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19.4 LCS System Equipped with Functions to Support
and Improve Circulation Flow Management
19.4.1 Required Functions to Support and Improve
Circulation Flow Management
As mentioned above, circulation flow management is important in circular manufacturing. Management needs to properly deal with, “controlling the quantitative
balance of demand and supply” and “appropriate matching of a required function
of user and realized function of item”. To handle these issues, each item and user
must be managed individually. Further, if requirement of users and realized function
of items are examined and managed, then matching of items and users should be
conducted according to realized function of items and requirement of users. Moreover, to enable the provision of items to users on proper timing, we need to control
the items’ flows in the system.
To improve a life cycle scenario, the LCS system should have function to recognize
the behavior of the items and its users. For example, we check data of actual condition
of items and characteristics of provided users in matching process. If it concludes
that the conditions of some items are beyond the requirement of user, we can change
recovery criteria for items and circulation flow to deliver more items that are in lower
conditions. The final evaluation data is insufficient to find the problems and improve
the circulation flow management methods easily. To summarize the requirements,
the LCS for supporting the design and improvement of life cycle scenarios should
have the following functions:
1. Managing the life cycle of each item and users including their characteristics
individually
2. Matching mechanism between users and items
3. Flow control mechanism based on items’ condition and demands of users
4. Visualization tools to ensure the requirement of the users, the way to use items,
and realized functions of items related to each process.
19.4.2 Features of Developed LCS System
We developed the LCS system that satisfied the requirements for improving the
circulation flow management scenarios. The LCS system has been developed on
the basis of GD.findi,
1 which is a discrete event type production system simulator.
GD.findi can model the production line by processing the items. However, modeling
of the reuse and recycling processes, which are included in multitiered circulation,
1 GD.findi, Production system simulation, http://www.lexer.co.jp/en/product/gd_findi. (in
Japanese).
K. Asai et al.
19.4 LCS System Equipped with Functions to Support
and Improve Circulation Flow Management
19.4.1 Required Functions to Support and Improve
Circulation Flow Management
As mentioned above, circulation flow management is important in circular manufacturing. Management needs to properly deal with, “controlling the quantitative
balance of demand and supply” and “appropriate matching of a required function
of user and realized function of item”. To handle these issues, each item and user
must be managed individually. Further, if requirement of users and realized function
of items are examined and managed, then matching of items and users should be
conducted according to realized function of items and requirement of users. Moreover, to enable the provision of items to users on proper timing, we need to control
the items’ flows in the system.
To improve a life cycle scenario, the LCS system should have function to recognize
the behavior of the items and its users. For example, we check data of actual condition
of items and characteristics of provided users in matching process. If it concludes
that the conditions of some items are beyond the requirement of user, we can change
recovery criteria for items and circulation flow to deliver more items that are in lower
conditions. The final evaluation data is insufficient to find the problems and improve
the circulation flow management methods easily. To summarize the requirements,
the LCS for supporting the design and improvement of life cycle scenarios should
have the following functions:
1. Managing the life cycle of each item and users including their characteristics
individually
2. Matching mechanism between users and items
3. Flow control mechanism based on items’ condition and demands of users
4. Visualization tools to ensure the requirement of the users, the way to use items,
and realized functions of items related to each process.
19.4.2 Features of Developed LCS System
We developed the LCS system that satisfied the requirements for improving the
circulation flow management scenarios. The LCS system has been developed on
the basis of GD.findi,
1 which is a discrete event type production system simulator.
GD.findi can model the production line by processing the items. However, modeling
of the reuse and recycling processes, which are included in multitiered circulation,
1 GD.findi, Production system simulation, http://www.lexer.co.jp/en/product/gd_findi. (in
Japanese).