Communications Oriented Production Information and Control System

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The Communications Oriented Production Information and Control System ( abbreviation: COPICS ) was a collection of concepts for integrated data processing systems in manufacturing published by IBM in 1972 . COPICS comprised 12 chapters in 8 volumes. Volume I contained an overview for the management , system requirements, explanations and keywords, Volume II to VII described the applications and Volume VIII the underlying database . COPICS was deliberately not designed as a ready-to-use system, which is why there was initially no implemented COPICS software . The system concept should only executives of companies show how they the right for her application software can make.

Overview

COPICS is a concept for management, not software developers. It is designed for production - not sales , human resources or accounting - and it is communication-oriented , quite a novelty in 1972 . As the headings of the application areas below show, there is a continuous distinction between planning and control with special emphasis on improving the control options through faster and better detection of deviations in the manufacturing process. Aids for this are standards recognizable by the IT system, which are to be checked by calculation or measurement, and actions to be taken in the event of deviations.

There are action files for actions that the system can use to send messages . Action files can be viewed as a set of action rules that determine in advance what needs to be done, i.e. who needs to be informed, if certain deviations from the plan of the manufacturing process are found. The notices in the action file are ordered according to priority, responsible employees are notified, receipt of the messages must be confirmed by them and by selecting certain keys it can be determined who should receive how much information depending on the management level .

Other special features - always in the context of the time - are direct computer monitoring of machines, high-bay warehouses and the like. The like, online processing via data stations and display devices with immediate processing in the dialog , means - if necessary - immediate updating of all data records affected by a process and so-called "net change" processing. At the time, changes were processed on a weekly or monthly basis. But that would have thwarted the progress of the immediate dialogue processing. In cases where immediate processing was technically or economically not possible, there was of course still batch (or batch) processing.

application areas

Management of design and production data

Management of construction and production data ( Engineering and Production Data Control ). This includes the parts master data , parts lists , technical drawings , technical changes, product history, work plans , workplaces with their capacities and tools .

Sales order management

The Customer Order Management ( Customer Order Servicing ) is interface between distribution system and production , ranging from orders of the customer order to shipping. The following are dealt with in detail: order checking and acceptance of customer orders, order control with order progress control , equipment control, determination of order priority and delivery date adjustment, order entry for product variants , processing of customer inquiries and shipping.

Demand forecast

The chapter demand forecast describes the technology of prediction ( forecasting ) of the demand for finished products , including data preparation and cleanup data from extreme values - screen-based part - Development and selection of a predictive model , taking into account the life span of a product and the other correction values. All common stochastic demand determination methods such as moving or weighted moving average , linear or non-linear regression analysis , exponential smoothing of the first or second order are dealt with.

Production planning for finished products

The production planning for finished products ( Master Production Schedule Planning ) develops alternative production plans for the production capacities on the basis of the demand forecast, expected trends and market developments and adopts a production plan as the basis for more detailed plans. A production plan is understood to be the demand for finished products according to date and quantity. On the one hand , the production plan is the starting point for short-term material requirements and capacity planning, and on the other hand, it is the estimation of long-term capacity requirements for space, machines , workers , planning performance and capital . The tasks of production planning are therefore:

  • Estimation of the long-term demands on labor, equipment and capital to ensure the feasibility of the production plan.
  • Planning of the capacity load in technical departments and production to ensure the feasibility of the production plan.
  • Providing the information so that the company management can draw up the best production plan for end products within the planned capacities .
  • The update of the production plan in the event of changes, e.g. B. the forecasts, the market requirements or in response to overload situations.
  • Provision of simulation options with which the effects of plan alternatives and capacity changes can be played through (!).

Material planning and control

Material planning and control ( inventory management ) determines quantities and dates for parts to be ordered or manufactured on the basis of the production plan . It consists of the material inventory management including inventory and inventory planning and control, consisting of Material Requirement Planning (MRP, MRP ) and planning of the order release . Particular attention is drawn to the importance of controlling the effectiveness of technical changes and the evidence of needs relationships (evidence of needs ).

Manufacturing and capacity planning

The manufacturing and capacity planning ( Manufacturing Activity Planning ) is used to determine the demand for manufacturing capacities and the scheduled capacity leveling , taking into account available capacities. The aim is to meet order deadlines, keep workshop stocks low, order lead times short, and avoid machine bottlenecks and machine idle times .

The individual steps of production and capacity planning are capacity requirement planning , calculation or specification of priorities , planning of the order release for purchasing and production and planning of the order sequence .

Order approval

The order release ( order release ) only converts planned orders into orders to purchasing for procurement or orders to production. The dates of planned orders are checked. When the planned start date is reached , the orders are scheduled for approval after the availability of the required tools and materials have been checked and reserved in terms of booking technology . As a result of the order approval, material and tool requirements for the warehouse and the necessary workshop papers are created. For purchase orders, requisitions are stored in the activity file.

The advantage of differentiating between the planning phase and the workshop phase lies in the relatively low effort for changes in the planning phase compared to the increased effort after approval.

Workshop monitoring and control

The workshop monitoring and control ( Plant Monitoring and Control ) monitors the work progress of the production orders and ensures the timely provision of tools, test equipment and means of transport for the transport between the workshops .

Assuming that the productivity of a factory can be achieved through improved control of the workshops, this chapter deals with workshop monitoring and control as a bridge between planning and execution in the workshops. Such systems would not be necessary if production was carried out exactly as planned. Such systems are based on faster communication via communication devices located in the workshops such as terminals , display devices and computer networks with direct connections to machines. The interaction of people, computers, feedback terminals, display devices and machines means that instructions are sent back to the workshop and status reports are sent back. The target and actual status can be compared, so in exceptional situations , decisions can be made more quickly and corrective measures can be initiated by the workshop. Particularly critical areas can be specifically monitored.

Tasks that have to be mastered in such a system: attendance reports, creation, adaptation and provision of workshop papers , material provision at the right time, distribution and assignment of work orders, deadline control and notification of exceptional situations (material missing, machine failure, etc.), quality control , provision accompanying the process of parts and material, tool and test equipment monitoring and direct machine control (DNC, Distributed Numerical Control ).

Maintenance planning and control

The planning and processing of preventive maintenance orders is the task of maintenance planning and control ( Plant Maintenance ). This part of COPICS is based on the assumption that computer-aided maintenance planning and control will reduce manufacturing costs by minimizing machine failures - according to the motto "Better prevention than repair". The costs of preventive maintenance follow a total cost curve as the sum of linearly increasing maintenance costs and decreasing downtime costs in production, which first fall to the optimum and then rise again. The support in determining this optimum is one of the particularly important tasks of the system.

Other tasks are: setting standards of working conditions for preventive maintenance, determining the most cost-effective maintenance intervals, managing emergency repair orders, direct machine monitoring using measuring devices, inventory control for spare parts , repair order feedback and monitoring, coordinating the planning of maintenance orders with ongoing production orders (minimizing Downtime due to maintenance).

Purchasing and incoming goods control

Purchasing and incoming goods control ( Purchasing and Receiving ) is obtaining services through the purchase, create and monitor of purchase orders ( purchase orders ), receiving, receiving inspection ( quality control ) and storage. The main functions are purchasing control , incoming goods control and quality control in incoming goods .

To purchase control include creating supplier data, managing the supply data and the vendor verification. The placing of orders with the input and monitoring of requirements, the selection of suppliers and the creation of purchase orders . After the order has been placed, the purchase orders are tracked and dunned.

Incoming goods control functions include, in particular, the selection of the delivery items to be checked, the creation of incoming goods documents, determination of the quantities delivered, notifying buyers and dispatchers about critical parts and missing parts.

The tasks of quality control in incoming goods include determining the necessary inspections, checking , testing and creating test reports, monitoring complaints , analyzing errors and determining the supplier's quality indicator.

Warehouse management and control

For warehouse management and control ( Stores Control ) includes storage and retrieval and monitoring of storage and storage areas .

The main topics are the definition of the basic procedures (open warehouse, closed warehouse), the control of the storage area and the container control, the execution of orders and requirements (removal lists and documents, planned entries and unplanned entries) and the control of an automated warehouse.

Cost planning and control

Cost Planning and Control ( Cost Planning and Control ) refers to the direct provision of information from the production of costing and billing.

This involves planning and monitoring direct labor costs , the data of which comes from parts lists and work plans , from production planning for end products, from production and capacity planning and from workshop monitoring and control. When it comes to materials, it is about planning the direct material costs , determining the material prices and evaluating the parts lists and handling price and consumption deviations.

In COPICS the other direct costs such as machine costs , set-up costs , maintenance costs , material transport costs and the monitoring of the distribution of overheads are discussed further .

Database

In contrast to the COPICS application areas , the COPICS database (System Data Base) has lost its relevance. After all, back then ( 1972 ) it was probably the first description of an integrated database for all COPICS areas of application.

Stressed the well did not self-evident data independence and access security, with data structures is segmentation described the records, hierarchical segmentation and variable record lengths as novelties and indispensable conditions of an integrated database. Logical data structures are created using multiple logical pointers , logical twin pointers , pointer segments and twin chains .

(Around the same time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so-called parts list processors such as DBOMP from IBM and UNIBORS from Sperry Univac , and around the same time, IBM's hierarchical database system IMS was launched; parallel to the proprietary IMS from IBM, the CODASYL Data Base Task Group specifies, standardized and implemented the CODASYL network database by Cullinane (IDMS) and UNIVAC (DMS / 1100).)

Activity files and trigger files were an essential part of the entire COPICS system . Activity files are used to set records when human activities outside the system are required. Each activity file represents a queue of work that has not yet been carried out for an employee. Trigger files allow processing to be delayed compared to the online transaction that triggered the activity. Triggers are used when immediate online processing of the data of a transaction is unnecessary or too time-consuming. "Time-shifted" can mean milliseconds, but also hours, depending on the application, and days if batch processing is required.

In total, the description of the database, which is detailed down to the individual field level, comprises around 160 pages with all files such as customer master, customer order, construction drawings, work plans, change history, etc., to name just a few.

literature

  • COPICS Communication Oriented Production Information and Control System, IBM 1972