JPH08157019A - Acquisition method and acquisition device of monitoring information in warehouse management of automated warehouse - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In a monitoring information acquisition method and acquisition device in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, acquisition of multiple items of monitoring information can be simply repeated. [Configuration] An acquisition command for designating monitoring information to be acquired is individually set, and communication with the warehouse equipment is performed based on the set acquisition command to commonly acquire the relevant management content. Further, it is characterized in that the management content corresponding to the set acquisition command is selectively acquired.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for acquiring monitoring information in warehouse equipment of an automated warehouse, which manages the warehouse equipment in an automated warehouse in a factory and acquires the monitoring information thereof, and in particular, multi-item monitoring. The present invention relates to an acquisition method capable of simply repeating information acquisition and an acquisition device capable of repeating information acquisition with a simple configuration.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an automatic warehouse for constant number management, a predetermined number of various production parts required for assembling a vehicle in a production factory are in stock and immediately supplied to a production line at a required time. When arranging various types of production parts in a variety of ways and moving them in and out continuously, the production parts are automatically transported and stored in an appropriate empty shelf, and the desired production parts are automatically taken out. , It is important that they can be transported and delivered again. In addition, the production parts that need to be in stock to assemble a vehicle range from minute ones to large ones such as bumpers, and their specifications reflect the recent expansion of demand, and are multi-models including RVs and subtle. There are paint colors that are favored in color shades and those that can be classified into a wide variety of destinations worldwide that have various safety standards in each country. Furthermore, while the operator monitors the transport status related to loading and unloading and the stock status of inventory parts, the operator instructs correction and the warehouse equipment works in conjunction with it.
It is also important that this monitoring and correction can be performed repeatedly, and various methods of acquiring monitoring information in an automated warehouse have been proposed for these purposes.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining a general automatic warehouse system that manages the stock status while controlling conventional warehouse equipment. In FIG. 4, the automated warehouse system is a warehouse facility 1, 1 ...
.., 1 and transfer equipments 2a and 2b for transferring production parts for loading and unloading, and control equipment 3 for controlling operations of warehouse equipments 1, 1, ..., 1 and transfer equipments 2a and 2b ing. The transfer facilities 2a and 2b are the storage facilities 2 for storing.
a is provided on the upper floor, and a delivery facility 2b for delivering goods is provided on the lower floor. Each production part is placed on a pallet, which is a pedestal, and is loaded from the loading port 2c of the loading facility 2a.
It is stored in any position of the designated warehouse facilities 1, 1, ..., 1 and taken out from another designated position and carried out to the delivery port 2d of the delivery facility 2b. In addition, 4 is a lift facility for connecting the outlet 2d and the inlet 2c.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view for concretely explaining the warehouse facility in FIG. In FIG. 5, the warehouse equipment 1 is
An automatic carrier 11 for transporting production parts, and a large number of parts shelves 12, 1 for supporting and stocking production parts
2, ..., 12 are arranged vertically and horizontally to form one bank. For example, a horizontal position of bay 1a (arrow) and a vertical position of level 1b (arrow) are set. Then, a specific parts shelf 12a is selected to store the production parts. The automated guided vehicle 11 is a guidance control device 1 for placing and guiding production parts via a pallet 13.
4 along the traveling path 15 for receiving and issuing equipment 2a, 2
The pallet 13 is conveyed from b to a predetermined bay (arrow) 1a, and the parts shelf 12 instructed by an elevator (not shown)
It is designed to be lifted up to a and stored.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram schematically illustrating control of the automatic warehouse in FIG. In FIG.
The automatic warehouse is controlled by a sequence control unit 31 that controls the overall sequence relating to loading and unloading, and loading and unloading equipment 2a,
2b, a transfer control unit 32, an instruction device 33 for instructing while monitoring the progress of loading and unloading, and a monitoring device 34 having a fixed storage device for monitoring the operating state of the warehouse equipment.
And the guidance control device 14 described above. The sequence control unit 31 has an input / output interface 31a that processes input / output of the instruction device 33, a communication interface 31b that processes communication with the monitoring device 34, and an input / output and communication unit, in addition to a part that controls the sequence itself. The transport control unit 32 includes a management unit 31c that controls the interfaces 31a and 31b in a centralized manner, introduces and recognizes the state of the automated warehouse, forms control data, and sends the control data.
Control the loading and unloading equipments 2a and 2b via the, and the automatic guided vehicles 11, 11, ...
Induce 11

[0006] The management unit 31c includes an application program for managing entry and exit and inventory. This application program manages inventory while setting sequence control of entry and exit according to entry and exit instructions. And a status monitoring unit that monitors and manages the operating status, and a communication interface 31 via a common memory.
It is designed to be connected to b. The common memory stores a specification array in which the specification information regarding the form of the stock parts is arranged, the stock status in the warehouse equipment, and the transfer status in the transfer equipment. It is configured to instruct warehousing and unloading via the warehousing and unloading setting unit, specify the position of the storage rack based on the stock state, and set the transportation state to reach this position.

The instruction device 33 is connected to the management section 31c via the input / output interface 31a, and is operated by automatic warehouse management software for instructing warehousing and warehousing while monitoring the sequence control of warehousing and unloading and managing inventory. Has been done. The monitoring device 34 communicates with the management unit 31c via the communication interface 31b, selectively acquires and displays the specification sequence, the stock status, and the transportation status from the common memory described above, and the operator arbitrarily confirms them while checking them. The contents of can be added, deleted, searched, and collated, and the new specification sequence, stock status and transportation status can be returned, the common memory can be reset, and the sequence control in the warehouse equipment can be activated. ing.

However, this large-scale mechanism detects the mutual positional relationship due to the movement of the automatic carrier 11 and the transfer equipments 2a and 2b by means of a number of limit switches having mechanical contacts or optical sensors. In some cases, the moving state in the actual conveying process may be changed due to a detection error.
The above movement display or the stock status in the actual warehouse equipment may differ from the stock display. Also, in addition to this detection error, the sequence control always slightly precedes, and the detection error itself accumulates due to this advance, so it is no longer limited to a simple difference in the actual movement state,
The production parts themselves are transferred to the automated guided vehicle 11
Alternatively, an operator may artificially move the warehouse facility 1. Further, when the difference frequently occurs, the automated guided vehicle 11 and the transport facility 2 which are presumed to be the cause of the failure
a, 2b, or a part or the whole of the warehouse facility 1 needs to be replaced with a spare facility, which is also different from the movement display or the inventory display. In that case, these differences are indicated by the indicating device 33 or In some cases, it may be necessary to instruct and correct on the monitoring device 34 so that they match.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a general procedure for making corrections in warehouse management by the monitoring device in FIG.
In FIG. 7, the correction of the warehouse management includes a management item setting step S1 for classifying and setting various management items by the monitoring device 34, and a warehouse management instruction step S2 for designating the management item and instructing the warehouse management. And a communication control step S3 for controlling communication with the management unit 32c according to the instruction of the warehouse management, and a management item update step S4 for updating management items based on the result of the communication control. The sequence control is activated to maintain a normal operating state, and inventory control is performed while operating the mechanical section. In the warehouse management instruction step S2, a character string relating to each management item of the monitoring information to be managed is sequentially keyed in using the letters, numbers, or symbol keys provided in the monitoring device 34 and is written on the display screen.

The management items are the above-mentioned specification array, the entry / exit history, the stock status, the transport status, etc. The contents to be managed in each are as follows. The specification array has multiple choices depending on the model of the vehicle that should use the in-stock parts, the destination to which this vehicle should be shipped, the coating color and model of the in-stock parts, and the presence or absence of partial masking in color-coded coating. It is specified from and is shown in detail. The loading / unloading history indicates, for each production part loaded / unloaded within a designated period, the date and time at which it was loaded / unloaded, the shelf position, and the specification information of the production part. The inventory status includes the actual shelves in which the production parts are in stock, the empty shelves, the reserved shelves where the production parts being transported are scheduled to be stored, the failure shelves that cannot be used due to a failure, and the production parts. An empty pallet rack that does not mount and only stores pallets is shown for each bank for each component rack 12, ..., 12 and, in addition, specification information attached to the inventory component is shown. The transportation state indicates the current position on the transportation facility, the specification information incidental to these production parts, and the shelf position at which the product should be put in and out, for all the production parts being transported.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart specifically showing the communication control steps in FIG. In FIG. 8, the communication control step S3 is a time-lapse information acquisition step S in which the monitoring device 34 acquires information indicating a change in state over time in the sequence control unit 31 based on the instructed management items.
31 and a management content acquisition step S32 of acquiring specific management content of each management item as many times as necessary, and a management item formation step S33 of forming each management item by the acquired management content. Part 31
The monitoring information on the management items synchronized with the state over time is displayed on the monitoring device 34. In the management content acquisition step S32, a plurality of management contents are repeatedly acquired and displayed collectively in the management item formation step S33, or the individual management contents are sequentially acquired and additionally displayed. It may be. Note that S30 is a process to be started and S39 is a process to be ended.

Therefore, when constructing the software for warehouse management, the communication program relating to the above-mentioned communication control is described in each place where the acquisition of the monitoring information is necessary. This communication program first sets a predetermined communication state and specifies a communication command for instructing communication,
Next, the communication command is used for actual communication to acquire the monitoring information, and finally, the acquired monitoring information is held in a specific storage area to release the communication state. The communication command is individually designated according to the management content to be acquired in the management items, and the storage area for holding is also individually set according to the management content. The communication state includes the setting of the communication mode in the hardware, the formation of the input / output port, and the like, and is common to all communication programs.

[0013]

However, when the above-mentioned conventional method of acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse is used and an attempt is made to acquire multiple items of monitoring information in warehouse management, the following will be described. There was a problem. (1) Due to the variety of management items and the large amount of management contents, the place where a communication program needs to be formed frequently exists in all warehouse management software, and the communication program must be formed each time. Since this is not the case, not only the number of overlapping parts increases and the program is wasted, but the program amount itself of this software also increases. (2) In addition, different communication commands are required according to the hardware configuration, and individual communication programs that specify different acquisition positions according to the management content to be acquired have been created. It was easy to induce a check error.

(3) Further, when the software specifications are changed due to the expansion of the warehouse equipment or the update of the sequence control device, all the corresponding communication program parts are corrected, so that various corrections can be made after the correction. Checking was also cumbersome and easy to induce errors. As described above, due to the problems (1) to (3), it has not been possible to sufficiently respond to the urgent request of the production line, which is one of the most important goals of the production factory. In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, wherein an acquisition method capable of simply repeating acquisition of monitoring information of multiple items, and a simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide an acquisition device capable of performing the above.

[0015]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following means. (1) Monitoring to be acquired in the method of acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, which acquires inventory monitoring information by communicating with the warehouse equipment during warehouse management for managing inventory parts and warehouse equipment in the automated warehouse An acquisition instruction setting step for setting an acquisition instruction for specifying information is provided individually, and an acquisition instruction for actually performing acquisition of relevant management contents is communicated with the warehouse facility based on the set acquisition instruction. A method of acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, which is characterized by providing a common execution stage. (2) In the warehouse management of the automated warehouse according to the above item (1), the step of executing the acquisition instruction includes a process of selectively acquiring management content corresponding to the acquisition instruction to be set. How to get monitoring information.

(3) In the warehouse management for managing the inventory parts and the warehouse equipment in the automatic warehouse, the monitoring information for the warehouse information is acquired by communicating with the warehouse equipment. The acquisition instruction setting means for setting the acquisition instruction for specifying the monitoring information to be provided is individually provided, and communication with the warehouse facility is performed based on the set acquisition instruction to actually acquire the relevant management content. An acquisition device for monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, characterized in that a means for performing acquisition instructions is provided in common.

[0017]

The acquisition instruction is individually set according to the monitoring information to be acquired, and the monitoring information is commonly acquired by communicating with the warehouse facility based on the acquisition instruction. Also, the monitoring information corresponding to the set acquisition instruction is selectively acquired.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention in an automatic warehouse of a factory will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically explaining a first embodiment according to the method of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the main part of the first embodiment communicates with a warehouse facility based on the acquisition instruction setting step S311 for setting an acquisition instruction for designating the management content to be acquired, and the acquired acquisition instruction. Then, in the first acquisition instruction execution step S312 for actually executing the acquisition of the relevant management content, following the first acquisition instruction execution step S312, the acquired management content is arranged based on the style. A content arrangement step S313 is provided and configured.

The acquisition instruction has an argument for designating an arbitrary communication command corresponding to the management content described above,
For example, a macro instruction, a subroutine call instruction, a jump instruction, or the like, but any other instruction may be used as long as the designation of this communication instruction is delivered to the execution step S312 of the first acquisition instruction. Accordingly, in the first acquisition instruction performing step S312, the program module itself is provided in common, and the acquisition instruction setting step S311 is performed.
A plurality of communication programs, which are formed by combining the step S313 of arranging the management contents, are provided at arbitrary positions in the software, and the program modules are commonly accessed and executed by the respective communication programs. There is. It should be noted that S310 indicates a starting stage, and S319
Indicates the stage to end.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart for specifically explaining the execution stage of the first acquisition instruction in FIG. In FIG. 2, a first acquisition instruction execution step S312 includes a communication command selection process S315 for selecting a communication command in accordance with designation by the acquisition command, and reception of response information for issuing the selected communication command and receiving response information. A process S316 and a management content delivery process S317 for delivering the management content included in the response information are provided in order, and each of these selection, acceptance, and delivery processes S315, S316, and S317.
Prior to the above, the setting process S314 for setting the communication state is performed in advance, and the release process S318 for releasing the communication state is performed subsequently to the processes S315, S316, and S317.

In the communication command selection processing S315, a plurality of communication commands corresponding to the management contents are provided in parallel in advance, and any one of the communication commands is selectively designated by the argument included in the acquisition instruction. Has become. In general, each communication command has a slightly different use depending on the system to be operated, and it is possible to arbitrarily provide one that is compatible with the configuration and procedure of sequence control in that system. The response information receiving process S316 is performed so that predetermined management content is read from the storage area of the common memory set by the designated communication command based on the type and amount of management content included in the designated management content. It has become. In the management content delivery processing S317, the read management content is temporarily held in a preset buffer and then delivered to the management content placement step S313.

That is, a group of communication commands that covers a series of communication commands that are expected to be needed in the future when developing software is formed, and is used for the construction of the warehouse equipment and sequence control device at the time of actual operation. At the same time, only the above-mentioned acquisition instruction may be additionally provided at a necessary place on this software, so that it is possible to sequentially cope with the stepwise expansion of the system to be operated. The process S318 of canceling the communication state may be performed prior to the delivery process S317. The first embodiment is specifically
For example, the acquisition instruction setting step S311 and the management content allocation step S313 each have a predetermined program step. However, this point can be improved to integrate the plurality of program steps. Next, a second embodiment for integrating the program steps will be described.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for schematically explaining the second embodiment according to the method of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the second
In the embodiment, the acquisition calculation setting step S321 for setting the acquisition calculation which is the calculation formula for forming the desired monitoring information.
And a second acquisition instruction execution step S322 for communicating management information with the warehouse equipment according to the set acquisition operation and performing the acquisition of the management content, and the second acquisition instruction setting step S321 is performed in parallel. Of executing the acquisition instruction of step S32
2 is executed inclusively and then the set acquisition operation is completed. Execution step S322 of the second acquisition instruction
Is the setting step S321 of the acquisition calculation of the acquired management content.
There is no difference from the step S312 of executing the first acquisition instruction, except that the processing to be delivered to the first step is additionally provided.

The acquisition calculation provides an instruction to arrange the acquired management content in a predetermined storage area in the monitoring device 34,
The operation instruction is combined with the acquisition instruction to form an arithmetic expression, and the management content passed from the second acquisition instruction execution step S322 is arbitrarily arranged to form desired monitoring information. , Can be provided for operator monitoring work. That is, the management content allocation step S313 in FIG.
Is included in the setting step S321 of the acquisition calculation,
It enables efficient software design with a reduced number of program steps. It should be noted that S320 shows a stage to start and S329 shows a stage to end. Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0025]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. (1) Whenever a communication program is required for warehouse management software, the entire communication program does not have to be formed each time, so the management items subject to communication are diverse and the management content is large. However, even if the required portion is frequently present throughout the software, not only the overlapping portion is reduced and the waste of the program is reduced, but also the program amount itself of the software is reduced. (2) Also, when creating a separate communication program that requires different style communication commands according to the hardware configuration and specifies different acquisition positions depending on the management content to be acquired, the common program part is made into a program module. As a result, the program amount is small and simple, and it is easy to create and it is difficult to induce a check error, and a flexible design for various hardware configurations using an NC measuring instrument or a personal computer can be performed.

(3) Furthermore, even if the specifications of the software change due to expansion of warehouse facilities or updating of the sequence control device, it is not necessary to modify all the relevant communication program parts, and a program for executing communication commands. -Since only the module needs to be changed, various corrections and checks after corrections are easy and accurate. By the above (1) to (3), it becomes possible to sufficiently respond to the urgent request of the production line, which is one of the most important goals of the production factory, and a method of acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse. And an acquisition method capable of simply repeating acquisition of monitoring information of multiple items in the acquisition device,
And it has become possible to provide a repeatable acquisition device with a simple construction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically explaining a first embodiment according to the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart specifically illustrating a performance stage of a first acquisition instruction of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically explaining a second embodiment according to the method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a general automatic warehouse system that manages inventory status while controlling conventional warehouse equipment.

5 is an explanatory diagram for specifically explaining the warehouse equipment of FIG.

6 is a functional block diagram schematically illustrating control of the automated warehouse of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a procedure relating to an instruction for loading / unloading in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a conventional method for instructing entry / exit of a storage container in FIG. 7.

[Explanation of symbols]

S310, S320 ... Starting stage S311 ...
Acquisition step setting step S312 ... First acquisition instruction execution step S313.
-Management content allocation step S319, S329 ... End step S321 ...
・ Setting step of acquisition calculation S322 ... Execution step of second acquisition instruction

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, which acquires monitoring information by communicating with the warehouse equipment during warehouse management for managing inventory parts and warehouse equipment in the automated warehouse. Set the acquisition instruction setting stage to set the acquisition instruction for specifying the monitoring information that should be set, and communicate with the warehouse equipment based on this set acquisition instruction,
A method of acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, characterized in that a step of executing an acquisition instruction for actually acquiring the corresponding management content is provided in common. 2. The warehouse management of the automated warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the step of executing the acquisition instruction includes a process of selectively acquiring management content corresponding to the set acquisition instruction. To get monitoring information in. 3. The monitoring information acquisition device in the warehouse management of an automated warehouse, which acquires the monitoring information by communicating with the warehouse equipment during the warehouse management for managing the inventory parts and the warehouse equipment in the automated warehouse. The acquisition instruction setting means for setting the acquisition instruction for designating the monitoring information to be provided is individually provided, and communication with the warehouse facility is performed based on the acquired acquisition instruction.
An apparatus for acquiring monitoring information in warehouse management of an automated warehouse, characterized in that a means for executing an acquisition instruction for actually executing the acquisition of relevant management contents is provided in common.