Capacity Logic and loading/unloading time

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Adil M asked Jun 29, '23 Felix Möhlmann commented Jun 30, '23

Capacity Logic and loading/unloading time

I have a model built in which operators pick two packages from the conveyor and place on a queue(pallet) based on package "type". The model I had initially built did not utilize process flow as I wasn't confident but it wasn't working well. So I was able to get assistance from the FlexSim community to help build the process flow for this.

The issue now however is that I want to change the capacity of the operator and the loading/unloading time. I made changes to the operator directly but since process flow is being used it did not affect the model. Can you help me understand which portion needs to be edited in order to change capacity and loading/unloading time? Also, when I put the loading time for an operator who has a capacity of say 2. Is the loading time per package or is it for 2 packages?

Software Version:

FlexSim 23.1.3

capacity loading unloading

extra-small-packages-model.fsm (126.8 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2023-06-29T06:09:19Z

Felix Möhlmann answered Jun 29, '23 Felix Möhlmann commented Jun 30, '23

After loading an item the Process Flow compares the current number of loaded items to a numeric value in the "Load More" Decide activity.

If the condition is true (the number of loaded items is smaller than the number it is compared to) the token loop will loop back to the top and pull another item to load. The capacity is thus controlled by editing the number in the condition.

The token runs through the activity block below for each item, including the "Loading Delay". So the load time you enter there is used per item.

The unloading happens in a subflow that does not currently have a delay. To add an unload time, add a delay activity to the subflow as seen above (and change the state the operator is in during the delay to 'unloading')

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Adil M commented · Jun 29, 2023 at 02:59 PM

Thank you, Felix! I noticed that making changes to loading/unloading time on the properties window does impact the operator as well. Does this override the time we have put in the process flow?

Also want to confirm that this time is also per package irrespective of what the capacity is. So a capacity of 2 would take double of the time put in the loading/unloading window.

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Adil M commented · Jun 29, 2023 at 04:13 PM

An issue that I noticed with just making the recommended change is that even though the associate is picking up 4 packages now its only unloading 2 and then returning back to pick 2 more packages. Essentially the capacity still remains 2.

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Felix Möhlmann Adil M commented · Jun 30, 2023 at 06:11 AM

The task executers load/unload time are used for the respective tasks in a task sequence. In Process Flow you use the Unload activity which will use the unload time specified on the operator.

You have to adjust how often you run the subflow (and how you refer to the individual items) to sync up with the number of loaded items. A flexible way that keeps (some of) the logic to unload to the closest queue first would be to push all loaded items onto a list. Each subflow token then pulls the item with the closest destination off the list and tells the operator to unload it. You can partition this list by the operators, so they can all use the same list.

extra-small-packages-model-fm.fsm

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extra-small-packages-model-fm.fsm (128.6 KiB)

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