Virtual Improvement for quick commissioning of Production Systems

改进活动对于提高手工装配作业的生产率非常重要。然而，由于近年来产品生命周期较短，投产后的Kaizen并没有带来明显的改善。因此，在启动之前使用3D建模技术实现Kaizen是有效的。我们称这种活动为实质上的改进。提出了基于计算机人体模型的虚拟改进过程，并开发了支持虚拟改进的系统。该过程包括初始建模阶段和模型改进阶段。在初始建模阶段，系统根据零件刀具布置的优化，自动生成人体操作模型。使用该模型，系统从操作难度的角度对人工操作进行评估，并提出需要改进的地方。以汽车零部件装配作业为例，验证了该系统的有效性。

Kaizen activities are important to improve productivity in the manual assembly operations. However, Kaizen after the production line has been put into operation could not bring about a significant improvement because of short product life cycles in recent years. It is, therefore, effective to achieve kaizen before the startup using the 3D modeling technique. We call such activities virtual improvements. In this study, the procedure of the virtual improvement based on a computer mannequin is proposed and a system to support the virtual improvement is developed. The procedure consists of an initial modeling phase and a model improvement phase. In the initial modeling phase, the system automatically generates human operation models based on the optimization of part tool arrangement. Using this model, the system evaluates human operations in terms of operational difficulty, and suggests points to be improved. The effectiveness of the system is verified using an example of automobile part assembly operations.