Pull flow items if queue is empty

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question

Aaron Smith asked Sep 4, '18 tannerp commented Sep 10, '18

Pull flow items if queue is empty

Dear FlexSim community;

I have following problem that i have an Operator that should get 4 tote (flow item) and load them into a queue.

Then he should use those 4 flowitems in the following processor and refill the queue only if all 4 flow items where processed.

I tried to work with flow-priority but I could not solve the problem.

Please Help, thank you!

pull-if-empty-test.fsm

Software Version:

FlexSim 18.1.1

queue pull empty

pull-if-empty-test.fsm (7.1 MiB)

Answer 1 · 2018-09-04T21:27:21Z

Jeff Nordgren answered Sep 4, '18 Joshua S commented Sep 5, '18

@Aaron S3

Here is your model with the changes that I made. I changed some things on Queue1 and Processor7. I believe that was all the changes that I made. Take a look at the model and see if it now does what you are wanting it to do. If not, please give us more information on how it should work.

Thanks.

pull-if-empty-test-jn1.fsm

pull-if-empty-test-jn1.fsm (281.3 KiB)

· 4

Jeff Nordgren commented · Sep 04, 2018 at 10:12 PM

Ciao @Aaron S3,

Here is a version of @Joshua S's model that will also move the flowitem from Queue3 to Processor7. More like in the model you sent. Not sure if that's a big deal or not now you have two versions to choose from.

Thanks.

pull-if-empty-test-jn2.fsm

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pull-if-empty-test-jn2.fsm (293.3 KiB)

Aaron Smith commented · Sep 05, 2018 at 09:59 AM

Dear Jeff; dear Joshua.

Thank you both for the answer it works perfectly fine...

I just have now the problem/doubt that if I want to apply this logic to multiple (x10) assembly stations that process model would get to complex / and the Trigger would not work anymore.

Is there a setup that i could use you logic for multiple processes and operators (all separated, one operator per processor)?

Thank you in advance!

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Joshua S Aaron Smith commented · Sep 05, 2018 at 07:03 PM

@Aaron Smith I used assign label activities as a counter, so it runs through a block of code 4 times then moves on. It actually is not going to be hard to use this for multiple stations with an operator assigned to each one. I uploaded a model demonstrating 4 assembly setups that all use the same process flow.14192-pull-if-empty-test-jn2.fsm

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14192-pull-if-empty-test-jn2.fsm (318.7 KiB)

Paúl Alejandro R commented · Sep 05, 2018 at 06:08 PM

@Jeff Nordgren

Hello, I am trying to use the model you sent to Aaron S3. Of course, my model is different from the first one. I am not able to make it works. Please, Could you review it and tell me what is wrong. I have 3 Queues and 5 processor which process in batch. Processors 1, 4 and 5 have a maximun capacity of 30 and a minimun capacity of 20 units. Processors 2 and 3 have a maximun capacity of 10 and a minimun capacity of 5 units. Thanks.

model-example-pf-v15-autosave.fsm

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model-example-pf-v15-autosave.fsm (40.2 KiB)

Answer 2 · 2018-09-04T19:08:15Z

Joshua S answered Sep 4, '18 tannerp commented Sep 10, '18

See if this is how you want your process to flow, I added ProcessFlow to your model to control the Operator.14180-pull-if-empty-test.fsm

14180-pull-if-empty-test.fsm (290.7 KiB)

· 1

Aaron Smith commented · Sep 05, 2018 at 10:42 AM

Hi Joshua;
thank you for you solution. In my comment I am asking how to multiply this processes onto multiple operators and processes.
Furthermore I wanted to ask you why you are using the "Assign Labels" after every step, what does this affect?
Thank you and best regards.

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