block when the work is started immediately is predicted, and the arrival time and arrival at the buffer storage for the lots that have not arrived at the buffer storage yet. Predict the work time zone for each equipment group in the inline work block when immediately starting later, and the event management means issues a scheduling event when the lot arrives from the previous process of the inline work block to the buffer storage, and issues this scheduling event. Time point In the scheduling target lot management means, among lots that have not yet arrived at the buffer storage provided in the preceding stage of the head process equipment group of the inline work block, the lots that have arrived at the inline work block are not included in the inline work block. Overtake by the other equipment group, or obtain a lot having a possibility that the working time zone overlaps with the arrived lot based on the prediction result of each lot of the work time prediction means, and arrive at the obtained lot and the buffer storage The set with the completed lots is set as the scheduling target lot, and the dispatching control means determines the processing order of the lots in the scheduling target lot.

Then, the equipment work schedule management means immediately starts the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block by the work confirmation schedule and the operation stop schedule of each equipment group by the operation stop schedule. Scheduled work hours for lots that could not be managed by the scheduled work schedule, each time a scheduling event is issued, the scheduled work schedule is cleared once, and according to the lot processing order determined by the dispatching control means, When the lots in the lots to be scheduled are one by one, and the lots have already arrived at the buffer storage, the lots in each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means are calculated. Work time zone, work confirmation schedule, operation Based on the contents of the stop schedule and work schedule, it is investigated whether or not work wait will occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when the work is started immediately. By registering the work hours in the work confirmation schedule and starting the work in the inline work block of the lot, the production of lots waiting for work in the inline work block is suppressed, and the production process to the lot due to waiting time occurs. Prevent the above adverse effects.

On the other hand, when a work wait occurs, the work time zone in which the work can be started is set to the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means, and the work is confirmed. A decision is made based on the schedule, the shutdown schedule, and the contents of the work schedule, the schedule is registered in the work schedule, and a request is issued to the event management means to issue a scheduling event at the scheduled work start time. Therefore, when the scheduled time arrives, a scheduling event is issued from the event management means, and the above operation is repeated.

Further, in the case of a lot that has not yet arrived at the buffer storage, the work time zone in which the work can be started is set to the arrival time predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means and the equipment group in each inline work block. It is decided based on the work time zone and the contents of the work confirmation schedule, the operation suspension schedule, and the work schedule, and is registered in the work schedule.

Thus, even if a lot has not yet arrived at the buffer storage at the time of scheduling, there is a possibility that the already arrived lot will be overtaken by any equipment group in the inline work block, or the work time zones will overlap. By adding lots to the lots to be scheduled, the lots with high priority are processed more preferentially than the lots with lower priority while suppressing the decrease of the throughput of the inline work block. Makes it possible.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a production control apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an input / output unit 10 for inputting / outputting various information to / from an external device (not shown), and a main memory or an auxiliary memory of a computer. A storage unit 20 configured to store all the information necessary for production control, a prediction unit 30 that predicts a work time, selects a lot to be scheduled, and the like, and each in-line work block that is a control target. Scheduling unit 40 that determines the allocation order of lots to equipment groups
It is composed of

Further, the predicting unit 30 is arranged in the in-line work block when the lot arrived at the buffer storage (hereinafter, simply referred to as buffer storage) provided immediately before the pre-process equipment group of the in-line work block is started. While predicting the working hours of each equipment group of,
For the lots that have not arrived at the buffer storage, the work time prediction means 301 for predicting the arrival time at the buffer storage and the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block when the work is started immediately after arrival, and the non-arrival at the buffer storage Of the other lots that have already arrived at the inline work block are overtaken by any of the equipment groups in the inline work block, or the work time of the lot that may overlap with the arrived lot is predicted. It includes a scheduling target lot managing means 302 which enumerates at the time of scheduling based on the prediction result of each lot of the means 301, and which is a scheduling target lot together with the lots which have arrived in the buffer storage.

Further, the scheduling unit 40 includes an event management means 401 for issuing a scheduling event at the time when the lot arrives from the pre-process of the inline work block to the buffer storage and at the requested time, and a scheduling target at the time of issuing this scheduling event. The dispatching control means 402 for determining the processing order of the lots in the scheduling target lot obtained by the lot management means 302, and the current and future work status of each equipment group in the in-line work block are managed by the dispatching control means. According to the processing order determined in 402, from the first lot to the last lot in the processing order,
Includes equipment work schedule management means 403 that performs processing such as determining whether or not to immediately start work in the inline work block for each lot and sequentially starting the work in the inline work block of the immediately startable lot. ing.

Reference numerals S1 to S6 shown in FIG. 1 represent examples of signals exchanged between the production control device 1 and an external device through the input / output unit 10, and S1 is controlled by the production control device 1. A buffer storage arrival signal that reports that the lot has arrived at the buffer storage of the target inline work block, S2 is work related to the lot notified from the equipment group of the previous process of the inline work block or each equipment group in the inline work block A progress report signal, S5 is a schedule change request signal notified from an external device when there is a change in work schedule or facility operation schedule,
These are input information to the production control device 1. Also, S
3, S4 and S6 are output information of the production control device 1, S3 is a work start instruction control signal issued to each equipment group of the inline work block, and S4 is a work start issued to each equipment group of the inline work block. The hold control signal, S6, is a schedule change control signal as a response to the schedule change request signal S5, and is used to convey the contents of the change schedule to the outside of the device. Although various other information is input and output through the input / output unit 10, it is omitted in the figure.

The overall operation of the production control apparatus 1 of this embodiment and the function of each section will be described below.

In the production line including the in-line work block which the production control device 1 controls, the lot is operated in the equipment group at the head of the production line,
The work is advanced one after another by the equipment group in the subsequent stage, and when the work in the preceding process equipment group immediately before the inline work block is completed, the work is stored in the buffer storage at the entrance of the inline work block. In the production control device 1, even if a lot has not yet arrived at the buffer storage, the lot that has arrived at the buffer storage can be overtaken by any equipment group in the inline work block or the lot and the work time zone can overlap. Since a lot having a certain property is included in the scheduling target lot, the work time predicting unit 301 uses the input / output unit 10 as a preprocess of the inline work block in preparation for the subsequent extraction process of the scheduling target lot by the scheduling target lot management unit 302. Each time a lot-related work progress report signal S2 is received from the equipment group, the arrival time at the buffer storage of the lot is predicted, and the work time zone of each equipment group in the in-line work block is predicted to predict each lot. It is recorded in the storage unit 20 for each. If there is a prediction result predicted at the previous work progress report for the same lot, it is updated with the new prediction result.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the time table 200 used by the work time predicting means 301 for predicting the arrival time at the buffer storage and the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block. Such a timetable 200 is stored in the storage unit 20. The timetable 200 of FIG. 2 includes a table 201 describing the standard time required for the inline work block previous process to arrive at the buffer storage of the inline work block, and each process describing the standard work time of each process in the inline work block. It is composed of tables 202-1 to 202-4 for each procedure. Tables 202-1 to 20-20
“Arrival” in each process in 2-4 is the standard time required to reach the equipment group of the process from the buffer storage, and “start” takes until the work is started in the equipment group of the process. The standard time, and “end” indicates the standard time required until the work in the equipment group of the process is completed.

The work time predicting means 301 refers to the time table 200 as shown in FIG. 2, and receives the work progress report signal S2 regarding the lot from the preceding process equipment group of the inline work block, the Predict the time of arrival at the buffer storage and the work time zone for each equipment group in the inline work block when immediately commencing after arrival. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, from the equipment group # L-1 immediately before the inline work block to the time 200
The work progress report signal S2 indicating that the work of the lot j3 is completed
Upon receipt, the time 210 is predicted as the arrival time at the buffer storage by referring to the table 201 in FIG.
Further, a table corresponding to the process procedure of lot j3 is shown in FIG.
Table 202-1 of the equipment group #L, # L + 1 in the inline work block when the lot j3 is immediately started after the arrival of the buffer storage by referring to the table 202-1. As the end time, the time shown in each figure is predicted.

At the start of the operation of the production control device 1,
When there are work-in-process lots in the pre-process equipment group of the in-line work block, the work time predicting means 301 obtains information about the work-in-process lot from the outside through the input / output unit 10 and arrives at the lots in the buffer storage. The initial operation is performed such that the time and the working time zone of each equipment group in the inline working block are predicted and stored in the storage unit 20.

When the work in the previous process of the inline work block progresses smoothly and the lot arrives at the buffer storage at the entrance of the inline work block, the buffer storage arrival signal S1 is sent from the outside via the input / output unit 10 to the scheduling unit 40. It is input to the event management means 401. Upon detecting the buffer storage arrival signal S1, the event management means 401 issues a scheduling event triggered by the detection. As a result, the dispatching control means 402 is activated.

The dispatching control means 402 first requests the scheduling target lot management means 302 of the prediction unit 30 for the scheduling target lot.

Scheduling lot management means 30
When the scheduling target lot is requested by the dispatching control means 402, the second process 2 executes the following process. First, the work time prediction means 301 is requested to predict the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when the lot that has arrived this time in the buffer storage is immediately undertaken.

In response to this request, the working time predicting means 301 refers to the standard working time corresponding to the process procedure of the lot in the time table 200 of FIG. In addition to predicting the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when the work is started and updating the work time zone (predicted at the time of the work progress report) for the lot stored in the storage unit 20, The scheduling target lot management means 302 is notified. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, if the table corresponding to the process procedure of the lot j1 that arrived at the buffer storage at time 30 is the table 202-1 in FIG.
With reference to, the time as shown in the figure is predicted as the work start time and work end time of the equipment groups #L and # L + 1 in the inline work block when the lot j1 is immediately started.

Scheduling lot management means 30
When the working time predicting unit 301 notifies the working time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block for the lot that has arrived at the buffer storage this time, 2 is stored in the inline work block stored and managed in the storage unit 20. Compared with the latest work end time of each equipment group, and if the work end time of this lot is later, update it.
This process is equivalent to the process of finding the latest time when the work ends for each piece of equipment in the in-line work block for all lots currently arriving at the buffer storage.

Next, the scheduled lot management means 302 schedules the work start time in each equipment group in the in-line work block of the buffer storage non-arrival lot predicted by the work time prediction means 301 and stored in the storage unit 20. And the latest work end time for each equipment group in the inline work block held and managed in the storage unit 20, among any lots in the inline work block among lots that have not yet arrived at the buffer storage. In the equipment group, a lot that has overtaken a lot that has arrived in the in-line work block or has a possibility of overlapping the work time zone with the lot that has already arrived is selected. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, equipment groups # 1, # 2, # of in-line work blocks
The latest work end times of 3 are 190, 240, 30 respectively.
0, and there are 5 lots of lots j2, j3, j4, j5, j6 as the buffer storage non-arrival lots, and the scheduled work start time of each equipment group in each inline work block is at the time shown in the figure. If yes, lot j6
The four lots j2, j3, j4, and j5 other than the above are any of the lots that have already arrived at the buffer storage (only the lot j1 in the figure, but there may be two or more lots). May be overtaken by any equipment group in the in-line work block, or work time zones may overlap, so these four lots j2, j3,
Select j4 and j5 to be added to the scheduling target lot.

Then, the scheduling target lot management means 302 notifies the dispatching control means 402 of the set of the lots selected as described above and the lots that have arrived in the buffer storage as scheduling target lots via the storage unit 20. To do. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 5, a set of five lots j1, j2, j3, j4, and j5 is a scheduling target lot.

The dispatching control means 402 uses the storage section 20 to manage the scheduling target lot management means 3
When the lot to be scheduled is received from 02, the processing order of the lots in the lot to be scheduled is determined and the facility work schedule management means 403 is notified. Here, the dispatching control means 402 determines the processing order of lots based on the processing priority given to each lot and a predetermined priority processing lot determination standard (which is stored in the storage unit 20). To decide. It should be noted that the priority processing lot determination criterion is that, in order to preferentially process a lot having a high processing priority and increase the throughput in the in-line work block, for example, a lot having a high processing priority is prioritized and the same priority is given. The buffer storage arrival lot can be prioritized.

Now, the equipment work schedule management means 40
3 is the work confirmation schedule for the fixed work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block, the operation stop schedule for the operation stop schedule of each equipment group, and the planned work time for the lot that could not be immediately started The obi is managed according to the work schedule. Each of these schedules is held in the storage unit 20. The facility work schedule management unit 403 temporarily clears the work schedule schedule at each issuance of a scheduling event, and according to the lot processing order determined by the dispatching control unit 402, the first lot to the last lot in the processing sequence. Up to the following processing is sequentially executed.

(A) It is determined whether or not the lot has arrived at the buffer storage.

(B) In the case where the lot has arrived in the buffer storage, it is determined whether the lot can be immediately started by the in-line work block. This determination is made by the work time predicting means 301, the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot, the contents of the work confirmation schedule, and the contents of the operation stop schedule,
It is carried out by investigating whether or not there is a work wait in each equipment group in the inline work block based on the contents of the scheduled work schedule, and there is no competition in the work time zone and no work wait occurs. In this case, it is determined that immediate action is possible. Since the scheduled work schedule is once cleared at each scheduling time, there is no scheduled work time in the scheduled work schedule at the time of processing the first lot in the processing order. However, regarding the second and subsequent lots, if there is a lot that cannot be immediately started among the lots processed before that, the scheduled work time zone of that lot is registered, so the registered work If you compete with the scheduled time, you will not be able to start immediately.

(B-1) For a lot determined to be ready for immediate operation, the work time zone of the lot is registered in the work confirmation schedule, and work is started in the inline work block of the lot through the input / output unit 10. The control signal S3 for starting the work of the lot is output to the external device.

(B-2) On the other hand, when the lot is immediately started, the work time zone of the lot conflicts with any work time zone registered in the work confirmation schedule, or the work stoppage schedule is set. If it conflicts with the registered outage period or with the scheduled work time zone of the preceding lot registered in the scheduled work schedule, work waiting may occur, so it is determined that it is not possible to start immediately. To do. Then, in this case, the work time zone in which the work for the lot can be started earliest is set to the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means 301, and the work is confirmed. It is decided based on the content of the schedule, the content of the operation stop schedule, and the content of the work schedule, and is registered in the work schedule, and the lot identifier is notified and the scheduling event is scheduled at the time when the work can be started. Request is issued to the event management means 401 to issue.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, whether or not work can be started is inspected for the lot arriving at the buffer storage, and the equipment group # 2 in the in-line work block used for the first lot cannot be used until time Tx. When it is not possible to start immediately because of some reason, a time when work can be started is obtained, and if the time is, for example, time Tx, the scheduling event is registered in the event queue so that the scheduling event occurs at time Tx.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, at time Tx, the event management unit 401 issues a scheduling event and activates the dispatching control unit 402. As a result, the scheduling process is performed again at time Tx for the scheduling target lot including the lot that has caused the scheduling event.

When registering a scheduling event in the event queue, the event management means 401
If a lot identifier is also registered in advance and a scheduling event related to the same lot as the newly requested scheduling event is already registered in the event queue, do not register this scheduling event, or Delete the already registered scheduling event and register this scheduling event.

The facility work schedule management means 40
In (B-2) above, 3 is a work start suspension control signal S including the scheduled work start time of the lot for the equipment group scheduled to work the lot via the input / output unit 10.
Roll out 4. The reason why such a control signal S4 is issued is to suppress the generation of unnecessary operation stop time by grasping the time when each equipment group should operate.

(C) On the other hand, in the case of a lot that has not yet arrived at the buffer storage, the work time zone in which the work can be started earliest is set to the buffer storage arrival time and the in-line work predicted for the lot by the work time predicting means 301. It is determined based on the work time zone of each equipment group in the block, the contents of the work confirmation schedule, the contents of the operation stop schedule, and the contents of the work schedule, and registered in the work schedule. In the case of a lot that has not arrived at the buffer storage, a scheduling event occurs at the time when it arrives at the buffer storage. Therefore, in this embodiment, the scheduling event is set at the scheduled work start time as in (B-2). No issuing control is performed.

The equipment work schedule management means 403 is
At the time of the issuance of the scheduling event of this time, according to the processing order of the lots determined by the dispatching control unit 402, when the above-described processing is completed for all lots of the lots to be scheduled this time, the scheduling processing of this time is terminated.

As described above, in the production control device 1 of the present embodiment, at each time of the lot arrival time to the buffer storage and the scheduled work start time, the lots to be scheduled are extracted and the lots in the lots to be scheduled are processed in order. By repeating the decision on whether or not to start work immediately, the overall scheduling is realized.

When the lot work is started in the in-line work block, if the work proceeds smoothly, the facility work schedule management means 403 allows the work to proceed according to the work time registered in the work confirmation schedule when the work is started. However, since the work time zone registered in the work confirmation schedule is a predicted time zone, it does not always match the actual work time. If the work confirmation schedule is different from the actual work time, an error occurs in the determination of whether or not the work can be started later, so the facility work schedule management means 403 causes the work progress report signal regarding the lot existing in the inline work block. Every time S2 is received via the input / output unit 10, the work confirmation schedule is updated as follows so as to match the actual work situation.

First, equipment work schedule management means 403
When the work progress report signal S2 regarding a certain lot existing in the inline work block is received, the storage unit 2
The work time zone (work start time and work end time) of the lot is acquired from the work confirmation schedule of 0 and the work time zone and the work start time or work end time reported by the work progress report signal S2 are acquired. Compare. If they match, there is no problem and the process ends. If they are different, the work time prediction means 30 is used based on the reported work time for the work occurring after the corresponding report of the relevant lot.
1 to request a new predicted work time zone.

The work time prediction means 301 refers to the reported work time and the time table of FIG. 2 to predict the time zone of the work that will occur thereafter. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when a work progress report signal S2 indicating that the work of lot j2 is completed is received from a certain equipment group #M of the inline work block at time 120, a table corresponding to the process procedure of lot j2. 2 is the table 202-2 in FIG. 2, the table 202-2 is referred to, and the work start time and the work end time in the equipment groups # M + 1 and # M + 2 after the equipment group #M of the lot j2 are respectively illustrated. Such a time is predicted and notified to the facility work schedule management means 403 through the storage unit 20.

The equipment work schedule management means 403 is
The work confirmation schedule is updated according to the notified prediction result.

When the operation stop schedule of each equipment group is changed due to a sudden failure in each equipment group in the in-line work block, the operation stop schedule needs to be updated and the work confirmation schedule is required. Also needs to be changed. Therefore, the facility work schedule management means 403, via the input / output unit 10, schedule change request signal S5 regarding a change in the work schedule or a change in the facility stop schedule due to a failure or the like related to a certain equipment group in the inline work block from the external device. Given, update the shutdown schedule and work confirmation schedule. That is, from the schedule change request signal S5, a schedule of which equipment group is scheduled to stop operation for what period is obtained, and after updating the operation stop schedule so as to match the schedule, the time period in which the operation is stopped according to the operation stop schedule. The work time period on the work confirmation schedule is moved so that the work time period on the work confirmation schedule does not overlap. At this time, when two or more work time zones are registered for the same equipment group, adjustment is made so that they do not overlap each other. Then, the schedule change control signal S6 is issued, and the input / output unit 10 transmits the change schedule contents to the outside of the device.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, since a failure occurs in the equipment group # 2 of the in-line work block, the equipment group # 2
At the beginning of the working hours in the figure, changed w / t
When there is a schedule change request signal S5 that needs to be changed as shown in Fig. 10, the work time zone at the beginning of the equipment group # 2 is changed and the work time zones of the subsequent different lots also overlap as shown in Fig. 10. In order to postpone the work schedule of the next process, the work time zones of the equipment # 3 are also changed so as not to overlap each other.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

When the lot existing in the buffer storage is immediately started, the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block is predicted, and each work in the inline work block managed by the work confirmation schedule and the operation stop schedule is estimated. In light of the current and future situation of the equipment group,
In order to start lot work after confirming that there is no work waiting in each equipment group in the in-line work block when a lot is started immediately, it is an inline consisting of multiple equipment groups that it is desirable to work continuously It is possible to prevent the production of lots waiting for work in the work block, and thus to prevent the production process from adversely affecting the lot due to the production of waiting time in the inline work block such as the semiconductor diffusion line.

In addition to the working hours of each equipment group in the in-line work block when the lot existing in the buffer storage is immediately started, the arrival time of the lot which has not arrived in the buffer storage and the arrival immediately after the arrival in the buffer storage are immediately started. In this case, the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block is predicted, and among the lots that have not arrived in the buffer storage at the current scheduling time, the in-arrival lot of any equipment group in the inline work block is used as the inline work block. In the in-line work block by either overtaking in the same area or obtaining a lot that has the possibility of overlapping the work time zone with the already arrived lot and making the set of the obtained lot and the buffer storage arrived lot as the scheduling target lot. The processing efficiency is reduced while suppressing the decrease in throughput. The high priority granted lots as degree can be processed preferentially than lots with lower processing priority than that.

When a lot arrives at the buffer storage, a scheduling event is issued, and when immediately starting from the current or future work status of each equipment group in the inline work block, the work waiting is done in each equipment group in the inline work block. For the lots that are determined to occur, the scheduled time when work can be started is sought, and the scheduling event is issued at that scheduled time, so it is possible to guarantee that the work that can not be started immediately will be started after the fact. it can. Also, at each time of the lot arrival time to the buffer storage and the scheduled work start time, extraction of the lots to be scheduled, processing ordering of lots in the lots to be scheduled,
Since the scheduling is performed as a whole by repeating the decision as to whether or not to start work immediately, the scheduling can be carried out in real time according to the situation at the time of execution of the flow control.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a production control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a time table used by a work time prediction means.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of predicting an arrival time at a buffer storage for a lot existing in a previous process of an inline work block and a work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when a work is started immediately. .

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of predicting a work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block when the arrival lot of the buffer storage is immediately started.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an operation in which a scheduling target lot managing unit obtains a scheduling target lot.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a scheduling event registration operation performed when the scheduling target lot cannot be immediately started because the equipment group in the inline work block is used in another lot.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how scheduling is started by issuing a registered scheduling event.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a prediction operation of a work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block, which is performed when a work progress report signal of a lot is issued from each equipment group in the inline work block.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the necessity of changing the work time zone registered in the work confirmation schedule when the equipment group in the inline work block fails.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of changing the work time zone registered in the work confirmation schedule when the equipment group in the inline work block fails.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an inline work block.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example in which a collision of work hours occurs in an inline work block.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Production control device 10 ... Input / output unit 20 ... Storage unit 30 ... Prediction unit 301 ... Working time prediction unit 302 ... Scheduling lot management unit 40 ... Scheduling unit 401 ... Event management unit 402 ... Dispatching control unit 403 ... Facility work Schedule management means S1 ... Buffer storage arrival signal S2 ... Work progress report signal S3 ... Work start instruction control signal S4 ... Work start hold control signal S5 ... Schedule change request signal S6 ... Schedule change control signal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A production control device for controlling a lot flow of an in-line work block consisting of a plurality of equipment groups that are desired to work continuously, and describes standard work time of each process in the in-line work block. With reference to the timetable, work time predicting means for predicting the work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block when the lot arrived at the buffer storage provided at the entrance of the inline work block is immediately started. The lots to be processed next in the inline work block are managed by the work confirmation schedule for the fixed work time zone of each equipment group in the inline work block, and the operation stop schedule for the operation stop schedule of each equipment group. The inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means From the contents of the work time zone and the work confirmation schedule and the operation suspension schedule in each equipment group of, investigate whether work waiting does not occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when immediately started, A production control device, comprising facility work schedule management means for starting work in an in-line work block of the lot on condition that no work wait occurs. 2. A production control device for controlling a lot flow of an in-line work block composed of a plurality of equipment groups desired to work continuously, wherein the standard work time and in-line work of each process in the in-line work block are controlled. Refer to the time table that describes the standard time required to arrive at the buffer storage provided at the entrance of the inline work block from the pre-block process, and refer to the timetable for the lot that arrived at the buffer storage, in the inline work block when immediately started. In addition to predicting the work time zone in each equipment group, for the lots that have not arrived at the buffer storage, the work at each equipment group in the inline work block when the arrival time at the buffer storage and immediately after the arrival Work time prediction means to predict the time zone and in-line work Event management means for issuing a scheduling event when a lot arrives at the buffer storage from the block pre-process and at a requested time, and an inline work block among lots that have not yet arrived at the buffer storage at the time of issuing the scheduling event. A lot that has already arrived at overtake in any of the equipment groups in the inline work block, or the lot that has the possibility of overlapping the work time zone with the arrived lot is the prediction result of each lot of the work time prediction means. And a scheduling target lot managing means that sets a set of the obtained lot and a lot that has arrived at the buffer storage as a scheduling target lot, and a scheduling target lot managing means when the scheduling event is issued. The dispatching control means that determines the processing order of the lots in the scheduled scheduling lot and the work time zone that is fixed for each equipment group in the inline work block are the work confirmation schedule, and the operation stop schedule for each equipment group is scheduled. In the operation stop schedule, the scheduled work time zones for the lots that could not be immediately started are managed by the work schedule, and the work schedule is cleared once each time the scheduling event is issued, and the dispatching control is performed. When the lots have arrived at the buffer storage one by one according to the lot processing order determined by the means, each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means Work hours and work confirmation schedule, Based on the contents of the operation stop schedule and the work schedule, it is investigated whether or not work wait will occur in each equipment group in the inline work block when the lot is immediately started. In addition, the work time zone of the lot is registered in the work confirmation schedule, work is started in the inline work block of the lot, and when work waiting occurs, the work time zone in which the work can be started is set to the work time. Determined based on the work time zone and the work confirmation schedule, the operation stop schedule and the work schedule schedule in each equipment group in the inline work block predicted for the lot by the prediction means,
In the case of a lot that has not yet arrived at the buffer storage, requests the event management means to register the schedule in the work schedule and issue a scheduling event at the scheduled work start time. The band, the arrival time predicted for the lot by the work time prediction means and the work time zone in each equipment group in the inline work block, and the contents of the work confirmation schedule, the operation stop schedule, and the work schedule schedule. And a facility work schedule management unit which determines the work schedule based on the above and registers it in the work schedule. 3. The dispatching control means determines a processing order of lots in the scheduling target lot based on a priority assigned to each lot and a predetermined priority processing lot determination standard. The production control device according to claim 2, which is characterized in that.