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Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by
letters patent is as follows:
1. In a data processing system having a plurality of communicating nodes,
at least one of said communicating nodes capable of communicating
engineering change requests reflecting changes to previously stored
plurality of product configurations and at least one of said nodes capable
of receiving information on at least one of said product configurations,
and at least one central node capable of receiving from and sending to
said plurality of communicating nodes, a method for enabling storing said
information with previously stored product configurations in a manner
enabling defining and tracking said changed stored product configurations,
said method comprising:
constructing a base product view at said central node, said base product
view having a plurality of standard component features and a plurality of
optional component features, each of said base product views defining one
of a plurality of product configurations, and storing said base product
view in a bill of material;
assigning a first product configuration identifier to said base product
view and tagging each of said plurality of standard and optional component
features stored in said bill of material with said first product
configuration identifier;
receiving at said central node an engineering change request from a first
communication node, said engineering change request associated with a
specific customer product configuration, and generating an engineering
change notice associated with said engineering change request, that
modifies said base product view, and assigning a second product
configuration identifier to said specific customer product configuration;
constructing a customer product view wherein new components are added and
replaced components are removed from said base product view in accordance
with said engineering change notice and tagging said new and replaced
components with said second product configuration identifier;
tracking said customer product view by means of said second product
configuration identifier and said first product configuration identifier;
and
generating a tailored bill of material based on said tracked customer
product view;
transmitting to a second communicating node said tailored bill of
materials.
2. The method of claim 1 including the step of generating a product
configuration table for correlating each product configuration identifier
with a contract identifier and a range of serial numbers.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein each entry in said product configuration
table contains a configuration entry identifier, a product configuration
identifier, a product identifier, serial start and end numbers, a customer
identifier, and a contract identifier.
4. The method of claim 1 including the step of generating an engineering
change affected item table for correlating an engineering change
identifier with each component affected by the engineering change and with
the second product configuration identifier and assigning a design
sequence number to the engineering change notice that corresponds to said
engineering change identifier.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein each entry in said engineering change
affected item table contains an engineering change identifier, an affected
component identifier, a product configuration identifier, a design
sequence number, a reference product configuration identifier and
corresponding sequence number, an effectivity type code, a product
identifier, and a serial start number.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said tailored bill of materials is
comprised of a bill of material table and said step of constructing a
customer product view includes generating a plurality of entries in said
bill of material table for correlating each component removed from, and
each component added to, the base product view with the second product
configuration identifier and tagging each entry with a corresponding
component position identifier.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein each entry in said bill of material that
represents part of the customer product view contains the second product
identifier, an insert sequence number, and a component position
identifier.
8. A system for the definition and tracking of complex product
configuration designs in a computer-based information processing system,
said system comprising:
a plurality of communicating nodes, at least one of said communicating
nodes capable of communicating engineering change requests reflecting
changes to previously stored plurality of product configurations and at
least one of said nodes capable of receiving information on at least one
of said product configurations;
storage means for storing a plurality of files including an engineering
change notices file, a master item, file, an engineering change affected
item file, an engineering bill of material, and a product configuration
table;
means for receiving from a first communication node information on a
product configuration and
means for constructing a base product view, said base product view
including a plurality of standard component features and a plurality of
optional component features, each of said base product views defining one
of a plurality of product configurations, and storing said base product
view in said bill of material on said non-volatile data storage device;
means for assigning a first product configuration identifier to said base
product view and tagging each of said plurality of standard and optional
component features stored in said bill of material with said first product
configuration identifier;
means for receiving from one of said communication nodes an engineering
change request, said engineering change request associated with a specific
customer product configuration,
means of generating an engineering change notice associated with said
engineering change request, that modifies said base product view, and
assigning a second product configuration identifier to said specific
customer product configuration;
means of constructing a customer product view wherein new components are
added and replaced components are removed from said base product view in
accordance with said engineering change notice and tagging said new and
replaced components with said second product configuration identifier;
means for tracking said customer product view by means of said second
product configuration identifier and said first product configuration
identifier;
means for generating a tailored bill of material based on said tracked
customer product view; and
means for transmitting to one of said plurality of communicating node said
tailored bill of materials.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein said means for constructing a customer
product view includes means for correlating each item affected by an
engineering change based on a customer product specification with
corresponding component entries in said customer product view of the bill
of material, said means for correlating resulting in a plurality of
correlated items and said means for tracking said customer product view
uses said plurality of correlated items in said tracking.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein said means for constructing a customer
product view includes means for determining if each item and the
corresponding components affected by an engineering change represent
permanent changes to the bill of material reflecting a change to a base
product view or temporary changes to the bill of material reflecting said
customer product view, each of said items and components having an
identification as temporary or permanent and said means for tracking said
customer product view uses said identification in said tracking. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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DESCRIPTION
Cross-Reference to Related Application
The present application is related to co-pending patent application "Method
and System for Version Control of Engineering Changes," Ser. No. 602,600,
filed Oct. 24, 1990 and having a common assignee.
Background of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to computer-based systems for
product configuration management in the manufacture of complex products
and, more particularly, to the definition and tracking of product
configurations as they are designed by the design engineering function
within an enterprise.
Product configuration management involves modifying a standard or base
product to meet specific customer requirements. Since different customers
have different requirements, the base product design is modified in
different ways to meet these diverse requirements. Keeping track of the
multiplicity of product configurations as designed and their effects on
the base product is a complex task which heretofore has not been fully
automated. It is a common practice to track custom configured products by
assigning a serial number to each unit of product which is then assigned
to a customer contract. This describes a product serial number effectivity
for the product configuration. Tracking of product configurations by batch
numbers and lot numbers are similar to tracking of product configurations
by serial numbers.
The complexity of implementing serial number effectivity arises from the
fact that there are different types of engineering changes which affect
the product configuration concurrently. These can include changes to the
base product and changes ordered by customers. Changes to the base product
are permanent changes that improve the base product in some way, such as
by reducing cost. The latest changes to the base product are incorporated
in all custom built configurations unless specified otherwise. Version
control techniques are used to keep track of all changes to the base
product.
Changes ordered by customers are considered as temporary changes to the
base product that are designed for specific customers. Although changes
made to the base product for one customer are not applicable to other
customers, all custom-ordered configurations get the latest permanent
improvement made to the base product unless a back level base product is
specifically requested.
Automatic tracking of product configurations as built has not been the
problem that automatic tracking of product configurations as designed has
been. As built product configurations have been tracked by pegging parts
requirements to customer contracts. In other words, the recording of the
actual parts that were used to build a specific product for a specific
customer contract constitutes the as built configuration of the product.
Most commercially available software products for tracking engineering
changes that modify product configurations were developed based on
effective date of the new configuration (i.e., date effectivity). Examples
are IBM Corporation's Communications Oriented Production Information and
Control System (COPICS) and Manufacturing Accounting and Production
Information Control System (MAPICS) family of products. The version
control of product configurations by effective date is suitable for
tracking improvements or other permanent changes to mass produced standard
products, but this technique is unsuitable for tracking custom built
product configurations.
Recently, some commercially available software products have been modified
to track as built product configurations by serial number (i.e., serial
number effectivity). An example is IBM Corporation's COPICS Defense
product. These modified software products replace from/to dates with
from/to serial numbers and use "pegged requirements" to associate detail
component requirements with serially numbered end products. The pegging
technique provides an upward traceability from components to assemblies to
the end product requirement stated in the master production schedule.
However, none of the commercially available products can distinguish
between permanent changes made to the base product, and temporary changes
made to the base product to satisfy specific customer requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide a method and system for
maintaining multiple versions of a base product configuration using serial
number effectivity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and system for
maintaining multiple versions of a customer specified product
configuration using serial number effectivity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and system for
correlating the as designed product configuration with the as built
product configuration.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for the
non-redundant data storage of each unique product configuration that
allows for noncontiguous ranges of product serial numbers.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method for
distinguishing between permanent changes to a base product and temporary
changes made to satisfy customer requirements.
These and other objects and advantages are accomplished by the present
invention in which a product configuration definition process assigns a
product configuration identifier to each unique product configuration
including the base product and all custom configured products. The
configuration identifier serves as a view identifier for concurrent
tracking of multiple views of the product configuration as designed. It
also serves as a peg for both the material requirements planning and
inventory management processes for tracking the product configurations as
built. A generic or base product is defined that includes all possible
optional features. A unique product is then defined by a specific view of
the generic product that includes any appropriate option features and any
specially designed components, and that excludes base components that were
replaced by the specially designed components. For every unique product
configuration, multiple ranges of serial numbers can be assigned.
A better appreciation of these and other advantages and features of the
present invention, as well as the manner in which the present invention
realizes them, will be gained from the following detailed description and
accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiment, and from the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram implementation of this invention which
includes the computer system components utilized for product configuration
definition and tracking.
FIG. 2 illustrates the business processes that are related to product
configuration definition and tracking.
FIG. 3 illustrates a sample coding scheme for effectivity types used in the
present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that defines a generic
product configuration of a standard assembly and several optional
assemblies and initially defines the bill of material for the standard
assembly.
FIG. 5 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that modifies temporarily
the standard assembly in the base product in accordance with customer
contract specifications.
FIG. 6 illustrates the technique of pegging detail component requirements
to customer contracts in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that modifies permanently
the standard assembly in the base product.
FIG. 8 illustrates an Engineering Change Notice that temporarily modifies
the standard assembly in the revised base product in accordance with
customer contract specifications.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A block diagram implementation of the computer system components of the
preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown
in this figure, the Product Configuration Definition and Tracking system
10 includes a Product Configuration Definition process 35 which operates
on computer processor 30. Design engineers and other groups of the users
at terminal device 18 interact through processor 30 with relational data
base files stored on non-volatile, direct access storage device (DASD) 40
to store and retrieve product configuration information. Permanently
stored on DASD 40 are Engineering Change Notices data 12, Master Item data
14, Engineering Change Affected Item data 16, Engineering Bill of Material
data 20, and Product Configuration data 25.
Each product is defined as an item of type "product" in Master Item data
14. The assemblies (items) which are used to configure a product are
stored as components in Engineering Bill of Material data 20. Engineering
Change Notices data 12 authorize creation of each unique product
configuration including both the base product configurations and custom
built product configurations. The items used in the product configurations
are treated as end items. Any modifications to an end item or lower level
assembly or component that are generated by an engineering change are
recorded in the Engineering Change Affected Item data 16. A product
configuration identifier field is stored in Engineering Bill of Material
data 20. The product configuration identifier serves to uniquely define
each product configuration. Product Configuration data 25 stores the
relationship between product configurations and customer contracts.
A block diagram identifying the business processes related to configuration
management is shown in FIG. 2. The engineering change release function 50
is integrated with the material requirements planning (MRP) and inventory
management functions 60. Design engineering creates engineering change
notices 12 for each new or changed product configuration. The product
configurations as designed consisting of both engineering item and bill of
material data 54 are defined in process 56 and stored in the database. The
engineering change release process 58 releases the change information to
the manufacturing function which can restructure the item and bill of
material data as indicated by process 62. Based on customer orders and
forecast demand 64, the material requirements planning and inventory
management processes 66 prepare planned orders 68 which are then used for
tracking configurations as built 70. When necessary, the configurations as
built 70 can be compared with the configurations as designed 56.
The product configuration identifier assigned to each unique product
configuration serves several distinct purposes. First, it serves as a view
identifier to enable concurrent tracking of multiple "as designed" views
of the product configurations. This invention relies on a versioning
technique that allows definition of multiple views of Engineering Bills of
Material 20, with a new view being created for each engineering change for
an assembly. Each customer contracted configuration is defined as a new
view of the Bill of Material 20 and includes all contracted modifications
to a base product that are applicable to a specific configuration. Any
modification to the base product in one view is not visible in another
view.
Version control is further described in a co-pending, commonly assigned
patent application entitled, "Method and System for Version Control of
Engineering Changes," Ser. No. 602,600, filed on Oct. 24, 1990, the
disclosure of which in its entirety is incorporated herein by reference.
The product configuration identifier also serves as a peg identifier for
tracking the product configurations as built in the material requirements
planning (MRP) and inventory management processes. The use of peg
identifiers makes the product configurations as designed compatible with
current implementation techniques for tracking product configurations as
built. This results in an integrated system of product configuration
management from design engineering through manufacturing and shipment of
custom built products, and makes the differences between product
configurations as designed and as built easier to detect.
Finally, the product configuration identifier enables multiple ranges of
product serial numbers to be assigned to a single unique product
configuration.
FIG. 3 illustrates a list of effectivity type codes that can be used to
identify different types of effectivities for different items within a
specific view of a product configuration. The sample effectivity type code
is a two character code. Time oriented effectivity can be further
qualified by phase-in and phase-out planning codes which are not
illustrated.
The two broad categories of effectivity are time-oriented and
product-oriented. Time-oriented effectivity can be specified by start and
end dates, by item serial, batch or lot numbers, and by planned
phase-in/phase-out dates. Product-oriented effectivity applies to specific
configurations of end products which are tied to customer projects or
contracts.
Different types of effectivity can be specified for different items. For
example, a product-oriented effectivity can be specified for high level
assemblies and a time-oriented effectivity can be specified for lower
level assemblies and components, particularly for those which are used in
more than one product.
The final assembly configuration for a product can include optional sales
features that can be ordered by any customer. A generic product thus
consists of a standard or base product, and all possible optional sales
features which can be selected by the customer. A generic product is
defined to avoid a proliferation of unique products that can be built by
using different combinations of the optional sales features.
A unique product is define by a specific view of the generic product. The
specific view includes any optional sales features ordered by a customer
and any specially designed assemblies and components to satisfy a customer
contract. Any base assemblies or components that are replaced by the
specially designed assemblies and components are excluded from the
specific view.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of defining a specific product based on a
generic product. An Engineering Change Notice identified as ECA authorizes
the design of a base product Pl with assigned serial numbers 001 through
999. This range is arbitrary and can be as high as needed. Product P1 is
defined as a generic product with sales feature codes to identify a
standard component A and optional components B, C and D. The configuration
identifier "Base1" is assigned to the base product P1 as indicated by
reference numeral 402 in Product Configuration table 25.
The initial entry in the EC Affected Item table 16 relates engineering
change ECA 404 to assembly item A 406 with effectivity type code SS 408
(i.e., serial number effectivity) for the "Base1" configuration. A design
sequence number of "8001" is assigned to this version of affected item A
as indicated by reference numeral 410. Bill of Material 20 correlates the
product/assembly identifier 412 with the available components identifier
414 and the sales feature code 416. This table indicates that product P1
consists of standard component A and optional components B, C and D. Bill
of Material table 20 also indicates that assembly A contains components E
and F in quantities two and one respectively. Bill of Material 20 contains
the configuration identifier "Base1" which serves as a view identifier for
concurrent tracking of multiple as designed views of the bill of material.
The component items E and F are given an insert sequence number of "8001"
indicated by reference numerals 418,420 respectively corresponding to the
design sequence number of 8001 for Affected Item A in EC Affected Item
table 16. If the insert sequence number 422 is known, it is a simple
matter to find the inserting EC identifier 424. The component planning
code "Add" indicated by reference numerals 426,428 is used to indicate
that components E and F are to be added to the configuration. The
component position identifiers 430 are assigned to sequence the components
for display or printing.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5, customer ABC orders 5 units of product P1
with the standard assembly A and no optional components. Furthermore,
component F is replaced with components Y and Z. Engineering change notice
ECB authorizes the design modification for product P1 and assigns serial
numbers 121 through 125 corresponding to the contract ABC-1. The assigned
configuration identifier is "Cust1". These changes are reflected in the
row corresponding to configuration entry identifier "20" indicated by
reference numeral 502 in Product Configuration table 25.
The EC Affected Item table 16 in FIG. 5 shows that a unique configuration
identifier "Cust1" indicated by reference numeral 504 is assigned as a new
view identifier for product P1. A design sequence number of "8001" as
indicated by reference numeral 500 is assigned to this new view of
affected item A resulting from engineering change ECB since the change to
the base product is temporary. A reference to the base engineering change
ECA is established by adding "Base 1" and "8001" to the "Based on
Configuration" column and "Based on Sequence" number column. These are
indicated by reference numerals 506 and 508, respectively. The effectivity
type code assigned is "CS" (reference numeral 510) which indicates that
effectivity is based on serial number by customer contract.
The product bill of material 20 shows two different views of the product
configuration, i.e., "Base1" and "Cust1". The "component position
identifier" found in the last column of product Bill of Material Table 20
is assigned to sequence the top level components or assemblies within each
product for display or printing. In the "Cust1" view in the Bill of
Material Table 20, components F, Y and Z are inserted with a sequence
number of "8001" as indicated by reference numerals 512, 514, and 516,
respectively. Component planning code "Remove" is assigned to component F
since it is to be temporarily removed from the base configuration for this
view of assembly A. Component planning code "Add" is assigned to
components Y and Z (reference numerals 518, 520) to indicate that they are
to be added to the configuration. Both components Y and Z are assigned a
component position identifier of "2" which is the same component position
identifier as that for component F. This indicates that components Y and Z
temporarily replace component F. This implementation thus provides
traceability of temporary changes made to the base product.
FIG. 6 illustrates the technique of pegging detail component requirements
to serially numbered products. The configuration entry identifier in
Product Configuration table 25 serves as a peg identifier for tracking the
product configurations as built by the material requirements planning and
inventory management functions. It makes the definition of product
configurations as designed compatible with the implementation of product
configurations as built resulting in an integrated system of product
configuration management. This makes it straight forward to detect the
differences between product configurations as designed and as built.
Referring to the Product Configuration table 25 and Bill of Material 20 of
FIG. 6, it can be observed that assembly A for product P1, serial numbers
118-120, uses components E and F. For product P1, serial numbers 121-125,
component F is replaced by components Y and Z. Bill of Material 20
contains references to the product configurations involved indicated by
602, 604. For example, component E is used for both "Base1" and "Cust1"
configurations. The planned order requirement for component E is computed
by extending the planned orders for assembly A (reference numeral 606) and
the quantity of E found in the bill of material for assembly A (reference
numeral 608). Detailed connections between component E requirements and
product P1 serial numbers are established by pointing to the appropriate
entries in Product Configuration table 25. Gross requirements for assembly
A are indicated by table 27. The requirements for assembly A in product P1
based on each configuration are reflected in table 29. By relating Bill of
Material 20 to assembly A requirements 29 for product P1, the gross
requirements for component E are derived as shown in table 31. Finally,
the requirements for component E in assembly A of product P1 based on the
separate configurations are indicated in table 33.
Any subsequent reassignment of serial numbers, including noncontiguous
ranges of serial numbers for the "Cust1" configuration will have no effect
on the bill of material.
In FIG. 7, engineering change notice for engineering change ECC modifies
the bill of material for base product P1 having serial numbers 131 through
999. Base component F is replaced permanently by component G. This is a
time oriented effectivity in which engineering change ECC 702 supersedes
engineering change ECA for the same configuration. The ECC version of
assembly A for the "Base1" configuration is assigned a design sequence
number of "8002" as indicated by reference numeral 704 in EC Affected Item
table 16. Component F is extracted from the "Base1" configuration by the
design sequence number "8002" shown by the extract sequence number entry
706 for component F in bill of material table 20. Component G is inserted
into the "Base1" configuration by the same design sequence number shown by
the insert sequence number entry for component G (reference numeral 708)
in Bill of Material table 20.
Notice that the "Base1" component E remains unextracted by engineering
change ECC and therefore is applicable to design sequence number 8002.
This versioning of the "Base1" configuration is independent of the earlier
removal of component F for the "Cust1" configuration corresponding to
engineering change ECB. This example illustrates the capability provided
by this invention of assigning product serial number effectivity to the
base product configuration, keeping the base configuration distinct from
all customer specified changes, and maintaining multiple time oriented
versions of the base product to support continued application of
engineering changes to the base product.
In FIG. 8, engineering change ECD repeats an order for the existing "Cust1"
configuration for customer ABC for product P1 serial numbers 145-146. The
order or contract identifier is ABC-2 as shown by reference numeral 802 in
Product Configuration table 25. EC Affected Item table 16 is updated by
engineering change ECD to reflect that the "Cust1" view is now based on
product configuration "Base1" having associated design sequence number
"8002" as indicated by reference numeral 804. The product P1 effective
serial number is identified as 145 as indicated by reference numeral 806.
The "Cust1" view of assembly A still includes components, E, Y and Z.
Components Y and Z were substituted for component F in the "Cust1" view of
assembly A in product P1 effected by engineering change ECB. Since
intervening engineering change ECC represents a permanent change to the
base product resulting in replacement of component F by component G, the
bill of material table 20 has to be updated to reflect the changes to
assembly A in the base product in the "Cust1" view. Thus the Bill of
Material 20 for assembly A ("Cust1" view) needs to be modified to
temporarily remove base component G rather that base component F which has
been permanently replaced in the base product. This represents a
time-oriented effectivity wherein engineering change ECD for the "Cust1"
configuration supersedes engineering change ECB for the same
configuration. The engineering change ECD version of assembly A for the
"Cust1" configuration is assigned a design sequence "8002", indicated by
reference number 804. Component F in the "Cust1" configuration is
extracted by design sequence number 8002 (reference numeral 808) and
component G is inserted in the "Cust1" configuration by the same design
sequence number. However, since component G is temporarily removed from
product P1 by the "Cust1" configuration, the corresponding planning code
for component G is "Remove" (reference numeral 812). Extracting component
F made it inapplicable at the engineering change ECD level. Components Y
and Z remain unextracted from the "Cust1" configuration; and, therefore,
they are applicable to the design sequence number "8002" corresponding to
engineering change ECD. The system and method of this invention thus
provides the ability to track both permanent and temporary changes to the
base product and generate a tailored bill of material for product
manufacture that conforms to customer specifications.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with respect
to the particular embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those
skilled in the act that various change in form and details may be made
therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
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