Limit Cartons in Rack, put on conveyor when "full"

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LaurenK asked Sep 25, '24 LaurenK commented Nov 8, '24

Limit Cartons in Rack, put on conveyor when "full"

Hi Team,

Currently, my model shows totes coming down the conveyor, then the operator will take the cartons from within the totes and place them accordingly on the rack inside totes. Is there a way to put a limit on the number of cartons in the rack?

I'd like to get the operator to take the tote from the rack once there are 15 cartons inside and place the tote (completed order) back on a conveyor to take it to the sink. In reality it will be processed in another section of the warehouse so the sink will signify the end of the simulation. Once the completed order is taken from the rack, I'll need the operator to grab an empty tote and replace the location so orders can continue to be placed in the rack.

Is this possible? Let me know if any clarification is necessary. I can also attach my model.

TIA!

Software Version:

FlexSim 24.1.0

rack completed order

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Logan Gold ♦♦ commented · Oct 31 at 07:09 PM

Hi @LaurenK, was Sam Stubbs'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.

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Answer 1 · 2024-10-02T16:09:42Z

Sam Stubbs answered Oct 2, '24 LaurenK commented Nov 8, '24

It seems like this would be an issue that would best be resolved using some kind of list logic. Have an order fulfillment token / process flow looking to "pull" orders that have 15 items, and then push that complete tote onto another list, so that your operators can "pull" the completed tote and send it downstream. Would something like that work for your situation?

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LaurenK commented · Oct 07 at 01:44 PM

Hi Sam,

right now, I do have a pull and push list set up - should I add to them or are you thinking I'll need another subflow?

Model attached for reference! CB Model A.fsm

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cb-model-a.fsm (221.1 KiB)

Sam Stubbs ♦ LaurenK commented · Oct 22 at 11:08 PM

I don't know if this is feasible, but rather than creating the totes in a custom code, create them via process flow tokens, then each of those tote tokens would be pulling 15 items: On the other side you also have a list that represents all the items that are being placed in the totes, and it would be partitions by totes, so that the tote token is pulling from this list based on that tote partition. Once 15 items are pulled, you push the "full tote" to another list, and you can have operators looking to pull full totes to then move them to the next process.

Does that make sense?

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LaurenK Sam Stubbs ♦ commented · Nov 08 at 08:00 PM

Apologies for my delayed response, thank you again for your help.

I think this makes sense but I do have a custom code because each token is receiving an order number that should match with what I have on the rack. Is there a way I can add to the custom code that once the tote on the rack has fifteen orders filled, an associate should come and take that order to place it back on the conveyor?

CB Model C.fsm

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cb-model-c.fsm (244.6 KiB)

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