The invention relates to a method and system for creating and managing formulations. In particular, the invention relates to a method and system for creating and managing formulations for extrusion.

BACKGROUND

A formulation is a recipe used to create a product. In order to create a formulation various raw materials are required. These raw materials can be sourced from one or more suppliers at varying costs and are categorized into grades and colors. Formulations are designed by combining multiple grades, colors and compounded using extrusion machinery set to appropriate process control parameters to produce a desired end-product meeting the requisite characteristics and physical properties.

Creating formulations requires sophisticated knowledge of polymers and extrusion technology. As a result formulations are typically researched by polymer scientists in a lab environment. Polymer scientists focus on creating formulations that meet the desired product specifications and rarely consider cost implications of the formulations. Extrusion of formulations also requires specific process parameters to be defined for the extrusion system as well as specific loading instructions specifying the quantities, temperature and the feeders through which the various ingredients are to be introduced into the system.

Existing formulation management systems are typically industry or vertical specific and permit users to select a formulation from a database of pre-existing formulations and perform modifications on the selected formulation. Other systems require the entry of master data, which is often a time-consuming and laborious task, before they can be used effectively. However, these systems do not permit users to create formulations but are limited to retrieval of existing formulations by searching a database of formulations. While some existing systems permit users to select the lowest cost formulation out of formulations that match the user's requirements, such systems do not permit users to perform cost evaluations for new formulations or evaluate cost impact of replacing an ingredient in a formulation. While most existing systems do not provide for quality test results of the formulations, those systems that do are limited to the existing formulations in the system database.

Conventionally, creation of formulations and generation of process specification sheet specifying the various extrusion process parameters and the machine loading instructions are done separately. The process specification sheet is passed on to the shop floor where the formulation is created as per the specifications. Once a formulation has been created and tested by a polymer scientist, the formulations recipe is then used, often by a separate entity or person, to define the process parameters and the extruder loading details keeping in view the extruder available with the entity manufacturing the formulation. However, this leads to excessive repetition of work and delays in generating process specification sheets.

There is therefore a need for a system that can be used to create new formulations and evaluate the cost implications of the new formulation. There is equally a need for a system that can be used to generate process specification sheets for the extrusion of a formulation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The following is a brief description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting of the scope of the invention.

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a formulation system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figures 2 to 14 illustrate screen shots of the user interface of the formulation system for creating and managing formulations and for generating process specification sheets. Figures 2 to 6 illustrate screen shots of the user interface for the introduction of data in to the formulation system for subsequent use to generate formulations and process specification sheets. Figures 7 to 10 illustrate screen shots of the user interface for the creation of a new formulation and the generation of the process specification sheet. Figures 11 to 14 illustrate screen shots of the user interface of additional tools provided by the formulation system. Figure 15 illustrates a screen shot of a user interface for generating a formulation using a recycle raw material.

SUMMARY

A formulation system for creating a formulation is disclosed. The formulation system comprising a raw material database for storing details of raw materials including cost of the raw material; wherein the cost of the raw material includes the cost of the raw material from one or more sources or multiple costs from the same source, wherein the cost of the raw material from a different source or multiple costs from the same source are stored in the raw material database as alternate raw materials. The formulation system further comprising an extruder database for storing details of available extruder configurations. The formulation system also comprising a user interface configured to receive user inputs for creating a formulation, the user inputs including user selection of raw materials from the raw material database. The formulation system further comprising a formulation database for storing the formulations created by the user and a formulation engine configured to create the formulation based on user inputs and to calculate cost of the formulation, the formulation engine further configured to generate an optimal cost formulation by substituting a raw material in the formulation with a raw material from an alternate source, calculating and displaying the cost of the optimal formulation. The formulation engine further configured to determine the optimal allocation of raw materials to the feeding system of the extrusion process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.

Many of the functional units described in this specification have been labelled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very large scale integration circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic, chips, transistors, or the other discrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate analays, programmable array logic,I programmable logic devices or the like. Modules may also be implemented in software for ; execution by various types of processors. An identified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, for instance, be organised as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identified module need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate
instructions stored in different locations which, when joined together, comprise the module and
achieve the stated purpose for the module.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, computer system 114. The security protocol may be SSL (Secure Socket Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security), PPP (Point-to-Point protocol) or any other protocol known in the art.

The raw material database 106 is configured for storing details of raw materials comprising details of suppliers, specifications of raw materials, grade of raw materials and properties of raw materials. The raw material database 106 is also configured for storing details of raw materials including cost of the raw material wherein the cost of the raw material includes the cost of the raw material from one or more sources or multiples costs from the same source. The cost of the raw material from a different source is stored in the raw material database as alternate raw materials.

The extruder database 1GS is configured for storing details of available extruder configurations. The extruder database 108 includes details of extruder system such as extruder configuration, feeder details, processing zones and details of process parameters.

The formulation database 110 is configured for storing the formulations created by the user.

The formulation engine 104 is configured to create a formulation based on user inputs and calculate cost of the formulation. The formulation engine 104 further configured to generate alternate formulations by substituting a raw material in the formulation with an alternate raw material and calculating cost for the alternate formulation. The formulation engine 104 also configured to store the generated user formulation in a formulation database 110.

The browser 112 is operatively connected to formulation engine 100 and configured to access remotely located data-sources 116 of raw materials and supplier information and to import the details of the raw materials from such data-sources.

The formulation system 100 is further described with reference to the accompanying drawings that represent screen shots of the user interface 102 of the system 100. With reference to figure 2, at the initiation of the formulation system 100, the user is required to enter the master data using which subsequent formulations and process specification sheets will be created. The master data includes details of raw materials, which further includes units of measurement applicable, the raw material suppliers, the raw materials, their properties and costs, grades of raw materials, raw material for colors.

The master data also includes the extruder configurations which further include line information including the feeders and processing zones for an extrusion line, test lists and process parameters. The master data needs to be entered once at the beginning or initial launch. The formulation system 100 includes a user interface 102 for the organization ERP system (not shown) and the master data, or parts thereof, may be incorporated from the ERP system (not shown). For example, details of suppliers and cost quotations for raw materials may be present in the organization ERP system (not shown) and the formulation system 100 may import such details in to the master data. The formulation system 100 also includes a browser 112 with the ability to access remotely located data-stores of raw material 116 and supplier information for the incorporation of master data. This is in addition to providing the user the ability to define/import their own raw material and supplier information.

With reference to figure 3, the user interface 102 of the formulation system 100 for defining or introducing grades is illustrated. A grade is a polymer scientist designated nomenclature for a collection of raw materials grouped together to meet a particular customer requirements with respect to properties of the end product or formulation. The grade may be used along with other colors or intermediate formulations to create formulations. The grade is a mixture of raw materials in a defined proportion that may have been setup to meet the desired properties. The desired properties of the grade are defined using the illustrated user interface. A grade is assigned a unique identifier.

With reference to figure 4, raw material used to add color to the formulation are also defined and assigned a unique identifier by the formulation system 100. The grades and colors are in fact raw materials themselves that may have different suppliers.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate screen shots of the user interface 102 of the formulation system 100 used to defxne the extruder systems (not shown), the feeders available and the processing zones on the extruders, as well as the process parameters of the extrusion systems. The user interfaces 102 of Figures 5 or 6, after initial launch will be used in the case of an addition or modification to the extrusion system or to define a new process parameter respectively.

After the master data, grades, colors, extrusion line and process parameters have been defined and introduced for the formulation system 100, the formulation system 100 may be used to create formulations, perform cost optimization evaluations, define process parameters and generate process specification sheets. With reference to figure 7, the formulation system 100 may be used by the user to create a formulation which may be a combination of grades and colors. While creating a formulation, the user may choose to optimize the cost of formulation by specifying a cost range or by means of raw material substitution. Selecting optimization by cost instructs the system to classify the formulation options by the cost of the total formulation. Cost optimization by raw material substitution provides the user with raw material costs from different suppliers. Selecting either of these options automatically calculates the optimal formulation cost. The user may also specify quality criteria by which the formulation can be tested to verify that it meets the desired requirements. In addition, the formulation system 100 informs the user of raw materials available with the manufacturing entity and the user may factor that in determining the final raw material or supplier for the formulation.

With reference to figure 8, a screen shot of the user interface used to perform pre-mix calculations is illustrated. The user may perform pre-mix calculations that optimally decide the percentages at which the feeders should be loaded. Such calculations include how the extruder is to be loaded and at what capacity and amount.

With reference to figure 9, the user interface 102 used to define the process parameters is illustrated. The user may define the process parameters for the formulation including the feed rate, speed of operation, required torque and temperatures. Once the process parameters for the formulation have been defined a process specification sheet is generated for the formulation indicating all the details required to manufacture the formulation, as illustrated in Figure 10.

Post production of the formulation using the process specification sheet, the product is tested and checked against the release criteria. Details of the tests conducted and the test results are stored by the formulation system 100 for future reference as indicated by figure 11. If the formulation meets the desired specification the user may print a quality certificate for the formulation.

The user may repeat the steps illustrated in figures 7 to 10 to prepare new formulations and to generate the process specification sheets as required.

The formulation system 100 also offers other utilities and tools to the user as illustrated in figures 12, 13 and 14. Such tools include the ability to visually compare formulations, display a visual map of how raw materials are distributed in grades, colors, formulations and the structure of formulations via a formulation tree. The formulation system 100 also allows for replacement of a raw material in a grade, color etc. as illustrated in figured 14.

The formulation system 100 may also be configured to generate complex formulations by including left over raw materials from previous formulations- Such recycling of raw materials is a complicated process and requires detailed domain expertise. The formulation system 100 simplifies this process. With reference to Figure 15, an alternate formulation by recycling a raw material is generated. In the example illustrated, the recycled raw material is added to the formulation and the formulation system 100 recalculates the quantities of the other raw materials by considering raw material properties and user defined tolerances for the raw material percentages.

Optimum formulation costs are determined by using the price information from the supplier and raw material database as one of the inputs to a formulation cost optimization module within the system. The formulation system 100 also enables what-if calculations to be performed allowing the user the ability to quickly visualize the cost impact of substituting one or more raw materials in a formulation. Similar what-if calculations can be performed at the pre-mix calculation stage of formulation processing. The formulation system 100 eases the process of creating and managing formulations and enables rapid evaluation of what-if scenarios with respect to formulation costs.

According to an embodiment, the formulation engine 104 is also configured to generate alternate user formulations based on the information imported from the remotely located data-sources 116 of raw material along with the cost of each alternate user formulations.

According to an embodiment, the formulation engine 104 can make use of the stored formulations in generating new formulations for the user.

According to an embodiment, the formulation system 100 is further configured to receive formulation test results for a formulation. These formulation test results are stored in the formulation database 110.

According to an embodiment, the formulation system 100 further comprising analytical tools configured to generate visual maps of the formulation including its raw materials.

According to an embodiment, the formulation system 100 further generates a process specification sheets for the user formulation.

SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS ARE DESCRIBED BELOW

A formulation system comprising a raw material database for storing details of raw materials including cost of the raw material; wherein the cost of the raw material includes the cost of the raw material from one or more sources or multiple costs from the same source, wherein the cost of the raw material from a different source or multiple costs from the same source are stored in the raw material database as alternate raw materials, an extruder database for storing details of available extruder configurations, a user interface configured to receive user inputs for creating a formulation; the user inputs including user selection of raw materials from the raw material database, a formulation database for storing the formulations created by the user and a formulation engine configured to create the formulation based on user inputs and to calculate cost of the formulation, the formulation engine further configured to generate alternate formulations by substituting a raw material in the formulation with an alternate raw material and calculating cost for the alternate formulation.

Such formulation system(s), wherein the formulation engine further configured to generate alternate formulations by specifying less of the more expensive raw material and more of the less expensive raw material based on user specified tolerances for the raw material percentages in the formulation.
Such formulation system(s), wherein the formulation engine further configured to generate an alternate formulation by including a recycle raw material, a recycle raw material being a raw material left over from a previous formulation.

Such formulation system(s), wherein the raw material database configured to store groups of raw materials as a raw material grade.

Such formulation system(s), wherein the raw material database configured to store a raw material or a group of raw materials as raw material for color.

Such formulation system(s), wherein the formulation database configured to store intermediate formulations, an intermediate formulation being a formulation capable of being mixed with other raw materials, intermediate formulations or formulations to create another formulation.

Such formulation system(s), further configured to substitute a raw material with another raw material across formulations, grades and colors.

Such formulation system(s), further comprising a browser configured to access remotely located data-sources of raw materials and to import the details of the raw materials from such data-sources.
Such formulation system(s), wherein the user interface is further configured to receive raw material details, extruder configuration details and formulation details for storing in the raw material database, the extruder database and the formulation database respectively.

Such formulation system(s), wherein details of available extruder configuration include details of number of feeders, processing zones of the extruder and extruder process parameters.

Such formulation system(s), further configured to determine allocation of the raw materials required for a formulation to the available feeders of the extruder and calculate the percentages of loading of the feeders with the selected raw materials.

Such formulation system(s), configured to allocate two or more raw materials to a feeder and to calculate quantities of the raw materials for that feeder.

Such formulation system(s), further configured to receive formulation test results for a formulation and to evaluate and determine conformance of test results to user specified test criteria.

Such formulation system(s), further comprising analytical tools configured to generate visual maps of the formulation including its raw materials.

Such formulation system(s), further configured to compare two or more formulations.

Such formulation system(s), further configured to generate detailed specification of process parameters required to create the formulation.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The formulation system simplifies the creation of formulation and allows for a more efficient use of raw materials while minimizing cost of formulations. The formulation system allows complex tasks in the creation of formulations to be easily carried out. By way of example in order to determine the optimal formulation cost for an "Black Polymer Electrical Faceplate" for a particular company, the polymer scientist could create a "Company A Electrical Faceplate Polymer" Grade and a "Company A Electrical Faceplate Black" Color. The Grade would contain the raw materials needed to make the "Electrical Faceplate" and the Color would contain the color ingredients to give it the black color that the company wants. The polymer scientist could then just add the grade, the color and any other constituents of the formulation and generate the formulation. This ability to organize raw materials by grades and colors makes it very easy to re-use the grades and colors when building similar formulations.

The formulation system also offers the ability for the polymer technologist to create Intermediate Formulations. Intermediate formulations are not complete on their own but are usually a part of another formulation. They are pre-created (since they could be re-used) and then added to a formulation as needed.

The formulation system also provides the ability to create Recycle (Complex) Formulations. Recycle formulations are an important but difficult to do task in a polymer manufacturing plant. The difficulty is due to the fact that leftover raw materials are invariably in fractions of the feeder size which therefore results in difficult and tricky calculations. The formulation system makes this task very easy.

While example embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims.

claim;

1. A formulation system comprising:

a raw material database for storing details of raw materials including cost of the raw material; wherein the cost of the raw material includes the cost of the raw material from one or more sources or multiple costs from the same source, wherein the cost of the raw material from a different source or multiple costs from the same source are stored in the raw material database as alternate raw materials;

an extruder database for storing details of available extruder configurations;

a user interface configured to receive user inputs for creating a formulation; the user inputs including user selection of raw materials from the raw material database;

a formulation database for storing the formulations created by the user; and

a formulation engine configured to create the formulation based on user inputs and to calculate cost of the formulation; the formulation engine further configured to generate alternate formulations by substituting a raw material in the formulation with an alternate raw material and calculating cost for the alternate formulation.

2. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the formulation engine further configured to generate alternate formulations by specifying less of the more expensive raw material and more of the less expensive raw material based on user specified tolerances for the raw material percentages in the formulation.

3. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the formulation engine further configured to generate an alternate formulation by including a recycle raw material, a recycle raw material being a raw material left over from a previous formulation.

4. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the raw material database configured to store groups of raw materials as a raw material grade.

5. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the raw material database configured to store a raw material or a group of raw materials as raw material for color.

6. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the formulation database configured to store intermediate formulations, an intermediate formulation being a formulation capable of being mixed with other raw materials, intermediate formulations or formulations to create another formulation.

7. A formulation system as claimed in any preceding claim further configured to substitute a raw material with another raw material across formulations, grades and colors.

8. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a browser configured to access remotely located data-sources of raw materials and to import the details of the raw materials from such data-sources.

9. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user interface is further configured to receive raw material details, extruder configuration details and formulation details for storing in the raw material database, the extruder database and the formulation database respectively.

10. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein details of available extruder configuration include details of number of feeders, processing zones of the extruder and extruder process parameters.

11. A formulation system as claimed in claim 10 further configured to determine allocation of the raw materials required for a formulation to the available feeders of the extruder and calculate the percentages of loading of the feeders with the selected raw materials.

12. A formulation system as claimed in claim 11 configured to allocate two or more raw materials to a feeder and to calculate quantities of the raw materials for that feeder.

13. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 further configured to receive formulation test results for a formulation and to evaluate and determine conformance of test results to user specified test criteria.

14. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising analytical tools configured to generate visual maps of the formulation including its raw materials.

15. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 further configured to compare two or more formulations.

16. A formulation system as claimed in claim 1 further configured to generate detailed specification of process parameters required to create the formulation.

17. A formulation system substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.