The processor is used to simulate the processing of flowitems in a model. The process is simply modeled as a forced time delay. The total time is split between a setup time and a process time. The processor can process more than one flowitem at a time. processors may call for operators during their setup and/or processing times. When a processor breaks down, all of the flowitems that it is processing will be delayed.
Details
The processor is a sub-class of the FixedResource. It is also a super-class of the Combiner and Separator. It continues to receive flowitems until its maximum content is met. Each flowitem that enters the processor goes through a setup time followed by a process time. After these two processes have finished, the flowitem is released. If the maximum content value is greater than one, then flowitems will be processed in parallel.
Note on the maximum content value: Be very careful about setting a maximum content value greater than 1. The processor will not correctly request operators if you are processing more than one flowitem at a time. MTBF/MTTR times will also not be calculated correctly if the maximum content is greater than one. Also, state statistics won't be recorded correctly. The maximum content value is only there to allow you to create multiple very simple processors in parallel without having to drag that many into your model. If you want to edit any properties other than the simple setup, process times and flow page properties, then you should drag several processors out, and have each just receive one flowitem at a time.
Setup/Process Operators
If the processor is set to use operators during its setup or process time, then at the beginning of the respective operation it will call the user-defined number of operators using the requestoperators command with the processor as the station, and the item as the involved object. This will cause the processor to be stopped until the operators have arrived. Please be aware of how a requestoperators task sequence is constructed, as described in the requestoperators command documentation. Also know how the stopobject command works as explained in the command summary. Once all operators have arrived, the processor will resume its operation. Once the operation is finished, the processor will release the operators it called. If the processor is set to use the same operators for both setup and process time, then the processor won't release the operators until both the setup process times are finished.
States
Idle - The object is empty.
Setup - The object is in its modeller-defined setup time.
Processing - The object is in its modeller-defined process time
Blocked - The object has released its flowitem(s), but downstream objects are not ready to receive them yet.
Waiting for Operator - The object is waiting for an operator to arrive, either to repair a breakdown, or to operate on a batch.
Waiting for Transport - The object has released a flow item, and a downstream object is ready to receive it, but a transport object has not picked it up yet.
Down - The object is broken down.
Properties pages
processor
Breakdowns
Flow
Triggers
Labels
General
