Study On The Strategy Of WIP Tracking And Control In Assembly Process For Mechanical Products

Due to complex processes of modern mechanical products and kinds of information that is multi-source heterogeneous in the assembly process, it is difficult to collect data in assembly process and to acquire real-time information. As such, it is hard for enterprises to track work-in-process(WIP) real-time and control them effectively in assembly operation. To solve this issue, a kind of system for WIP tracking and control in mechanical product assembly process is constructed in the paper. The visual trace method and the WIP control strategy driven by real-time information are proposed.First, in this paper, contents, characteristics and requirements of WIP tracking and control in the assembly process of mechanical products are studied, the WIP tracking and control system is built, and the needed technologies and methods for the system are also researched in detail. Besides, the study of WIP is integrated into the study of assembly process. Based on those, assembly process tree is applied to the assembly process formalisation. With analysis of information involved in assembly process, the assembly process information model is established,and the assembly process monitoring system is built, which can acquire real-time information in the assembly process and realize real-time and visual tracking WIP.Then, on the basis of collecting real-time information in assembly process, the WIP control strategy driven by real-time information is put forward,which mainly including assembly process control strategy represented by online process instructions, WIP quality control strategy represented by on-line quality control and assembly proceeding control strategy represented by material distribution patterns driven by real-time information.Finally, based on the above study of assembly process monitoring system and WIP tracking and control strategy, combined with the assembly process monitoring and control system development project for engine assembly line of a car engine manufacturing company, a management and control platform of WIP in assembly process of mechanical products is developed in this paper. According to the practical application in the enterprise, the assembly efficiency of assembly shop and product quality are improved significantly. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed tracking and control strategy is validated.