Solved: Re: Restricting Flowitems on Processors

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-11-2021

[ FlexSim 20.1.2 ]

My model simulates the testing process for a particular product. The problem I am having occurs in WorkCenter899. The queue is set up to try to batch units in sets of 8, Thermal1 has a max content of 8, and Thermal2 has a max content of 4. I want batching to occur whenever possible, but once a flowitem or set of flowitems enters a processor, I don't want any other flowitems to enter the processor until the first flowitem or batch finishes processing. I can think of how this could be done using a Resource in Flow Logic, but is there a way to do it using on 3D Logic, since my model is currently driven by 3D Logic?

MPM-2000 Testing Model_3D Logic_v1.fsm

jason_lightfootVL7B4 · ‎01-11-2021

It isn't an either/or situation you know - you can mix process flow logic in where it makes life easier and use the standard object triggers and connections where they make most sense. I've found this is most powerful and easy when using object based process flows (not the standard, general process flow)

jeanette_fullmer88DK3 · ‎01-12-2021

The only adjustment to your model that would prevent flowitems from entering a processor when it is already processing a flowitem would be to remove your maxtime limit on the queue. This would only allow batches of the max quantity onto the processor though. This does not seem to be a good solution to your model because then items are left in the queue.

Your idea for Process Flow would be the best line of action from here. Which like @jason.lightfoot mentioned is a tool to be used with your model and I wouldn't limit yourself from it because a majority of your other logic is in the 3D objects.

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-20-2021

Jeanette,

I've started to develop process flow logic, but I am using a new file.

I hoped to be able to solve this problem using resources in process flow, but I also need to have multiple processors in my process, and if I use Move Object activities, then I can only have one output connector. This seems to bring me back to 3D logic. How can I solve this problem?

Lastly, in the Batch activity in the process flow, when the batch size reaches four, it only releases the same number of tokens as there are resources, instead of releasing four tokens and moving four flowitems to the processor. Why is this?

Using Resources on Processors_v3 with Routing.fsm

jeanette_fullmer88DK3 · ‎01-22-2021

Hello @Nicholas D2,

I focused on your middle set of processors. Your process flow took over all the logic, when it would be better to just move what isn't working in your 3D model objects logic to process flow. In this case, just your batching was what was being difficult. So, I adjusted your process flow to only handle the batching from the queue to the processors and I also reconnected 3D objects to have the logic they had before.

I also created an entirely new process flow for you to look at. The process flow mainly uses the tokens to be the processors. This allows for the tokens to hold a label with the max content of the processors which is then used to decide how many items to pull from the queue. This also guarantees that only one batch of items is in the processor at once. What this process flow does that is better than the other is that it can still allow for items to be processed even if the max batching is not met. It takes the max or what is available and starts the process. You can always add a max wait timer if you would like the processor tokens to wait a little to try and reach their max content before starting processing.

Please review the updated model.

using-resources-on-processors-v3-with-routing _v1.fsm

Also to answer your questions about your model from above,

1) I think exploring the drop down options in the move object activity will help you see conditional decides and other things to broaden its capability. You can also integrate the 3D logic and process flow more like I showed in the adjustments.

2) The batch activity did release 4 tokens, but each token would then acquire its own processor. Since there were only two processors, only two tokens moved forward while the other two had to wait. This was not at all what you were going for and an alternative solution would be to release one token with the item labels aggregated into an array like I did in option 1 of your process flows

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-25-2021

Jeannette, this is definitely getting closer to what I am trying to accomplish. One more question for you. If the flowitems that enter the processors are being batched based on the max content of the processor, and some of the items in a batch are reworked items (red), what makes the flowitem on the processor appear red? In other words, some batches seem to contain reworked items and appear brown while other batches contain reworked items but appear red. Just curious why this is.

jeanette_fullmer88DK3 · ‎01-25-2021

Hello @Nicholas D2,

I think that the color of the box that is on top is the one that shows. So when they are being processed sometimes it looks either brown or red even if a reworked item is in both batches. Does that make sense?

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-25-2021

Yes, thanks. I'm going to start implementing this into my original model, which more closely resembles the actual process I am trying to replicate. I will let you know if I have any more questions. Thank you!

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-27-2021

Jeanette, how did you set the labels for the source processor? I changed the names of the processors to reflect reality and changed the names in the labels to match, but I am getting errors. I can't figure out why.

MPM-2000 Testing Model_Process Flow_v3.fsm

jeanette_fullmer88DK3 · ‎01-27-2021

Hello @Nicholas D2,

I used the dropper that is next to the field to select the processors. After I selected then I deleted the extra code at the end so it just looked for the processor rather than some property of the processor.

mpm-2000-testing-model-process-flow-v3.fsm

nicholas_d2 · ‎01-29-2021

This latest version of my model now resembles the real process, but I'm unsure how to tie things together. Flowitems need to originate in WorkCenter85A and follow this path: 85A -> 89Q -> 899 -> 85V -> 85A -> 85V -> NHA.

Using the FlowLogic, how do I move them from one WorkCenter to another?
How can I do this in batches? For example, I might not want to move flowitems from OutRack85A to InRack89Q until there are 10 flowitems in the outrack.
When the flowitems return to 85A and 85V for the second time, their processing times need to be different than the processing times the first time around. I am trying to accomplish this using multiprocessors and a "TestType" label which will tell the multiprocessor which process to run, but I'm not sure where/how to assign the label to the flowitems.

Again, thanks for your help.

MPM-2000 Testing Model_Process Flow_v3.fsm

jeanette_fullmer88DK3 · ‎01-30-2021

Hey @Nicholas D2 , We seem to have arrived at a new question for your model. I am happy to help. I started a new question for you and gave an answer. Check it out an let me know if that was what you were looking for.