Throughput vs time template missing

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Patrick Zweekhorst asked Feb 21, '19 Patrick Zweekhorst commented Feb 22, '19

Throughput vs time template missing

When I look at the Throughput templates I have the feeling we are missing a template. There is a Throughput template table and a throughput template bar chart. Also there is an option for throughput per hour vs time. The one that I am missing is just the normal throughput vs time.

Is there any reason behind this or did you just forgot this one?

Thanks

Software Version:

FlexSim 19.0.1

dashboards throughput template

Answer 1 · 2019-02-21T18:20:58Z

Jordan Johnson answered Feb 21, '19 Patrick Zweekhorst commented Feb 22, '19

The reason behind this is that it doesn't seem like a useful chart. Most throughput charts look like this:

If the process is more batch based, you might get something that looks like this:

Usually, when people try to get this chart, what they are really looking for is the rate. Try comparing the throughput rate using the previous two charts. At first glance, they appear similar. But the y (and the x) axis tell us that these are quite different rates. That makes this chart a deceptive and poor choice for analyzing rate.

If you were hoping to understand rate, you should use the Throughput per Hour time plot template. This template computes the throughput for the previous hour (or any time interval), and plots that vs time. This gives a history of rate vs time. If I use this template on the same model that produced the previous chart, it's a little more interesting:

Now the rate information is easy to see: 6 items a minute when the batch arrives.

If you want to get the overall average, or the total, I would not recommend time plots at all. Bar charts or tables are better for those kinds of data.

throughputvstime.png (11.1 KiB)

throughputvstimebatch.png (10.9 KiB)

throughputperminutevstime.png (9.3 KiB)

· 1

Patrick Zweekhorst commented · Feb 22, 2019 at 07:46 AM

Hi @jordan.johnson,

Thanks for your explenations. I can understand that most of the time the throughput template would not be useful since it is just a increasing line. I was more testing something in the model and wanted to take a quick look at throughput over time and thought why is it missing from the templates. You are correct that most of the time the rate is more interesting.

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