Tokens not moving in sync in subflow.

Question

question

Kari Payton asked Aug 01 2016 at 4:58 PM Adrian Haws edited Aug 09 2016 at 10:17 PM

Tokens not moving in sync in subflow.

I have a subflow that releases 10 tokens to acquire 10 operators, delay operators, then release. The issue is that some of the tokens start to get delayed. I would like all of the tokens to move through the process together. Some get done early and move on to the next process and the ones that are "stuck" are delaying the process longer than it should take.

Software Version:

FlexSim 16.1.0

process flow subflow process flow to 3d acquire multiple resources move tokens together

tokensstuck.png (48.1 KiB)

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Adrian Haws commented · Aug 01 2016 at 5:10 PM

Hi @Kari Payton,

Could you attach your model for us to look at? Thanks.

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Kari Payton commented · Aug 02 2016 at 2:40 PM

@Sam Stubbs the problem still remains that the operators are running additional time. What I am trying to do is acquire 8 operators and have then go to the processor, run the processing time, and then release the operators to do other tasks. If I loop them they still have separate times they are processing even though it is the same time. Am I making sense?

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Kari Payton Kari Payton commented · Aug 02 2016 at 3:21 PM

NVM I accidentally put the assign CT in the wrong part of the process so the label was not being read properly. This should work. @Sam Stubbs Thanks.

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Answer 1 · 2016-08-01T18:07:18Z

Sam Stubbs answered Aug 01 2016 at 6:07 PM Sam Stubbs edited Aug 02 2016 at 3:37 PM

Without looking at your model I can't give you specifics, but I can maybe give you some general things that could be happening. One thing to remember is that Process Flow is not directly connected to the 3D model view. The 'tokens' of process flow are simply a marker that steps through and executes the logic of the process flow. Also the tokens each will flow through the process on their own. If you need to limit how and when the tokens can move. (For example you said that you wanted them to "move together") You can use batching activities, or zones or pushing/pulling from lists, or "wait for event" activities to determine how and when the tokens move.

In your description, when the tokens are hitting the delay activity, each token is going through the process individually. (So if you have a distribution on the time of the delay, each token is getting a different variability of that distribution, hence they are leaving the activity at different times) Again I'm not sure about your model, but you could also try having a single token that requests multiple resources rather than multiple tokens individually requesting resources.

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Kari Payton commented · Aug 01 2016 at 8:06 PM

@Sam Stubbs

could you please show me how can I have a single token to request multiple resources? The only reason I had multiple tokens was so I could request 10 resources for a specific process that linked to the 3D visual. Whenever I have tried using one token and acquiring multiple operators, during the travel flow, only one operator moves in the 3D space.

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Sam Stubbs ♦ Kari Payton commented · Aug 01 2016 at 9:32 PM

The quick answer is that you can have the Resource reference a group of objects, then in the Acquire Resource activity, you can select the quantity acquired to the number you want to use. This then creates an array of object references. You will then need to create a loop of some kind that loops through giving tasks to each member of that array. (Make sure that the "Wait Until Complete" box is unchecked for each task, otherwise they will execute the tasks one at a time.) Also prior to the loop, you can set the distribution wait time that you want to use on a label, and then reference that label when the objects hit the delay task in the loop. Then they'll all wait at the same time.

I've included a model example demonstrating this approach. However, having not seen your model, its hard to say if this is the approach you'd want to take.

multipleresources.fsm

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multipleresources.fsm (27.4 KiB)

Kari Payton Sam Stubbs ♦ commented · Aug 02 2016 at 1:35 PM

@Sam Stubbs Thanks for the example. I will also attach a model to demonstrate what I was trying to do. The first subflow is a stat distribution and like you said each one goes through a separate distribution so it's skewing the times. 1617-multipleresources.fsm

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1617-multipleresources.fsm (62.7 KiB)

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