17971618. MODELING A MANUFACTURING PROCESS USING SNAPSHOTS OF A SYSTEM simplified abstract (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION)

MODELING A MANUFACTURING PROCESS USING SNAPSHOTS OF A SYSTEM

Organization Name

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

Inventor(s)

Michael M. Morin of South Burlington VT (US)

Thomas Furland of Essex Junction VT (US)

Jonathan Fry of Fishkill NY (US)

MODELING A MANUFACTURING PROCESS USING SNAPSHOTS OF A SYSTEM - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17971618 titled 'MODELING A MANUFACTURING PROCESS USING SNAPSHOTS OF A SYSTEM

Simplified Explanation

The abstract describes a computer-implemented method for modeling a manufacturing process by analyzing snapshots of the system to identify possible transition paths and predict issues related to the process.

• Identifying transition paths in a state diagram based on snapshots of the system
• Selecting a transition path that corresponds to the sequence of state changes exhibited by the system
• Predicting the time the system entered each state of the selected transition path
• Predicting an issue related to the manufacturing process based on the predicted times

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in various industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management to optimize processes and predict potential issues before they occur.

Problems Solved

This technology helps in identifying potential issues in a manufacturing process by analyzing system snapshots and predicting future states, allowing for proactive problem-solving and optimization.

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include improved efficiency in manufacturing processes, reduced downtime due to proactive issue prediction, and overall cost savings through optimized operations.

Potential Commercial Applications

One potential commercial application of this technology could be in predictive maintenance systems for manufacturing equipment, where issues can be predicted and addressed before they cause costly downtime.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art for this technology could be predictive maintenance systems in the manufacturing industry that use historical data to predict equipment failures and schedule maintenance proactively.

How does this technology handle real-time data analysis?

This article does not address how the system processes real-time data to make predictions and identify issues in the manufacturing process.

What are the limitations of this technology in terms of scalability?

The article does not discuss the scalability of the system and whether it can handle large amounts of data from complex manufacturing processes.

Original Abstract Submitted

A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for modeling a manufacturing process. Snapshots of the system are received, where each snapshot includes a time that the snapshot was taken and a state of the system at that time. Possible transitions paths in a state diagram exhibited by the system are then identified based on the snapshots. A transition path out of the identified transition paths that most likely corresponds to the sequence of state changes exhibited by the system is selected based on information pertaining to a typical time taken by the system from one state to another. A predicted time that the system entered each state of the selected transition path between selected states of the snapshots is determined based on such information as well as the time at which the snapshots were taken. An issue related to the manufacturing process is predicted based on such predicted times.