RCS Enterprise Controller

	Process Plans		Scheduling		Operational Directives
	Production Monitoring		Reporting

The RCS Enterprise Controller (RCS-EC) is designed to automate assignment, coordination and monitoring of manufacturing tasks by work stations that are also automated.

It raises the level of responsibility allocated to automation in the manufacturing facility.

It implements "foreman-like" planning to coordinate task assignments to related automated workstations which contribute specialized work skills.

RCS-EC becomes the bridge linking previously disjoint "islands of automation".

RCS-EC Systems are built to optimize resource utilization - including equipment, workers, fixtures and supplies. This optimization is intended to reduce labor costs, scrap, and flow time, and to provide greater control over the manufacturing process.RCS-EC handles work order assignments, schedules jobs and resources to complete orders on time; collects information from external sources; tracks workstation progress; and reports status data out onto the floor and back up to the factory level. Work station task assignments  can vary widely, most often consisting of cutting or assembly processes. They can also include material handling, inspection gauging, fastening, finishing, heat treating, and so on, in a blend of capabilities managed by the Cell Controller to get the job done.  ATR builds RCS-EC systems using industry standard COTS processing equipment running under Windows NT. Communications follow standard TCP/IP protocols, and distributed processes rely on standard DCOM technology for commonality when they interact. RCS-EC occupies a "middle-manager" role in the automated factory, linking Enterprise level tools to active systems on the plant floor. It does so by managing work orders, planning and scheduling work assignments, issuing operational commands to cell subsystems, monitoring the progress of commanded tasks, and reporting high-level status to the Enterprise level.

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Coordinate Process Plans

RCS-EC accepts orders from higher level planners such as ERP systems. It schedules process plan operations and dispatches all necessary operational data to its workstations. It manages download of validated manufacturing data to the workstation. The system manages both elementary and complex work order requests. Elementary orders represent a single work assignment for a part. Complex orders incorporate multiple work assignments executed on a part, a single work assignment applied to a batch of identical parts, or a combination where a batch of parts requires multiple operations per part.

Order Management

Controls all elements handling receipt, allocation, status, and dispatch of the function work orders. It matches order requirements with the physical capabilities and constraints of its workstations when evaluating specific job assignments. It ensures that jobs are assigned to the workstations that possess the minimum proper set of specifications suitable for the assignment.

Resource Management

This function manages all consumable and persistent resources within the cell. Accurate real-time inventories of cell properties form the basis for consumption analysis and timely predictive reordering of resources.

Manufacturing Data Management

Diverse and extensive data must be made available throughout the cell for various components and operators in support of task execution. RCS-EC locates, downloads, and distributes engineering datafiles that support compliant job execution.These include part programs, illustrations, process plans, tool lists, time estimate tables, test scripts, user instructions, etc. The RCS Enterprise Controller complies with configuration control requirements for all data files used within the cell.

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Schedule Work Assignments

Job Scheduling

RCS-EC evaluates all pending job orders, which can number into the hundreds or thousands, and dispatches operations to an appropriate workstation. Assignments are based on fundamental criteria such as current cell status, completion date, priority, duration and resource availability. There are also secondary criteria that can enter into decision making when the schedule is being prepared. These added criteria can include optimization for minimum flow time, minimum work in process, maximum equipment use, first-in, first-out, etc. The scheduling algorithm typically implements a combination of these factors.

Resource Scheduling

For job scheduling to work smoothly, it must be supported by scheduling resources so everything needed to run the job at the workstation arrives when needed. RCS-EC looks ahead through prioritized work assignments to anticipate any need for moving or acquiring resources for upcoming tasks.

Transport Scheduling

RCS-EC allocates transport resources in coordination with job scheduling for timely arrival of materials and resources at an assigned workstation right after completion of its previous assignment.

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Issue Operational Directives

Workstation Task Assignment

RCS-EC commands the workstations to execute machining part programs. It provides simultaneous, high-level control of multiple workstations. It allows the cell operator to initialize, enable and disable, pause, resume, and reset workstations that are cutting parts. However, RCS-EC does not interfere with or micro-manage the WSs operations, which have a much briefer time horizon. It is feasible to implement the Workstation Control software using the Advanced Numeric Controller or Advanced Logic Controller. Each of these RCS Software Controllers extends the open architecture approach down to the actuator level, which has been previously obscured by many black-box implementations.

Material Handling & Transport Control

It is the responsibility of the RCS Enterprise Control system to move materials, tools and resources to and from machining workstations. These operations are planned and managed by the cell control, whether they are automatically executed by mechanized transport systems, or by people pushing carts around the facility. Task commands issued and status conditions are constantly monitored in either case. RCS-EC closes the loop on transport operations, ensuring that movement complies with deadline demands.

Human Interaction

Most automated systems lack a consistently applied methodology for task-related interaction with people on the floor. Ironically, "semi-automated" systems can be substantially more complicated than fully automated ones. This cell control system offers remarkable sophistication in its treatment of user inputs and user cooperation. Not only will it accept command inputs from the operator and display context pertinent information, but it will tolerate a high level of interactive intervention while the controller continues to operate. The user can observe and modify operation in all controller software modules, as they continue to work. No other control software approach delivers this level of access. The open architecture facilitates full disclosure and real-time adaptation, without halting the controller software. The other surprising capability comes from a consistent internal model for human interaction, related to the open architecture features. Just as the person is able to intervene at any level, so is the software able to direct an operator from any level to perform supporting tasks contributing to cell work flow. The significance of this can hardly be overstated. Since human contributions to workflow can now be smoothly incorporated into control code, it is possible to model all operations within the controller, including those that can't yet be automated, but may be in the future, though they're now performed through human intervention. This means that system engineering no longer must face huge gaps when mapping out operations, where automated mechanisms do not yet exist.

Transition Management

RCS-EC is responsible for managing activity during operational modes surrounding actual manufacture, such as startup, shutdown or anomalous circumstances needing error recovery procedures. It will manage recovery from system and network problems when possible. In some situations, it is possible to recover the system to its condition just before the point of failure.

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Monitor Progress

The cell monitors all workstations and support systems within its domain and maintains records of their status.

Data Collection

Workstations are required to report on their internal operational status and also on the material processes run on parts. RCS-EC collects part, process and parametric data from workstations and stores it in various local and remote databases for later use. The RCS Enterprise Control system conducts real-time database operations internal to the controller. These are operational databases crucial to planning, scheduling and inventory tracking. Internal status is regularly uploaded for storage in remote archives. These uploads include summarized cell status representing all components in the cell. Data packages are saved in remotely located conventional RDBMS applications for later analysis, and to help reinstate the controller when problems arise.

Alert Handling

The alert management feature must be able to provide meaningful messages displayed with an urgency that's consistent with the condition that triggers the message. In some cases, RCS-EC initiates control actions in response to the problem. All alerts display supporting explanations which also advise preferred user responses whenever feasible. When an alert has severe consequences, the operator may be required to enter acknowledgement of the condition and include annotations describing corrective actions the operator has taken.

History Tracking

Manages collecting, archiving, and purging of process, status and workstation history for the cell. All events are time-stamped and recorded. Process history covers the entire time that the work order is in the cell and includes all actions that are performed to complete the job. Part status accumulates throughout its time within the cell and will include sections from multiple operational facilities, such as the workstations, transport, inspection, staging, and so on. In operation, a comprehensive database describing subtask execution times and conditions is constructed for future analysis and new rule generation for robust planning and scheduling.Collect historical data on schedule performance to increase the fidelity of schedule planning. Improve process through self-monitoring. The CCS records data that adds to the statistical process knowledge-base in ways that improve cell operational capability. This translates to gathering time-based data relative to completion of all process commands that the cell generates. Few manufacturers have ever tried to gather this kind of detail about the work process, relying instead on the associative power of people to apply their experienced judgment when coordinating fluctuating work plans.

Periodic Maintenance

RCS-EC supports maintenance of all cell components including workstations, transport hardware, and measurement devices. It tracks current maintenance status, and provides warnings for upcoming maintenance activities through the alert facility.

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Report All Cell Activity

Status Reporting

RCS-EC provides on-line displays and electronic reports depicting full status of the entire cell. The on-line displays show overall status of the entire cell level, while providing browse-able sub-screens that present greater depth and detail within cell subsystems. It graphically shows jobs in work, transport in progress, workstation assignments, estimated time to complete, pending processes, orders held for resources, equipment offline for maintenance, etc. Part history is maintained for individual parts that are uniquely identifiable. Status data is collected, recorded, and maintained for all workstations, orders, and parts that are currently or previously processed in the cell.

User Interface

This function maintains numerous data presentation screens, which are available for the operator to interact with cell task activities. An operator can input configuration variables, call up data displays, start and stop processes and remotely monitor status of distant components at distributed workstations located throughout the cell location. Interfaces facilitate semi-autonomous operations, where the cell controller actively directs a person to make a choice or perform a subtask that contributes to the flow of work within the cell.

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