A storage medium storing a work plan specifying program that causes a computer to execute a process that includes specifying a certain order under conditions that, in a work line that generates a plurality of objects in the certain order, a certain amount of a material is partially cut from a raw material for each of the plurality of objects, the cut material is processed, the raw material is switched to a next raw material when the raw material lacks, and a changeover is performed to change the settings of the cutting device and the proceeding; and optimizing an objective function that reflects the changeover and an excess amount of each raw material that are determined according to an input order of the plurality of objects to the work line.

A method for allocating resources to machines of a production facility comprises: receiving forecast data indicating planned demands for the resources and a demand deviation for each resource; generating a new demand for each resource from the planned demand and the demand deviation of the resource in several iterations; assigning capacities to the new demands in each iteration by determining resource-machine combinations, wherein a priority is determined for each resource and each machine based on a set of priority rules, wherein the resource-machine combinations are determined by combining the resources and the machines according to the priorities; and generating a roll-out plan assigning resource-machine combinations to be rolled out to future time periods, wherein the roll-out plan is generated from the resource-machine combinations of different iterations and an estimated roll-out time for each resource-machine combination such that a total number of the resource-machine combinations to be rolled-out is minimized.

Provided is a method and device for computer-assisted optimization of the occupancy of magazine spaces by tools within at least one tool magazine for a machine tool, one or more workpieces of a workpiece type being manufactured with the aid of the tools provided by a magazine unit at a provisioning place. A step of the claimed steps of the method described in the description is the optimization of the occupancy of the magazine spaces by tools so that the total waiting time is minimized, wherein the total waiting time is composed of individual waiting times which result in each case from the difference between the detected provisioning period and the detected working step duration if the value of the difference is positive, otherwise the individual waiting time assumes the value zero.

A machine tool including a first and a second tool magazine, wherein a tool for machining a workpiece can be received from the first tool magazine and a tool from the second tool magazine can be transferred into the first tool magazine, and wherein one of the tools includes a multiple tool that can be fitted with a plurality of tools prior to the machining. A method for controlling a machine tool includes the steps of detecting workpieces to be machined, determining the tools required for machining the detected workpieces and determining the tools, with which the multiple tool is to be fitted.

A numerical controller (100) capable of shortening the cycle time during tool replacement without modifying an existing program is provided. A numerical controller (100) includes a block information checking unit (108) that analyzes a program for respective blocks. When it is determined that one or two or more feed axis positioning commands are present before a tool replacement command found in the analysis result of the program, the block information checking unit (108) modifies the analysis result of the program so that a rotating tool axis orientation operation in the tool replacement command is executed during execution of a feed axis positioning command in any one of the one or two or more feed axis positioning command blocks.

A controller for controlling a plurality of robots includes a failure prediction section configured to predict a failure time for each of the robots; and a load adjustment section configured to perform adjustment of a work load of each of the robots according to each of the predicted failure times, so that each of the robots operates until a maintenance time determined in common to each of the robots.

A controller for controlling a plurality of robots includes a failure prediction section configured to predict a failure time for each of the robots; and a load adjustment section configured to perform adjustment of a work load of each of the robots according to each of the predicted failure times, so that each of the robots operates until a maintenance time determined in common to each of the robots.

A machine tool having a tool magazine for tools, which the machine tool can hold one at a time in order to machine a workpiece is provided. A method for controlling the machine tool includes steps of detecting workpieces to be machined and grouping detected workpieces into set-up families in such a way that a set-up associated with the set-up family is sufficient for machining the workpieces belonging to the set-up family. The set-up includes tools, which can be simultaneously loaded in the tool magazine, and the set-up families are formed in such a way that the number of tools that must be loaded in order to machine the detected workpieces is minimized as far as possible.

A machine tool having a tool magazine for tools, which the machine tool can hold one at a time in order to machine a workpiece is provided. A method for controlling the machine tool includes steps of detecting workpieces to be machined and grouping detected workpieces into set-up families in such a way that a set-up associated with the set-up family is sufficient for machining the workpieces belonging to the set-up family. The set-up includes tools, which can be simultaneously loaded in the tool magazine, and the set-up families are formed in such a way that the number of tools that must be loaded in order to machine the detected workpieces is minimized as far as possible.

A numerical controller (100) capable of shortening the cycle time during tool replacement without modifying an existing program is provided. A numerical controller (100) includes a block information checking unit (108) that analyzes a program for respective blocks. When it is determined that one or two or more feed axis positioning commands are present before a tool replacement command found in the analysis result of the program, the block information checking unit (108) modifies the analysis result of the program so that a rotating tool axis orientation operation in the tool replacement command is executed during execution of a feed axis positioning command in any one of the one or two or more feed axis positioning command blocks.