Scheduling tokens is not working properly and how to campaign batches?

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Mohamed A17 asked Jun 1, '22 Mohamed A17 commented Jun 21, '22

Scheduling tokens is not working properly and how to campaign batches?

Hi,

I am working on a model where 10 batches are created where each batch has a priority and needs to be picked by one processor then sent to a line for filing and packaging. The processor is picked based on the batch size. After the processor or the line finishes their job, an inspector is required. My questions are:

How to process the batches based on their priority in series (1,2,3...etc) as my model process the batches in a different priority order (1,3,6). The main reason I found that the model processes the batches of the highest order for each processor but not based on the global priority.
How to not pick the inspector if there are three order of the same batch as can be seen in BatchCode A1 (How to process these tokens in campaign).
How to measure the time each token spends in either the processor or the line. Or, how to know the time a token spends in the model since being assigned to a processor until it leaves the model.

Please find the attached model for more information.

Best regards,

Flexsim_Question.fsm

Software Version:

FlexSim 22.0.1

tokens scheduling campaign

flexsim-question.fsm (169.8 KiB)

· 1

Kavika F ♦ commented · Jun 20, 2022 at 03:15 PM

Hi @Mohamed A17, was my answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of their answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always unaccept and comment back to reopen your question.

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Answer 1 · 2022-06-01T22:13:15Z

Kavika F answered Jun 1, '22 Mohamed A17 commented Jun 21, '22

Hey @Mohamed A17, I think I've made a solution that answers most of your questions.

1. You want to make sure batches are processed in their global priority defined in the first Source Activity. Simply add a Resource that must be acquired one at a time so as items are pulled from the list in the correct priority order, they are processed in that order (so you'll have 1, 2, 3...). However this will mean that only one processor will be used at a time.

2. What I understand from this question is that you want to process all products with the same BatchCode at the same time and you don't want the inspector to inspect these products? One approach would be to determine when you have multiple products with the same BatchCode, process one, and throw the other ones away (given that they all have the same stats and you don't need to keep track of their count in the future).

3. As for stats collecting, I referred to this post which helped me create a StatisticsCollector in your model that tracks the staytime of tokens in the system since creation.

Honestly I think it would be easier to use actual flowitems in your model rather than just changing the colors of things. Then you could take advantage of some of the built-in 3D model features like sending items from processors to other processors, using an actual operator to move and perform inspections on processors and lines, etc. It could even solve some of your batching problems because you could batch flowitems into different totes/pallets and move them as a group.

solution.fsm

1654120965400.png (72.8 KiB)

1654121512538.png (15.8 KiB)

solution.fsm (56.7 KiB)

· 7

Mohamed A17 commented · Jun 02, 2022 at 06:47 PM

Hi @Kavika F,

Thank you for your kind reply. I really appreciate it. Please find below my reply on your comments.

1. The main idea is to use multiple processors in parallel based on the global priority of each batch as I can't afford using one processor at a time. Is there a way to pull a processor from list if the global priority of the current token is higher than the previous token by 1?. Maybe this can solve that issue.

2. For this part, the orders having the same batch code need to be processed in a campaign mode; the batches of the same code are processed in series at the same processor. In my case, there are 3 orders having the same batch code. These orders need to be processed in P1. After P1 is used 3 times, the inspector is called. If an order has a unique batch code, the processor is used 1 time then the inspector is called. I hope this explains the question well.

3. This works perfectly.

I would appreciate if you could share more thoughts on how to tackle these points.

Thanks in advance,

Mohamed

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Kavika F ♦ Mohamed A17 commented · Jun 02, 2022 at 07:00 PM

Glad the stats collection works for you!

1. I think the problem here is that certain items can only be processed on specific processors based on size (i.e., P1 can only process items of size 20, P4 for size 10, P5 for size 2). So if you have an item 'A' with [priority 1, size 20] and the next item 'B' is [priority 2, size 20], your item 'B' has to wait for P1 to become available, thus creating the bottleneck on priority.

2. Your explanation helped me understand this point better, thank you. Will items with the same BatchCode always have sequential/back-to-back priority (i.e., 1, 2, 3...) or can they possibly be spread apart (i.e., 1, 5, 9...)?

Maybe if I knew a bit more about the problem you're trying to solve, then I could try to help with a solution that best fits your needs. I understand if you can't disclose that information though.

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Mohamed A17 Kavika F ♦ commented · Jun 03, 2022 at 01:43 PM

Hi @Kavika F,

Thanks again for your help. Please find my comments:

1. Noted.

2. In this case, the orders of the same BatchCode should either have a sequential priority (1,2,3) to ensure the same processor is used to process these batches or have the same priority (1,1,1) which I hope will lead to the same required behavior.

Thanks again,

Mohamed

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