How to Assign Operators to Specific Bay in Rack

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LaurenK asked Sep 25, '24 Regan Blackett commented 4 hours ago

How to Assign Operators to Specific Bay in Rack

Hi Team,

Is there a way to assign an operator to a specific bay in a rack? I have a rack set up with 9 bays. For my simulation I am looking to assign 2 operators to Bays 1 and 2, 1 operator to Bays 3, 4 and 5, and one to the remaining bays.

I was thinking I could use the paint slot tool somehow, but wanted to see if there is a better / more efficient way. For my simulation, we are investigating how many associates should be on the pick line - so for now, I have team size as a parameter. Will assigning an operator to a bay lose the ability to flex the team size?

TIA.

Software Version:

FlexSim 24.1.0

operators bay assignments

· 1

Logan Gold ♦♦ commented · Oct 04 at 08:45 PM

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Answer 1 · 2024-09-27T22:32:41Z

Regan Blackett answered Sep 27, '24 Regan Blackett commented 4 hours ago

Hi @LaurenK,

Depending on how you may have set up your model, there are a couple of approaches you may to take to get what you are looking for. I’ve attached two sample models that may give you some ideas how to proceed. Both of them rely on knowing what Bay ID a Flowitem happened to be assigned to and using that information to make the assignments.

If you are planning on using Centerport-connected objects to transport Flowitems out of your rack, you can assign the Bay ID as a label to the Flowitems and then use that to choose which Operators can be chosen as the transporter. The On Entry trigger will let you know the bay the entering item is placed in using the keyword bay as the value of the label.

In the Use Transport options, you can choose “Center Port by Case” and use this label as the Case Function and then align the label value as the Cases and the corresponding Center ports as the Ports. In the case of the two Operators assigned to Bays 1 and 2, it would be easiest to attach them to a Dispatcher and let the Flowitems in Bay 1 use the Dispatcher as the Center Port connected object.

The other approach would be to use Process Flow to make the bay assignments and the task sequences to transport them out of the Rack. This method is a little more complex, but it allows for greater flexibility.

In this method, I would create tokens for each Operator, and I would assign those tokens a label that that stores their bay assignments. In the case of the two Operators assigned to two bays and the one Operator assigned to 3, I would store that information as an Array.

Then I would use the Find Item activity in process flow to query for an item that is only in a Bay that is in the Array of Bays assigned to the token. Once an item is found you can create a task sequence to transport the item to wherever it needs to go.

You may not want to use a blanket parameter for the overall team size though as figuring out how to assign new Operators to the correct sets of bays, and how that changes the bays the other Operators are also assigned to might be difficult. These models could support a parameter for each set of bay responsibilities though, like having more or fewer Operators assigned to bays 1 and 2 for example.

Pickers Assigned Bays and Find Item.fsm

Pickers Assigned Bays with Ports.fsm

pickers-assigned-bays-and-find-item.fsm (76.5 KiB)

pickers-assigned-bays-with-ports.fsm (77.6 KiB)

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LaurenK commented · Oct 09 at 06:01 PM

Hi Regan,

Apologies for my delayed response - I originally had a dispatcher for my operators but I tried to redo them based on how you have the lay out in your example but I think I have something mixed up since only my first two operators interact once the model gets going.

I do have the Bay ID set up to assign labels from my global table, can I build to what I have?

Thank you,

Lauren

CB Model B.fsm

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cb-model-b.fsm (225.2 KiB)

Regan Blackett ♦ LaurenK commented · Oct 10 at 08:38 PM

cb-model-b-alternative-approach.fsm

@LaurenK so to clarify you are looking for dedicated transports IN to the rack by bay? If so sorry I misinterpreted your question. I thought You were talking about transports OUT of the rack. In that case we need to know the Bay ID before the tasksequence is sent, so that you can choose the right operator based on the destination Bay ID.

Since you are putting the items into a tote in the Rack not into its slot (technically) then we will need to find the tote that is in the slot so we have a proper unload destination. From there we can get the slot's bayID property.

I've modified youre model a little bit to do what I think you want. We find the in-rack tote via the address scheme, find out what the bayID of that slot is, and then create a tasksequence for the right operator based on bay. They take the boxes out of the tote and once the tote is empty its destroyed.

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cb-model-b-alternative-approach.fsm (239.8 KiB)

LaurenK commented · 3 days ago

Yes, thank you! Apologies, I was trying to figure out the answer without using an example - still practicing navigating FlexSim.

I guess I was under the impression that I was putting the items into a tote, that was a labeled slot - is that part incorrect?

When I'm looking for the slot's BayID property, where is the best place to put it in my process flow? I think your example is what I am looking for. The only edit I'd add would be, in reality the boxes will come down and stop and the first associate will check the contents for any cartons that belong in their assigned bay - we don't have these on automatic rollers. Is that something I could also edit?

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Regan Blackett ♦ LaurenK commented · 4 hours ago

@LaurenK

|I guess I was under the impression that I was putting the items into a tote, that was a labeled slot - is that part incorrect?

I don't think this is incorrect. If the parts are put into a container that happens to be in a Rack what you did is really good. We just needed some way to match the items to the correct tote in the rack. So finding the BayID of the tote in the rack and matching that with the BayID the items want, is a fine way to go.

I modified your model again to allow for stopping on the conveyor. Basically, the Photoeyes are now permanently on a List and the Bays that they service are a label array. When the tote hits a Photoeye the items inside figure out what bay they want then query the List for a Photoeye that matches the tote current location and if that Photoeye has the right bay in its array of BayIDs. A task sequence is created for the Operator assigned to the bayIDs via a centerport.

Once all items at that location are taken away the tote starts moving again.

cb-model-b-alternative-approach_1.fsm

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cb-model-b-alternative-approach-1.fsm (244.7 KiB)

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