Motorola Corporation

William Chapman

Gwo-Jer Chang

DiAnn Fox

Christopher Handorf

Anant Raman

Jeffrey A Robinson

James C Holt

Kolur Venkatesh

Emerald Hwang

William Capen

James Chalmers

Ajay Sevak

Lee Howington

Shoarong Zhu

A method for generically describing measured results which includes defining a class of entities to be measured, and a set of criteria which distinguish entities within the class of entities to be measured. A computer display format is dynamically configured based on the set of criteria. The set of criteria is displayed on the computer display according to the computer display format. The values related to an individual entity are interactively specified. The set of measurements related to class of entities to be measured is displayed on the computer display screen and are associated with the set of criteria.

Method for describing measured results

A computer displays nested windows representing the structure of logical and arithmetic related objects. The objects have a logical description that defines relationships between the objects including a combination of significance and precedence. The description is parsed to identify the significance and precedence of each object. Delimiters are extracted which define the significance and precedence. The relationships are displayed with nested windows on the computer display as defined by the delimiters where the relationships having a higher order of precedence are arranged in windows on top of other windows that represent lower order or precedence. The objects and relationships may be edited based on the computer display

Computer display representing structure

A memory structure and related method for collecting and maintaining data descriptive of a multiplicity of interrelated process flows is disclosed. A complex memory structure includes job entities, operation entities, and process entities. Operation entities are subordinate to job entities, and process entities are subordinate to operation entities. These entities are represented by tables which are linked together to indicate their position in the hierarchy and their sequencing within a process flow. The process entities describe specific activities accomplished by an organization in achieving organizational goals. Typically, resources are either consumed or released, or both, during a process. Bill-of-resource tables are subordinate to process entities and populated with data which identify resources consumed by corresponding processes in the process flow. Attribute tables are subordinate to the resources listed in the bill-of-resources tables and populated with data which identify attribute limitations, durations for which resources are used, and quantities of resources consumed. Branch and condition entities are positioned between operation entities or process entities to initiate alternate process flows to be taken when specified conditions are met. In addition, condition entities may specify conditions to be met before including particular bill-of-resource and attribute tables within a process flow.

Process flow information management system

An apparatus which efficiently coordinates the association of resource and lot data in a manufacturing environment is disclosed. The apparatus includes a memory structure which associates resource and lot data only with other resource and lot data from a common dependency. A dependency is a characteristic of lots which share common resources and of resources which are shared by common lots. The memory includes nodes which describe the dependencies. The dependency nodes link to resource lists and to lot lists. The resource and lot nodes are part of resource and lot lists, respectively. Usage nodes are included to describe every use each lot makes of each resource. The usage nodes are linked to both resource nodes and lot nodes. The usage nodes are also linked together to define the order in which each lot uses its resources and the order in which each resource is used by its lots. A processor couples to the memory and receives externally-originated messages commanding various operations on the memory structure. In one operation a single dependency may be broken into several dependencies. In another operation multiple dependencies may be combined into a single dependency. The accurate maintenance of the maximum number of dependencies in resource-lot association data allows manufacturing environment simulation and other automation to respond to a manufacturing event by processing only information related to a portion of the environment. Thus, processing time decreases, and simulations may take place in real time.

Resource-lot association coordinator

A system and process for allowing virtual allocations of resources to lots to closely mimic actual allocations of resources to lots is disclosed. Virtual allocations represent planned or scheduled allocations of an organization's resources to produce various products. Actual allocations represent the actual course of events which occur while the product is being manufactured. A manufacturing interpreter interactively functions with an expert in a manufacturing environment to produce a comprehensive and accurate definition of resources utilized in a manufacturing environment. The manufacturing interpreter further allows the expert to define a comprehensive and accurate process flow description for various products. The process flow description specifies the resources, resource attribute capabilities, and order for applying resources to a single lot to produce a completed product. A planner operates upon this process flow data to generate a processing plan that is specifically adapted for the organization at a particular point in time, and an execution controller utilizes the processing plan to control the manufacturing of products within the manufacturing environment. Operation of the execution controller keeps allocation data current. Thus, the planner has current allocation data with which to merge process flow data for new products.

Manufacturing control and capacity planning system

A method for translating complex process flow networks into plans or schedules for the manufacturing of products or the performance of other organizational activities is disclosed. The method maintains a time-valued list of existing commitments to resources. Allocations of these resources are made to lots during a simulation procedure which calculates a resulting plan's timing data. The method simulates higher priority lots before it simulates lower priority lots. A simulation evaluates the process flow description to obtain the relative order of consuming and releasing resources, resource attributes and related capabilities, initial minimum timing requests, and process control rules. The simulation uses the list to determine when resources may be used without impacting prior commitments of the resources. In addition, the simulation forces the allocations to conform to the process control rules. The resulting timing data is merged into the processing plan, and resource commitments are then made to the simulated resource. When lower priority lots are simulated, commitments have already been made to higher priority lots. Thus, the lower priority lots cannot receive resource allocations which impact the higher priority lots. However, the lower priority lots may receive allocations which occur prior to contending allocations to higher priority lots.

Method of planning organizational activities

An improved method and system is described for allocating manufacturing or process resources having multiple constraints thereon to meet various time varying manufacturing or service demands having multiple parameter requirements. The demand requirements are expressed as a multi-dimensional time ordered array of vertices D.sub.q [t,r,j], for each demand q, wherein t is time and r identifies the physical requirements associated with the q.sup.th demand and j is an integer index running from 1 to J wherein J is the total number of times wherein r has differing values. The available resources are expressed as a multi-dimensional time ordered array of resource vertices R.sub.p [t,c,i] for each resource p, where c expresses the physical capacities associted with the p.sup.th resource, t is time and i is an integer index running from 1 to I where I is the total number of times wherein c has differing values. A logical system is provided for comparing R.sub.p and D.sub.q to determine when and how D.sub.q may be accommodated by R.sub.p. The invented arrangement provides very compact representation of the demand and resource information so that very complex processes and products may be modeled and scheduled with great time precision without requiring large amounts of memory. The invented arrangement can provide scheduling accuracy of one second over a scheduling interval of a century even with a modest size computer.

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Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America

William Chapman