In a recent model I was building I needed a case packer that had some special abilities.
This "Combiner" is different than a traditional library accessed Combiner because:
1) You can set how many containers can be packed at a time. (In my model 3 cases were packed simultaneously with each cycle. I call these "batches" in my logic. This variable is accessed as a label on the 3D object.
2) It assumes that all the flowitems being packed come from the same port, you can't have multiple sources of flowitems or have a recipe. Although it could be modified to allow for that.
3) It is very easy to set home many flowitems per container. This variable is accessed as a label on the 3D object. This could be changed easily as the itemtype or some other criteria changes while running the model.
4) If the flow of containers or flowitems is delayed, the machine can time out and release a partial batch or partially filled container. I have included a model control GUI so you can manually stop the sources and test this logic. Note the labels associated with max wait time in the object labels again.
5) After a batch of containers and flowitems has been collected, there is a RobotCycleTime that occurs that represents the moving of the flowitems into the containers, this time is ran one time for the entire batch.
While this object may not be the final solution for a lot of instances, I believe that it is a good starting point for a lot of objects that will be needed in future models. The Process Flow is well documented to explain the logic.
Note that this is an Object Process Flow and all instances will need to be connected to the logic in the process flow.
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