Patent ID: 6466935
Filing Date: 2002-10-15
Classification: G05B,G06Q,Y02P,Y10S

Abstract:
A method of controlling a production process, comprising:(a) creating at least one row for each work item to be processed and at least one column for each attribute associated with one or more of the work items in one or more relational database tables: (b) determining a highest priority work item having a ready status for a processing step based on an ordering of the attributes; (c) retrieving said highest priority work item from the one or more relational database tables; (d) performing the processing step on the work item or designating one or more processing devices to perform the processing step on the work item; and (e) upon completion of the processing step, updating the status of the work item to a completed status for the processing step, the completed status for the processing step representing a ready status for a next processing step.