JPH05314144A - Production management system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To reduce operator's schedule preparation work. [Configuration] A production schedule for a specific production apparatus is created in the host apparatus 31, and the production status is monitored by comparing the production progress status input from the local station with the created production schedule, and the production delay is detected. If it is done, the host device 3 must modify the production device and / or create a new schedule for the entire system.
Run with 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a production control system and method for performing production control by a scheduler.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Not only foods, automobiles, LSIs, etc., but also programs such as games and so-called business software, have a function, reaction, shape, etc. that have meaning from the material (computer language in the case of software) The activity of creating "things" is named production in a broad sense. This production is carried out at least once, generally hundreds or tens of thousands, that is, after the machine or the person performs the processing on the raw material, which is a raw material, continuously or in parallel. This is not limited to food or other physical objects, and the same definition can be applied to a program that causes a computer to execute a specific reaction or calculation. That is, in order to realize a desired function, a desired number of programming languages (for example, C language) that a computer can understand (for example, the number of steps in the computer) can be recorded magnetically, optically or electronically. This means that a plurality of, or in some cases, one, so-called programmers arrange the execution instructions to the computer described in the above programming language according to a predetermined rule. Can also be considered as a kind of production.

In the following description, for simplification, LSI production, which is a typical case, will be taken as an example, but the production is not limited to such a form, and the above-mentioned software production is also included. Needless to say.

A typical idea of LSI production seen in a conventional case and its operation method will be described. A general production procedure of an LSI, that is, a process is described in detail in, for example, “Semiconductor factory management in Hitachi: 1990, published by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, by Yuzaburo Sakamoto”. As described therein, in order to produce an LSI having a desired function, the following rough procedure is followed. First, a combination of minute electronic components required to realize the function, that is, a so-called circuit is determined. To realize this circuit on a semiconductor substrate,
There is a need for a method for transferring the arrangement of individual electronic components onto a semiconductor substrate without making any difference in size.

At present, so-called photolithography technology, diffusion technology, epitaxial technology, oxidation technology,
Vapor deposition and sputtering technology, etching technology, alloy technology, inspection technology, scribing (dividing) technology, mount (mounting into the case) technology, bonding (electrical connection) technology, etc., at least once, As a result of being used more than ten times in a certain technology, a desired function is built in a semiconductor substrate. A "thing" with this function built in is a product of production and is often called a product. This state is shown in FIG. It should be noted that in the figure, items enclosed by solid line rectangles mean that the semiconductor substrate is processed by using the above-mentioned technique, and are usually called "processes". These steps may be roughly divided into a so-called substrate step of forming a desired semiconductor device in a semiconductor substrate and a wiring step of forming a wiring for electrically connecting these devices to each other. Also, although there is a description of a bipolar LSI and a MOS LSI, a Bi
A CMOS LSI or the like is also produced, and in that case, both processes are combined.

In order to execute the steps shown in FIG. 7,
It is necessary to collect various devices used for processing semiconductor substrates in a predetermined area and manage and operate them by a person or a computer. A set of people, computers and devices collected in this predetermined area is called a "line" for production.
A line is a unit time (period) that indicates the type and number of collected devices, the number of people and computers arranged for operation, etc.
The quantity (throughput) of products that can be produced per hit is determined. In addition, a parameter such as a lead time (TAT: Turn Around Time) that indicates how long it takes (is required) from the start of production to completion of the product is also determined. As a matter of course, the throughput and the TAT are closely related to each other, and in general, when the throughput is increased, the TA
T tends to be long.

Now, in the line for the purpose of LSI production,
The explanation will be given by taking the case of producing a plurality of types as an example. To simplify the explanation, it is assumed that the “circuit determination”, which is a part of the LSI production, has already been done, and the photomask and the processing conditions necessary for the desired processing have been determined. That is, LSI
As shown in FIG. 7, the production of (1) begins with the introduction of a single crystal wafer, which is a semiconductor substrate, into a line, and a reliability test is conducted through several steps to obtain a product. The outline of the procedure for executing these steps is shown in FIG. In this figure, a group of devices with necessary and sufficient numbers and types (in the figure, simplified and shown as one unit), low dustiness for arranging these devices (for example, 0.3 μm diameter or more in 1 ft ³ ) Clean room (not represented in the figure) with 10 or less floating dust particles, and so-called utility equipment (represented in the figure) such as pure water, various gases, electric power, cooling water, drainage, and exhaust necessary for operation and processing of the equipment. No)), the LSI production plan is determined for the production line consisting of a person and a computer (conceptually indicated by a solid line in the figure) that controls these groups for LSI production. A lot operation plan is determined. A line operation plan (a predetermined process is executed by a combination of equipment, people, and lots) is created based on the lot introduction plan. The line operation plan is sometimes created by a person who manages the line by using a computer as the means. The one that specifies the processing procedure is called the process chart.

The decided operation plan is transmitted to a person in charge of the operation of the apparatus in the form of a schedule or work instructions.

The person in charge of each device carries out a predetermined processing on the lot put into the line based on the instruction and the schedule. Figure 8
As shown in, when multiple lots from "a" to "n" are flowing on the line, processing is performed sequentially based on the instructions determined in the above procedure.

When the processing of a predetermined period or process is completed, the line operation basic data such as the progress of the processing, the operating state of the apparatus (whether normal, maintenance is required, etc.) are fed back to the lot introduction plan. At this point, progress management is also performed to check the production achievement of the line.

The line operation schedule is rescheduled with new data, and the state returns to.

While the loop from the above is repeated, the delivery date and the production amount predicted from the processing progress of the lot are reported to the person in charge of production management, the department in charge, or a system for managing these.

Obtain and evaluate completed wafers on the line. Assemble and ship products. We also manage non-defective but not shipped products as inventory. Of course, if the shipments are short (or predicted),
Return to the above steps and review the production plan.

The above will be repeated.

In the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 8, there are roughly two known methods for determining the operation of the line. One is the so-called "dynamic scheduling method". This is to trace the whereabouts of all lots put into a process and give an optimal start plan for each process or device according to the situation, and a dedicated program (scheduler and scheduler) that efficiently performs this kind of calculation. Often called)
And a large computing function represented by a so-called workstation is required. Also, since the processing order of each lot is strictly specified, it is often difficult to incorporate the operator's ingenuity regarding lot processing into the scheduler, and Japanese QC activities (improvement of processing procedures / processing forms at line sites). This is a general term for activities, and aims to improve productivity and improve efficiency), which greatly limits efficiency improvement. On the other hand, the status of the line (fault, waiting for lots, etc.) can be always grasped, and TAT management for defining the delivery date of the product becomes easy. Although there is a plan to group processes and devices into input / output for each group in order to reduce the calculation function, it takes a lot of time to search lots in the group, and flexibility for various fluctuations becomes small.
These methods are rarely applied, as they require enormous computational power. As a concrete attempt to solve the enormous computational power, a method has been proposed in which the production line is divided into small sublines and dynamic scheduling is performed for each subline. Due to technical problems such as difficulty in exchanging lots, it has not become a practical method.

Another method is called a so-called "independent production control method". This is because each device advances lot processing according to the rules established in the process, and as is well known, a “mounting method” that sorts out multiple lots (mountains) that have arrived at the device or process in the order of arrival. , There are "signal system" and "signboard system" in which the excess and deficiency of the arrived lot is visible. In these methods, the lot to be processed is always prepared in front of the apparatus, so that the apparatus and the person are not vacant and the operation of the line is the highest. Furthermore, high productivity (throughput) is expected due to the efficiency improvement by the so-called QC activity, which is Japanese, and it is possible to reduce the computational capability as compared with the dynamic scheduling. However, since most of the devices are processing or have lots to be processed, waiting time is always set before processing for newly arrived lots. Therefore, extremely short TAT
It is generally difficult to obtain each lot and to accurately manage the TAT of each lot, but the burden of creating a special management system or system is inevitable. These interest losses are shown together in FIG.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above description, in the conventional production control system, the lot is sufficiently traced to control the TAT necessary for delivery date control, and the equipment and process are free. There was no way to be compatible with increasing high productivity without making. On the other hand, therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a new production management system and method that solves these conflicting requirements all at once and reduces the burden on the operator.

[0018]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention of claim 1 has a scheduler, and first information indicating a production capacity of a production apparatus and an object of production processing of the production apparatus. In the production management system, the second information indicating the state quantity of the object to be processed is input to the scheduler, and the scheduler creates the production schedule of the production apparatus based on the first information and the second information.
The scheduler is an input means for inputting third information indicating the progress of production of the production device, and whether the progress indicated by the input third information is within the allowable range of the production schedule created. When the determination result of the determination means and the determination result of the determination means are negative, the subsequent schedules in the produced production schedule are modified so as to achieve the predetermined production target. And an information processing means.

According to a second aspect of the invention, the scheduler is
Means for instructing a specific schedule in the produced production schedule as a schedule of a new production apparatus, and information processing means for producing the production schedule of the new production apparatus by copying the instructed schedule. It is characterized by having and.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the first information indicating the production capacity of each of the production apparatuses constituting the production system and the second information indicating the state quantity of the object to be processed by the production apparatus are provided. In a production management method of inputting to a scheduler, the scheduler creating a production schedule of the entire production system based on the first information and the second information, a specific production device is instructed, and the instructed production device alone The production schedule of the above is created by the scheduler, the progress information indicating the production progress status of the instructed production apparatus is input to the scheduler, and the scheduler indicates that the progress status indicated by the input progress information is the independent production. If it is determined whether the schedule is within the allowable range and a negative determination is obtained, the scheduler determines the production system. Characterized in that to create the body of the production schedule.

[0021]

According to the invention of claim 1, the production status can be monitored by comparing the production schedule of the production apparatus with the actual production progress status. Further, when a production delay is detected, a new schedule is automatically created, so that the operator's input operation labor can be significantly reduced.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the time for creating a new schedule is shortened by using the created schedule by copying.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the production progress status of the entire system is grasped by performing the production management of the device for the specific production in the production system.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The production line will be described prior to the present invention.

The productivity (throughput) in a line is determined by how many lots each device can process in a unit time and how many such devices are installed in each line. This state is schematically shown in FIG. That is, three resist coating devices (R
1, R2, R3), three photolithography exposure devices (S1, S2, S3), five oxidation heat treatment devices (O
1, O2, O3, O4, O5), and three ion implanters (I1, I2, I3) used for adding and diffusing impurities, 6
So-called dry etching equipment (D1, D2, D
3, D4, D5, D6) and the like, and the number of processable lots of the line limited by the exposure apparatus and the ion implantation apparatus is T1. The operator allocates the number of processable lots to a plurality of virtual lines in advance. In order to simplify the explanation, here, it is divided into two, one is a virtual lane 2 having a processable lot number T2, and the other is a virtual lane 1 having a processable lot number (T1-T2). Needless to say, it is also possible to divide into multiple lanes having different numbers of processable lots, and it is also possible to divide the number of lanes into more lanes by adding the capabilities of multiple lines. It does not hurt. Further, without being caught by the expression of virtual lane, it is not impairing the gist of the present invention to apply to a line installed in a physically independent area.

Next, the state of lot processing on the line will be described. When a lot is processed by using a resist coating device, a photolithography exposure device, an oxidation heat treatment device, an ion implantation device, a dry etching device, etc., in the virtual lane 1, the process is performed according to the order of the process table that defines the processing procedure. 1 device 1 (any one of the above devices,
The same applies to the following), device 2 of process 2, device i of process i, device j of process j, and lot group A (A1, A2, ... A).
As a result of successively inputting m, ... An), the processing is advanced to the step (apparatus) described later in the process chart, as the lot is input first. Similarly, in the virtual lane 2, the lot group B is input and processed.

This state is shown in FIG. Now, roughly speaking, the TAT of a line is the sum of the time it takes for each device to process the target lot and the time to wait because the device is not available (processing other lots, malfunctioning, etc.). Since it is decided, it is important to allocate the necessary equipment to each lot without waste. With respect to this procedure, the present invention has a great advantage in determining a time to be processed, a device to be used, and a combination of persons in charge for only a part of the lot in the line. Of course, it is necessary to perform a huge number of permutation combination calculations, and it is practical to use a high-performance computer (host device) or workstation as an auxiliary.

Reference will be made to this effect. In FIG. 3, lot group A is requested to be commercialized urgently,
Lots with a high priority as a line, such as being given an extremely important position from the viewpoint of business or R & D, or being not allowed to become defective products in a small amount, whereas lot group B is similar or identical. It is assumed that so-called mass-produced lots, which are products, have been input. In such a situation, Group A will
Group B is a lot with diagonal lines in the figure (B in this example
Only n, Bm, B2) are scheduled according to the same procedure as the conventional one. The scheduled result is an instruction to perform specific processing on the line, and the processing of each lot is planned accordingly. At this time, the shaded lot of the group B is defined as a "marker (meaning index)" lot and used as an index for progress management of the lot as described below. Rules are set for these lots. It is known that some rules can be set, but as an example of a simple, easy-to-understand and effective rule, (1) In the virtual lane 2, any lot is overtaken or overtaken by the marker lot. Not processed in lots.

(2) When loading into the lane, serial numbers are assigned to the lots and the processes are performed in ascending order of the numbers.

(3) If the ratio of the marker lot to the mass production lot is about 1: 1, the number of lots waiting for processing in front of the apparatus is at most 1 lot, so the mass production lot is processed during the processing of the marker lot.

And the like. As a result, in the lot group, lots B1 to Bm to Bn are B1 and B2 (markers), B3 to Bm (markers), and B (m +
1) to B (n-1) (marker) and Bn and thereafter are managed as a divided lot group. Group B targets similar (or similar) lots (products), and among the lots sandwiched between marker lots, Q
Even if the processing progress of each lot changes due to the efficiency improvement by C activities etc., there is no actual harm. The progress of processing of lots in this divided group is almost the same on the process chart, and the position of each divided group is recognized by the line management department (person in charge) or the system as the position of each marker lot. Can be made

On the other hand, when the ratio of the marker lot in the lot group B is set to, for example, 10%, the combination with the ratio of the lot group A to the line (for example, 50%) is related to the scheduling according to the present invention described later. Should be
In the example given here, the calculation function is 60%, which is a great advantage. In another case, there is one line where the first priority lot is produced,
There are 9 production lines for other priority lots.
A total of 10 lines with the same capacity are set, and if the ratio of marker lots in the latter is 10% of the number of lots on the line, 19% of the calculation capability is required compared to the case of scheduling all lots. The whole management and control is possible with.

Summarizing the features of the present technology described above,
"All resources that can be processed in a specific lot necessary for priority lot or line management (number of operable devices, number of operators, total operating hours of lines, etc.)
The remaining resources are allocated to the processing of other lots that exist on the line at the same time, and the processing progress in the actual line that reflects equipment failures, etc. is monitored and the lots to be prioritized. Line management and operation technology that combines resource management methods that dynamically redistribute the remaining resources to accelerate these if the progress does not reach the target ”. TAT management by dynamic resource redistribution on the line is one of the strengths of the automatic scheduler developed by the inventors. For the usage of the remaining resources allocated to other lots, efficiency improvement by QC activity can be practiced. The effect of the present technology is that it is combined in a consistent manner.

Now, a case in which the above description is applied to a specific line and verified will be described.

About 50 types of lines were used for verification.
20 production equipment groups, 2500 m ² clean room,
It is composed of 18 employees and 4 teams of 3 shifts (a total of about 70 persons) who are in charge of the operations of these equipment groups and the clean room. The system configuration of such a production system is shown in FIG.

This system has about 10 kinds of ASIC (Aplicat) having a so-called 1 μm pattern room.
Ion Specific Integrated C
ircuits) -The ability to produce about 1500 lots of LSIs per year (150 lots / year on average for one product type). The line control is performed by using two commercially available work stations (computing capability is 10 MPS) equipped with the scheduling program (about 100 k steps) according to the present invention as the host device 31.

In addition, about 20 workstations of the same type were connected to the network as terminals for confirming the progress of lots and processing instructions, and were installed in the clean room where the line concerned exists. The information entered into the workstation for scheduling is transferred online or offline from the production equipment.

The setting of the virtual lanes on the line is divided by the device number or the like (for example, in FIG. 2, R3 is defined as virtual lane 1, R1 is defined as virtual lane 2, and R3 is defined as shared), and the device installation location (for example, clean room I A method of dividing the virtual lane 1 and the clean room II into virtual lanes 2) may be considered, but the present inventors have practiced another method, which will be described. Specific examples are shown below. The inventors attempted management and control in setting the virtual lane, focusing on the fact that the manufacturing process of the LSI shown in FIG. 8 is alternating repetition of photolithography and other processes.

That is, it is defined that the exposure apparatus S1 belongs to the virtual lane 1 and the exposure apparatuses S2 and S3 belong to the virtual lane 2 in the line where lot production is actually performed. First, the scheduling including the exposure apparatus S1 and all other apparatuses is performed. In the virtual lane 1, the host device 31 performs scheduling for allocating line devices and human operations in order to obtain the current position on those process charts and the degree of progress necessary to achieve the target thereafter for lots with high priority.
And the result (occupied time of the device on the line necessary for lot processing, operating time of personnel, etc .: this is called schedule result 1) is obtained.

This is regarded as the non-operation time of the device or the operator in the virtual lane 2 (because it has already been determined to be used for the lot processing in the virtual lane 1), and the basic scheduling data for the virtual lane 2 Add to a part of. After this, the device group on the line and the exposure device S
Scheduling for the marker line of the mass production lots with low priority for the virtual line 2 that is a combination of 2 (note that S3 is not added) (we set it to 1/3 of the whole) Is performed by the host device 31. This is called scheduling result 2. At this stage, it should be noted that the schedule results 1 and 2 do not fill up the operation of all devices and personnel against the line capacity. As described above, in the LSI process, if the number of photolithography processable lots is limited (that is, the number of usable exposure apparatuses is limited), the operation of the next process is not started. In FIG. 2, the operation corresponding to the number of lots (= T1 to T3) that can be processed by the exposure apparatus S3 is left as a reserve capacity in all the apparatuses on the line. This is assigned as an operation for processing the “lot other than the marker lot (marked with diagonal lines)” in the virtual lane 2 in FIG.

Next, the system operation of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 show the processing procedure of the scheduling executed by the host device 31.

(Initial processing) The operator is the host device 31.
The initial data of the entire system is input from the keyboard (steps S10 and S11). The following data are used as the initial data.

Equipment data: type, number of machines, operable time zone, name of operator who can operate, processing conditions (first information of the invention of claim 1), name of production equipment to be scheduled, etc. Operator data: number of people, operation time Workpiece data: processing procedure, type of production equipment used for each processing procedure, processing conditions, processing start date, scheduled completion date (production target of claim 1), input amount (second information of claim 1) It should be noted that inputting the production device name of the schedule creation target is equivalent to instructing the specific production device in claim 3.

In order to make the explanation easy to understand, the following assumptions are made. That is, the devices are AP-1 (pattern forming device), AP-2 (pattern forming device), Ap-q (LSI
Processing device), S1, S2, S3 which are the lots of the LSI, which is the workpiece, to be scheduled, and M1, m1, m2, M, which are supplied in large amounts to increase the productivity of the line.
There are 6 lots of 2, m3 and m4 (however, Mx represents a marker lot to be scheduled). These LS
The lot of I is subjected to four processes by using "pattern forming device", "LSI processing device", "pattern forming device", and "LSI processing device" in this order. Here, there are two pattern forming devices and one LSI processing device. Therefore, [the entire operation of the pattern forming apparatus AP-1 and the operation amount of the LSI processing apparatus from 7:00 to 16:00], [Pattern forming apparatus AP
-2 total operation and LSI processing equipment operation from 16:00 to 24:00] are regarded as lines. It is planned to run express or rush lots on the former line and mass production lots including marker lots on the latter line. 3
There are two operators on each machine, each with seven operators.
The operation of the device will be carried out in shift work from 16:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 24:00.

When the initial data on the operation of such a specific device is input to the host device 31 from the workstation or the keyboard of the host device 31, the host device 31 first performs the following processing similar to the conventional processing. The production equipment specified by the procedure is scheduled. That is, the host device 31 allocates cuts (step S12) and confirms the allocated lot number (step S12).
13), the number of marker lots is confirmed (step S14) by trial and error (loop processing between steps S12 and S14). Next, when the information input of the schedule target period is received (step S16), the host device 31 has a computer (host device) capacity required for the permutation combination of the number of combinations of elements of the management item and the schedule period within the allowable range of the system. It is confirmed (step S16). If a negative determination is obtained in this confirmation processing, step S1
Return to 2 and perform lot allocation again.

When a positive determination is obtained in this confirmation processing, the host device 31 divides the scheduling target lot group according to the priority order. Next, the host device 31 sequentially performs production scheduling from the lot with the highest priority among the divided lots (step S1).
8).

Since the production is not started when the initial data is set, the production progress of the lot is normal, and the step S
The host device 31 determines the scheduling of the production device for the lane for producing the marker lot, which is determined in the progress confirmation process of step S20.
It is executed in S21.

When the schedule of the specific individual production apparatus is created in this manner, the host apparatus 31 displays the schedule creation result on the built-in display device as shown in FIG. The schedule creation result is temporarily stored in the storage device in the host device 31. If necessary, the host device 31 also sends the creation result to the terminal (workstation) connected to the device for which the schedule is created according to the operator's instruction.

(Modification of schedule) Production is started,
For example, when one day has passed, the host device 31 advances the procedure to step S22 if there is no change in the schedule. Here, the host device 31 outputs progress information indicating the progress status of the lot scheduled for one day before, for example, the production quantity of the lot (third information in claim 1) or the like via the workstation to the production corresponding to the lot. It is input from the device and it is determined whether the production progress is within the allowable range (as scheduled). As the threshold value used for this determination, a value obtained by adding an allowable value to the built-in schedule creation result is used. When the determination according to the schedule is obtained, the host device 31 checks the production progress status of the lot of the scheduled device again one day later.

On the other hand, when the production progress is not progressing according to the schedule, the host device 31 uses the information for scheduling the lot being produced from the production devices of all the currently operating lines, for example, the scheduling information. ,
Progress information and type information are received via the connected workstation (steps S22 → S11).

The host device 31 uses the received information and the entire device-related information stored in the internal storage device in advance to normally produce the lot of which progress delay has been confirmed, that is, the production target. Create a schedule for the entire system that matches and display it on the display device. Further, the host device updates the partially created schedule in the created schedule to the corresponding schedule in the newly created schedule (steps S12 to S12).
21).

In the example of FIG. 6, lots S1 to S which require an express train
When the production delay of the device AP-1 of No. 3 is detected by the host device 31, for example, a part of the production of the lots S1 to S3 is assigned to the production device AP-2 of the same type, and the production device A-1
Production device AP-P using the production results of P-1 and AP-2
The production schedule is changed, and lots S1 to S3 are newly assigned to the same production apparatus as the production apparatus AP-P.

The following method can be used as a scheduling method for this purpose.

(1) A conventionally known schedule program for the entire system and a conventionally known schedule program for each individual device are selectively used. The schedule program describes a schedule rule by an arithmetic expression, a logical discriminant expression, and the like, and the host device 31 creates a schedule from input information according to the schedule rule.

(2) Although a conventionally known schedule program for the entire system is used, when a schedule for an individual device is created, even if other devices are actually operating, they are processed by the host device 31. Then, other devices are treated as being stopped, and a schedule for only a specific individual device is created.

By executing such processing by the central processing unit (CPU) of the host device 31, the production schedule of the whole system can be created and modified individually. In this case, the central processing unit of claim 1 It operates as an information processing means.

Further, the central processing unit at the time of performing the progress situation determination processing of step S22 operates as the determination means of claim 1.

(Change of Schedule) There is a case where the schedule needs to be changed before the production delay is detected in the host device 31, as in the case where the device failure occurs even if the production of the lot proceeds normally. is there. In this case, the operator can instruct the host device 31 to activate the control procedure shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and cause the host device 31 to change the schedule.

In this case, when a production schedule for a defective device is created, the user's input operation is greatly simplified by using the production schedule.
In this case, in the example of FIG. 6, the operator uses the keyboard (claim 2
Input from (instruction means). In response to the input of this information, the host device 31 searches for a device of the same type as the device AP-1 based on the device information in the internal storage, and sets the device to be scheduled as device AP-2, for example. Next, the host device 31 creates the schedule of the device AP-2 by reading the schedule of the device AP-1 from the internal storage device and copying (writing) it to the schedule storage area for the device AP-2. This copying process is executed by the central processing unit in the host device 31, and the central processing unit at this time operates as the information processing means of claim 2.

If the user wants to create a schedule and monitor production of a production device of the same type as the device that has created the schedule, not only when the production device is out of order, the user should copy the created schedule information. ,
Alternatively, the host device 31 may be instructed to the correction information for the copy information, and the host device 31 may create a schedule for a new production device based on the copy information and the correction information. This not only simplifies the instruction input operation by the user, but also the host device 31 side does not need to execute a new scheduling process using the scheduling process program of FIG. 5, so that the scheduling process time is shortened. It

A few examples of doing the above to a higher degree will be touched upon. First, the progress of a lot in a specific lane in a line could be recognized by the system by inputting a process starting / ending process from a terminal (workstation) arranged in the line. In addition, as a method of inputting the lot progress, we used a bar code system that reads the barcode attached to the lot and clicks the excellent process on the workstation with a so-called mouse to input to the system. It is also possible to input data to the system using a so-called IC card or magnetic card or optical recording card in which a table is recorded in advance or a combination thereof. For example, when an IC card (usually referred to as a traveler) recording the name of a lot to which the card should be attached and a process table is attached to the lot and approaches the device side, a micro card emitted from the IC card is emitted. The line management / control system (requires a microwave receiver) receives the wave signal, gives instructions to start a predetermined process, and determines the processing progress of the lot early or late, and changes the processing priority in the system. Etc. can be operated.

In another example, a workstation equipped with a scheduler for managing and controlling the operation of the main device in the line is electrically connected to the main device (for example, R
It is possible to build an integrated system by using S232C cable or Ethernet cable), and actually tried this in the line. In such a case, it is possible to send the operation data of the device and the processing progress of the lot directly from the control computer incorporated in the device to the line management / control computer via the above cable. The advantage is that most of the data needed for scheduling can be quickly
It is possible to input accurately to the line management and control computer, and to schedule the next scheduling of the line quickly,
And it can be done accurately.

When the degree of progress of the lot deviates from the initial target control line, the occupation ratio between the lanes relating to the operation of the apparatus and the person is changed. If the lot of the specific lane is delayed, the operation of the device or the person assigned to the other lane may be distributed to the specific lane. Conversely, if the lot is ahead of the schedule, the operation of the specific lane may be allocated to the other lane.
These are easily achieved in a system in which an automatic scheduler embodying the algorithm of the present invention and a traveler are integrated.

In the above description, the LSI production line in which this kind of method and systemization is most advanced has been taken as an example, but the application target of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, for the program described at the beginning, the above steps are performed by the programmer for programming work, LS
It is self-evident that if the computer (computer) that uses the I machining device for programming and the inspection are read as "debugging", they can be applied in exactly the same way.

[0065]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, since the production schedule can be automatically corrected,
The operator does not execute the schedule creation process each time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the scheduler has a function of copying the produced production schedule, the scheduler does not need to newly perform the scheduling based on the device information, and the schedule producing time can be shortened.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the specific production device is used instead of the monitor of the entire system, the amount of information input by the operator for creating the schedule is greatly reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the production contents of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the production contents of the embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by a central processing unit (CPU) in the host device 31 of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by a central processing unit (CPU) in the host device 31 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a creation schedule.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a production process.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a production plan.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing characteristics of a production management method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Production Equipment 21-23 Workstation (Terminal) 31 Host Equipment

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A scheduler, wherein first information indicating a production capacity of a production apparatus and second information indicating a state quantity of an object to be processed by the production apparatus are input to the scheduler, and the scheduler is input. However, in the production management system that creates the production schedule of the production apparatus based on the first information and the second information, the scheduler inputs the third information indicating the progress of production of the production apparatus. And a judgment means for judging whether or not the progress status indicated by the inputted third information is within the allowable range of the produced production schedule, and when the judgment result of the judgment means is a negative judgment, , And an information processing means for modifying a subsequent schedule in the produced production schedule so as to achieve a predetermined production target. Production management system that. 2. The scheduler includes means for instructing a specific schedule in the created production schedule as a schedule of a new production apparatus, and the new production apparatus by copying the instructed schedule. And a data processing means for creating a production schedule of the production management system. 3. The scheduler is input with first information indicating a production capacity of each of the production apparatuses that constitute the production system and second information indicating a state quantity of a target object to be processed by the production apparatus. In the production management method, wherein the scheduler creates a production schedule of the entire production system based on the first information and the second information, a specific production device is instructed, and the production schedule of the instructed production device alone is set. Created by the scheduler, input progress information indicating the production progress status of the instructed production device to the scheduler, and the scheduler indicates that the progress status indicated by the input progress information is within the allowable range of the single production schedule. If a negative determination is obtained, the scheduler determines the production schedule of the entire production system. Production management method is characterized in that to create a Yuru.