How do I stop a subflow that puts items on a rack when there's no spots on it?

Question

question

mfrsagfm asked Jun 27, '24 Jeanette F commented Jul 17, '24

How do I stop a subflow that puts items on a rack when there's no spots on it?

I currently have a Decide block that decides between two subflows: one that uses an ASRS to place untested items from an entry queue onto a rack, and one that uses an ASRS to take tested items off the rack and place them on an exit queue.

The problem I'm having right now is that the ASRS places the items that build up on the entry queue onto the rack. This fills up all the spots on the rack.

Then, instead of removing some of the tested items off of the rack, the ASRS simply waits there, stuck in the subflow step of "Find Slot", still looking to find a spot on the rack because it's still trying to remove stuff from the entry queue and put them on the rack. I don't want it to do this - once there are no slots on the rack, it shouldn't even be trying to find a slot. Instead, it should start taking the tested boards off the rack and putting them on the exit queue.

How can I accomplish this in a process flow?

Software Version:

FlexSim 24.1.0

process flow rack asrs subflow

· 2

Jason Lightfoot ♦♦ commented · Jul 01 at 11:07 AM

Hi @mfrsagfm,

We'll be able to provide specific guidance by looking at your model. Can you please post your model or a sample model that demonstrates your question.

If your model contains sensitive information, you could first toggle your post as private using the "make private" option under your question's "gear" menu. Private questions are visible only to site moderators. You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for phone or email help.

0 ·

Jeanette F ♦♦ commented · Jul 17 at 04:32 PM

Hi @mfrsagfm, was Logan Gold's answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of their answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always comment back to reopen your question.

0 ·

Answer 1 · 2024-07-10T22:31:42Z

Logan Gold answered Jul 10, '24

Hey @mfrsagfm, you can select "Use Max Wait Timer" on the Find Slot activity, set the Time to 0, and add an option in the "On Wait Timer Fired" event to Release Token. You can also set the Destination in the Release Token dropdown option to a 2 to have the token release through a second connector coming out of the Find Slot activity, like this:

This way the token can go to another part of the Process Flow that can run logic for when a slot cannot be found.

Since the Find Slot activity is in a subflow, you may want the second connector to just go straight to a Finish activity to finish the subflow. In which case, you may want to utilize the Set Label dropdown option of the "On Wait Timer Fired" event to indicate that a slot could not be found (by setting a label on the parent token). Then have something like a Decide activity that can check that label and determine what needs to happen next depending on if a slot was found or not.

Like Jason said, if we can take a look at your model, we can give you some more specific advice on how to implement something like this - or give you a better idea if something else makes more sense for your model.

findslotmaxwaittimer.png (34.2 KiB)

question