US 12,455,558 B2
Manufacturing facility and manufacturing method
Gideon Daniel Maij, Amsterdam (NL); Nick De Zwart-Janssen, Eindhoven (NL); Jonathan Van Der Spek, Amsterdam (NL); Stefan Rink, Sterksel (NL); Yueting Liu, Amsterdam (NL); and Reinder Alexander Lambertus Koelstra, Amsterdam (NL)
Assigned to AM-Flow Holding B.V., Amsterdam (NL)
Filed by AM-Flow Holding B.V., Amsterdam (NL)
Filed on Jun. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/851,582.
Claims priority of application No. 21182442 (EP), filed on Jun. 29, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0413475 A1, Dec. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. G05B 19/418 (2006.01)
CPC G05B 19/41865 (2013.01) [G05B 2219/32252 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A manufacturing facility comprising:
a control system; and
a manufacturing system comprising a plurality of manufacturing system units controlled by the control system according to a digital manufacturing order comprising a specification of a product to be manufactured,
wherein the control system is configured to receive the digital manufacturing order and comprises a scheduler and an interpreter to configure the manufacturing system to perform a production process to manufacture the product in accordance with the specification in the digital manufacturing order,
wherein the scheduler is configured to schedule operation of production units and other manufacturing system units,
wherein the interpreter is configured to prepare instructions for the scheduled manufacturing system units,
wherein each of the scheduled production units is configured to perform a respective production step of the production process to provide a respective production result,
wherein at least one production unit is a batch production unit, and wherein scheduling the batch production unit comprises allocating the batch production unit in specific time-slots to perform a common batch process as part of a production process of mutually different products,
wherein the control system further comprises an optimizer that is configured to obtain an assessment about a production result from an automated inspection process,
wherein, upon obtaining an assessment that indicates that a production result does not meet an assessment criterion, the optimizer specifies, in a derived manufacturing order, production step(s) that need to be repeated to improve the production result, such that the control system performs reconfiguring of the manufacturing system so as to repeat one or more of the respective production steps involved in manufacturing the product as specified,
wherein the scheduler, in accordance with the reconfiguring, reschedules operation of manufacturing system units and the interpreter prepares appropriate instructions for the rescheduled manufacturing system units,
wherein the optimizer is configured to provide an optimized specification of the product that differs from the specification in the digital manufacturing order and is based on the specification in the digital manufacturing order and the assessment of the production result, and
wherein the control system is configured to reconfigure the manufacturing system to repeat all steps of the production process involved in manufacturing the product in accordance with the optimized specification of the product.