question

Kashif A avatar image
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Kashif A asked tannerp answered

How to make my operators sort boxes on pallets with given travel logic

I have a model where I am trying to sort boxes based on their destinations on different pallets. The labels on boxes define on what pallet they go. Boxes come on a simple roller conveyor and associates pick it along the conveyor sideways. Once they pick a box, they push forward the box behind it and proceed to load the picked box on its destination pallet. (Idea is to push boxes forward to spread it across the roller conveyor as the conveyor is not powered, items move ahead when boxes are pushed by operators). I have tried to achieve this logic in process flow using decision points on the conveyor to create stop and pick points.
Also, I am trying to make operators move and do the pick/unload such that they don't come near each other while loading or walking. Merely setting maximum number of travelers on network node as 1 does not work because the operators can still walk to the same node with the setting. So to achieve this, I tried to use process flow and push all travel nodes in a list. As operators walk for pick or load, they pull from this list. But looks like my model runs into a gridlock at around time of 495 second where no operators can move. Can someone help me with improvement in the process flow so that this gridlock situation can be avoided? Model is attached: Pallet_Sort.fsm


FlexSim 20.1.0
flexsim 20.1.0network nodesoperatorspalletsorting
pallet-sort.fsm (3.7 MiB)
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Kashif A avatar image Kashif A commented ·

Hi everyone, just wanted to check if anyone was able to figure out a possible solution for this? @Joshua S, @Logan Gold

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Joerg Vogel avatar image Joerg Vogel commented ·
  1. more network nodes
  2. zone control to limit operators in zones

please ask different questions in two separated threads! It is easier to answer one question than both together.

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Kashif A avatar image Kashif A Joerg Vogel commented ·

Hi @Jörg Vogel, I tried to use traffic controller too, but that also causes gridlock in my model.

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1 Answer

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tannerp avatar image
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tannerp answered

@Kashif A,

Sorry this question hasn't received much attention. Following Jörg's suggestion, I added one more network node at the place where the traffic jam occurs and this seemed to solve the issue.

Take a look and see if this will work for you.

pallet-sort (1)_1.fsm


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