Patent ID: 6396516
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: G06Q,Y10S

Abstract:
A control system that manages information about a manufacturing operation, the manufacturing operation comprising at least one shop floor, each shop floor including at least one factory element, the control system comprising:a plurality of computing devices interconnected into a network; a database that stores the information about the manufacturing operation, the database stored on a first one of the plurality of computing devices, at least one of the plurality of computing devices located on the at least one shop floor; and a graphical user interface displayable on each of the plurality of computing devices, the graphical user interface comprising at least one shop floor screen, each shop floor screen corresponding to one of the at least one shop floor of the manufacturing operation and graphically depicting the corresponding shop floor and the at least one factory element of the corresponding shop floor, wherein: each shop floor screen comprises at least one selectable icon, each selectable icon representing one of the at least one factory element of the corresponding shop floor, for each shop floor screen, each selectable icon is positioned at a location within that shop floor screen corresponding to a location of the corresponding shop floor occupied by the factory element represented by that selectable icon, for at least one of the at least one shop floor screen, at least one of the at least one selectable icon represents a machine located on the corresponding shop floor, for each shop floor screen that includes at least one selectable icon representing a machine, that shop floor screen further comprises a plurality of selectable status icons, each selectable status icon defining a status assignable to the at least one machine of the corresponding shop floor, and each shop floor screen includes a login icon, wherein selecting the login icon causes an appearance of at least one of the at least one machine icon of that shop floor screen to be altered based on a logged-in/logged-out status of an identified employee for the at least one machine icon of that shop floor screen.