In manufacturing, the realized capacity of a machine or production facility may be substantially less than the theoretically maximum capacity for any number of reasons, including machine stoppage or delay caused by quality problems, machine failure, inadequate manpower, unavailable raw materials, and the like. Many attempts have been made to improve statistical process control of machines and plants to improve quality, and other efforts have been made to optimize machine maintenance, raw materials purchasing, inventory management and so forth to generally increase productivity.
Previous efforts have failed to adequately document and analyze the many factors that may be associated with machine delay or other productivity problems. Further, a manufacturing information system does not yet appear to have been developed which can directly provide accounting data for financial reports based on data obtained directly from a manufacturing site pertaining to process events and associated productivity parameters.
Thus, there is a need to provide an improved manufacturing information system for tracking and analyzing causes of delay and waste in manufacturing. There is also a need to integrate the improved manufacturing information system with financial reporting means to allow accountants, management, and others to readily obtain financial information regarding one or more machines or plants.
Further, in the production of goods from raw materials and intermediate components, it is an ongoing challenge to ensure that proper raw materials are used, and to track the effect of the raw materials on the productivity of a machine. Improved systems are needed for handling and tracking raw materials to improve the productivity of a process. For example, using present systems, it is often possible for an incorrect raw material to be loaded into a process, and that process may continue to operate for hours, yielding product that does not comply with specifications, sometimes resulting in enormous waste. There is a need for improved automated systems to prevent such waste and validate raw materials used in a process.
For these reasons, an event-based manufacturing information system is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds