Method and apparatus for an automated injection molding configuring and manufacturing system

Abstract

The method and apparatus of the present invention includes a computer implemented injection molding configuring subsystem which enables a customer to interactively specify and design a system using a mix of parameters that the customer specifies and are manufacturing process determined. The configuring subsystem is connected to a computer network such as the Internet. The method and apparatus of the present invention further includes a computerized business and processing subsystem in communication with the configuring subsystem. The computerized business subsystem automatically provides a cost and schedule for a system configured by the configuring subsystem and additionally processes an order for the system. The processing subsystem automatically processes the customer's inputs and generates drawings for the configured system.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A computer implemented system connected to a computer network and accessible by a plurality of simultaneous users for specifying and ordering injection molding systems, comprising in combination: 
 a configuring subsystem that uses one or more of customer defined parameters and one or more manufacturing process determined parameters to generate a designed system; and    a processing subsystem for processing the designed system, the processing subsystem being in communication with the configuring subsystem.    
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the configuring subsystem and the processing subsystem communicate with a business subsystem.  
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented system of  claim 2 , wherein the business subsystem provides a cost and schedule for manufacturing the designed system.  
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing subsystem includes a business subsystem.  
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the configuring subsystem is in communication with a web page server and the computer network.  
     
     
         6 . The computer implemented system of  claim 5 , wherein the computer network is the Internet.  
     
     
         7 . The computer implemented system of  claim 5 , wherein the computer network is an Intranet.  
     
     
         8 . The computer implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processing system generates drawings for the designed system.  
     
     
         9 . The computer implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the configuring subsystem provides for verification of the designed system.  
     
     
         10 . A computer implemented system connected with a computer network and accessible by a plurality of simultaneous users for specifying and ordering injection molding systems, comprising in combination: 
 a configuring subsystem that uses one or more of customer defined parameters and one or more of manufacturing process determined parameters to generate a designed injection molding system; and    a business subsystem for calculating a cost and schedule for the designed injection molding system that was generated by the configuring subsystem, the business subsystem being in communication with the configuring subsystem.    
     
     
         11 . The computer implemented system of  claim 10 , wherein at least one of the configuring subsystem and the business subsystem communicate with a processing subsystem.  
     
     
         12 . The computer implemented system of  claim 11 , wherein the processing subsystem processes the designed system to provide system drawings and information for a bill of material.  
     
     
         13 . The computer implemented system of  claim 10 , wherein the configuring subsystem is in communication with a web page server and the computer network.  
     
     
         14 . The computer implemented system of  claim 13 , wherein the computer network is the Internet.  
     
     
         15 . The computer implemented system of  claim 13 , wherein the computer network is an Intranet.  
     
     
         16 . The computer implemented system of  claim 10 , wherein the configuring subsystem provides for verification of the designed injection molding system.  
     
     
         17 . In a computer network-based system, an automated method for specifying and ordering injection molding systems, comprising: 
 receiving one or more customer determined parameters;    configuring an injection molding system using the one or more customer determined parameters and one or more manufacture process determined parameters to generate a configured system; and    submitting the configured system for processing to a processing subsystem.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further including creating drawings based on the one or more customer determined parameters and the one or more manufacture process determined parameters.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , further including creating a bill of materials based on the configured system.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , further including determining manufacturing parameters such as, machine and tool codes based on the configured system.  
     
     
         21 . A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a processing unit to execute the steps of the method of  claim 17 .  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 17 , further including the step of verifying the configured system.  
     
     
         23 . A computer implemented system connected to a computer network for manufacturing injection molding systems, comprising in combination: 
 a computerized configuring subsystem for designing and ordering injection molding systems using one or more customer defined parameters and one or more manufacture process determined parameters to generate a configured system;    a computerized business subsystem in communication with the configuring subsystem for determining cost and schedule of the configured system; and    a computerized manufacturing subsystem in communication with the configuring subsystem and the business subsystem to manufacture the configured system.    
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , further including a processing subsystem for processing the configured system to provide drawings.  
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the configuring subsystem provides for verification of the configured system in terms of at least one of functionality and safety.  
     
     
         26 . In a computer-implemented process for manufacturing injection molding systems, a method comprising: 
 configuring a system to order by using one or more customer determined parameters and one or more manufacturing process determined parameters to generate a configured system;    creating drawings based on the one or more customer determined parameters and one or more manufacturing process determined parameters; and    ordering the configured system.    
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further including verifying the configured system by sending an electronic file of the configured system to be verified.  
     
     
         28 . A method for remotely specifying and ordering an injection molding system, comprising: 
 providing a web page server connected to a configuring subsystem network and to a digital network;    receiving one or more customer defined inputs using the web page server over the digital network using a web browser program;    configuring an injection molding system based on the one or more customer defined inputs and one or more manufacture process determined parameters to generate a configured system; and    ordering the configured system.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the digital network is the Internet;  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the digital network is an Intranet;  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising dynamically creating and displaying one or more web pages including at least one drawing of the configured system in response to a customer's request.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising dynamically creating and displaying one or more web pages including at least one of the cost and schedule for the configured system.