Same combiner for different products

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Helen asked Dec 29, '22 Helen commented Jan 2, '23

Same combiner for different products

Hello,

I want to you use a combiner to produce a different series of products. I've seen in a tutorial that you can use a global table for that as shown in the model attached.

Combiner_DifferentProducts.fsm

However, in order to do this you need to have a "stable" port 1 because it will always come one part from the first port. How can you do this if you have a production in which you take parts from stocks A+B for product 1 and C+D product 2. In this case, you don't have a port from which parts are always taken.

Thank you,

Helen

Software Version:

FlexSim 22.1.1

combiner

combiner-differentproducts.fsm (40.4 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2022-12-29T13:15:36Z

Jason Lightfoot answered Dec 29, '22 Helen commented Jan 2, '23

Your pallet is serving as the work instruction to produce a given type and the container for the assembled parts - this is a valid technique.

If instead of driving the assembly from a predetermined work order (pallet) you would like to opportunistically assemble parts as they become available, you can use a process flow and a list of parts and have a token for each assembly order try to pull all the parts it needs before moving them to an assembly station (combiner or other). In such a model there would be no need for port connections as you have them in your model.

· 6

Helen commented · Dec 29, 2022 at 04:25 PM

Thank you @Jason Lightfoot and @Joerg Vogel.

I created a list named "List_Materials", and I put all the materials available in that list (output port > the list). I also created an array (length 8) in which I state that I want to do 5 first type products (A+B) and 3 second type products (C+D). However, I'm unable to create the token and pull the materials from the list using th process flow that produces the aforementioned sequence. Can you help me with this?

Thank you,Combiner_DifferentProductsAssbly.fsm

Helen

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combiner-differentproductsassbly.fsm (45.4 KiB)

Jason Lightfoot ♦ Helen commented · Dec 29, 2022 at 07:28 PM

A combiner that assembles, from what is available, into possible products could be useful for many users. I have an example which I intend to post to this site shortly.

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Jason Lightfoot ♦ Helen commented · Dec 29, 2022 at 10:45 PM

Article here.

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Helen Jason Lightfoot ♦ commented · Jan 02, 2023 at 09:02 AM

Thank you @Jason Lightfoot,

It seems that is more complicated than expected. I'm trying to understand step by step and some questions arose.

You programmed Queue 1 as follows. Output > sent to port: First available and then Triggers On entry: push to parts (being parts a list). Is it the same to do Ouput> push to item list?
Why is the element that represents the combiner a Queue? Is there a specific reason for that?
Process flow:
1. Why is it a time-event trigger?

Helen

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Answer 2 · 2022-12-29T14:47:22Z

Joerg Vogel answered Dec 29, '22 Joerg Vogel edited Dec 29, '22

In this answer you find a different approach to complete an assembly. Therein the code distinguish between different input ports.

For port 1 allow everything to enter by return 1;. Pull Requirement for port 2 gets a matching pattern of your question based on type of first item in current object by a conditional filter if

A: then B
B: then A
C: then D
D: then C

a logical equal comparison operator is ==

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