question

Valentin M avatar image
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Valentin M asked tannerp commented

How to say to a robot to take part in queue 1st and if empty in a buffer?

Hi!

I am a beginner with Flexsim.

I have a queue which needs time to fill from the source. The process time of the processor is longer than the speed of the robot which means the robot has time to fill a buffer (queue) when the processor is busy.

I don't know how to say to the robot to take part in the buffer when the robot has to wait on the main queue.

I don't know how to put the priority on the processor. For now the robot fills the buffer even when the task on the processor has ended.

THe purpose is to simulate a takt time cycle with a buffer to respect this time.

I hope I have been clear.

Thank you

.cycletime-buffer.fsm

FlexSim 18.2.0
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cycletime-buffer.fsm (35.0 KiB)
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1 Answer

tannerp avatar image
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tannerp answered tannerp commented

@Valentin M, What I think is happening is that when the object arrives in the Queue, it checks to see if the processor is in use. If it is, the object is directed to the Buffer. Meanwhile, if the Processor empties before the robot can get to the object, then that same object still goes to the Buffer instead of the Processor. I hope that my explanation makes sense.

In order to have the robot put the objects in the Buffer immediately upon the Processor being emptied, you can insert a decide point into your Process Flow. Here's your updated model with that condition: robot-buffer.fsm

I'm curious to know when you plan to pull items from the Buffer to take to the Processor. Will that be a higher priority than the Main Queue? For example, when the Processor is empty and there are objects in both the Buffer and the Main Queue, which should be processed first?


robot-buffer.fsm (41.2 KiB)
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Valentin M avatar image Valentin M commented ·

Hi!

Thank you for your aswer!

I want that the robot takes an item in the buffer when there is no more items in the Main Queue. The source I want to simulate isn't ideal. It takes times to create items and this number varies. So it can happen that no item is available in the main queue.

The purpose is to have for example each 2 seconds an item into the process flow. Not in average. So if the main queue is empty the robot has to take an item into the buffer.

I hope I have been clear!

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tannerp avatar image tannerp Valentin M commented ·

I'm sure there's a way to do this with a less convoluted Process Flow, but here's an example of what you're wanting, I think. Let me know if this works for you.

Model: valentin-help-20.fsm

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valentin-help-20.fsm (45.7 KiB)