I. Background
Intelligent logistics is the key to realize intelligent manufacturing. For discrete manufacturing industry, different enterprises are very different, and the process is complex and discrete, so it is difficult to form product solutions. Its digitalization and informatization are very difficult, which truly reflects the overall level of manufacturing informatization. Automatic storage and access of goods (raw materials, tools, products) and other materials can be realized through warehousing software input+hardware output, so as to ensure uninterrupted work of the production line, timely and accurate production and distribution according to the production rhythm, so that all production units of the enterprise can form supply relationships with each other and with many warehouses, and through the input and output interfaces of WMS, WCS and other software systems, goods and cargo flows can be controlled efficiently and accurately, and the upstream and downstream warehousing conditions can be clearly reflected to ensure production. Figure 1 is the overall process design of the automated logistics system.
Second, the important position and present situation of manufacturing industry
Due to the characteristics of production enterprises (especially large-scale production enterprises), it is generally impossible to set up a conventional warehouse next to each workshop. The production of the production line is a real-time process and there is no pause. Therefore, the main function of intelligent logistics is to support the uninterrupted production of the production line and ensure its rapid generation speed and high storage space utilization. Its characteristics are as follows: the floor space is as small as possible, and the space storage needs to be used as much as possible; The content of storage is complex, with empty pallets, supporting tasks, semi-finished products and finished products; Synchronization of information flow and logistics; High efficiency of entering and leaving the warehouse; Power supply and distribution accuracy is high.
1. Industry pain points
The standard process is difficult to formulate and master, and the equipment, personnel and management are complicated. On the premise that personnel are unfamiliar with the equipment, they lack the idea of solving problems on the spot. In actual production, it is impossible to implement the process according to the standard, and some products are limited by resources such as machines or other special circumstances, resulting in the coexistence of various processing technologies. The management of product structure and design changes is more difficult. When manual operation is faced with huge bill of materials and complicated production conditions, it often causes problems such as delayed delivery, overstocked inventory, processing errors, and sometimes the market is in short supply. Due to the lack of scientific and standardized engineering change management, some materials often stagnate and the inventory of enterprises is overstocked. At this time, it is necessary to upgrade some personnel, equipment, management and other aspects, improve the limited funds and other issues to ensure the rapid and effective process. The present situation of manufacturing enterprises is shown in Figure 2.
2. Application case
(1) Project Overview
According to the assembly process and technology of a specific product in discrete manufacturing industry, this project redesigned and laid out an intelligent logistics production line (product assembly line). According to the requirements of intelligent logistics and intelligent management, the system aims at the implementation and control of digital production line, changes the traditional assembly mode, and realizes the information tracking and control of the whole assembly process, such as task allocation, warehouse alignment, AGV delivery, station assembly, etc., and builds efficient batch assembly that conforms to the assembly characteristics of each station.
The equipment corresponding to the intelligent manufacturing and assembly production line includes: pallet warehouse (box stacker warehouse), material warehouse (automatic lifting warehouse), supporting warehouse, AGV, conveyor line, RFID, LED, etc.
The line-side libraries corresponding to this manufacturing and assembly line include: pallet library management software, material library management software, matching library management software, pallet library control and scheduling software, material library control and scheduling software, AGV control and scheduling software, interface with ERP, interface with MES and so on.
(2) Project operation process
In the actual production process, there are often many uncertain factors, such as rework of products, scrapping of materials and semi-finished products, failure of working machines, untimely access to materials, etc. Therefore, it is difficult for managers to control the situation on the spot in time.
Figure 3 shows the logistics layout of the project, mainly to solve the characteristics of production enterprises (especially large-scale production enterprises), so that the production line becomes a real-time process, without stopping, timely feeding, timely troubleshooting and so on. The operation flow is as follows: the upper system sends instructions through the interface, and the AGV receives the instructions, and goes to the pallet stereo library along the conveying line (Figure 8).
Material three-dimensional container picking (Figure 9),
Staff can handle the materials placed by AGV at the manual matching station (Figure 10).
Then AGV sends the materials to the inspection platform. After AGV inspection, the goods are sent to the station along the conveying line, and the goods trigger the automatic processing system of the station to produce and process the goods. After processing, AGV sends the finished products to the finished product storage area (Figure 1 1). Intelligent logistics has been realized.
(3) Logistics and information flow
The relationship between logistics and information flow is inseparable. On the one hand, logistics activities produce a lot of information such as raw material supply and finished product consumption. In order to improve the efficiency of logistics, it is required to keep the information flow smooth and accurately feed back the information needed for the operation of all aspects of logistics. On the other hand, the continuous progress of information technology creates conditions for the timely and large-scale transmission of information, which in turn promotes the expansion of logistics service scope and the continuous improvement of logistics organization and management means, and promotes the improvement of logistics capacity and efficiency.
Fig. 4 is a diagram of logistics and information flow. According to the requirements of the assembly process and assembly technology, automatic material management and intelligent management of a specific product, the process (built-in, supporting VPPC import), task (manually entered, supporting VPPC import) and material (material warehouse) are imported and exported by docking with the upper interface and cooperating with the production line, thus changing the traditional assembly mode and constructing a set of batch assembly to meet the assembly characteristics of each station.
(4) Network structure
Logistics information platform is the center of efficient operation of smart logistics. The main value of the information platform lies in the efficient collaboration of information and the smooth and transparent information of all links, which can enable enterprises in the supply chain to master logistics information efficiently and timely, and support the establishment of standardized collaborative working mechanism between industries and markets through information sharing.
Fig. 5 is a powerful operation structure diagram of the whole smart logistics, which realizes automation, visualization, controllability, intelligence and networking of logistics through big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, autonomous vehicles, AGV self-guided vehicles and trucks, Internet of Things sensors, robots, self-organizing intelligence, smart shelves, smart containers, GPS, radio frequency identification (RFID), electronic data exchange (EDI) and blockchain.
? (5) Business process
Figure 6 is a complete business flow chart. It mainly includes production tasks, production preparation, task control, production execution and production statistics. First, import and create a production task (you can query the change log of the task at any time). Secondly, the raw materials are collected and put into storage; Personnel deployment; Station and tool preparation; The same is true for the configuration of the material warehouse, and so on. Query the executable conditions of the task again; Adjust and assign tasks; Track the progress of task execution; Export data such as task execution quality and progress. Secondly, the production stations are intelligently scheduled. Finally, through the statistics of data, the real-time view of dynamic data is realized; Production statistics and quality statistics; Transactions (troubleshooting, maintenance, etc. ) record.
(6) Functional module
Fig. 7 is a functional module diagram of the digital production line execution management and control system designed for this project. It mainly includes seven functions: task management, production execution, production logistics, statistical analysis, basic data management, production scheduling and production line data collection. The functions of temporary storage, picking and batching of materials needed by assembly line and part of assembly line are realized, and the automatic distribution of materials to each station is realized by AGV. And cooperate with AGV to realize the automatic distribution of station materials to each station. The digital production line execution control system can realize the traceability management of materials, and can realize the automatic recording, alarm, remote viewing, statistics and statistics of production tasks, quality and working hours.
3. Upgrade from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing.
The above-mentioned projects have really solved the complex problems in equipment, personnel and management of traditional manufacturing industries. Under fully automatic operation, the labor cost is reduced, the process time is shortened, the process flow is shortened, the expenses of personnel and process flow are reduced, the disadvantages of traditional manufacturing industry are truly changed, and the upgrade from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing is realized, as shown in figure 12.
Third, summary.
Intelligent logistics system is not a simple equipment combination, but a systematic way to make full use of equipment functions to achieve seamless and rapid docking between software and hardware, which is a complex global optimization process. Using the method of system integration, all kinds of materials can flow most reasonably, economically and effectively, realize the informationization, automation, intelligence, rapidity and rationalization of logistics, make the storage form of goods transition from static storage to dynamic storage, make goods automatically access in the warehouse as needed, and make the warehouse an important link of enterprise production logistics; Through short-term storage, purchased parts and self-made production parts are automatically exported to the next process at a specified time, forming an intelligent logistics operation process. Intelligent logistics plays an increasingly important role in the assembly line of discrete intelligent manufacturing. With the rapid development of warehousing and logistics equipment manufacturing industry, more software and hardware technologies will be applied to intelligent manufacturing production. ?