Regarding Fixed Resource PF- Material Consumption & Replenishment

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SudheerReddy asked Dec 20, '19 tannerp commented Jan 9, '20

Regarding Fixed Resource PF- Material Consumption & Replenishment

I am trying to use Material Consumption and Replenishment module available in Fixed Resource PF for the following set up.

Each Processor has multiple parts consumption as explained below

For Processor 1 to complete the assembly, it consumes Part11-2parts, Part12-4parts, Part13-1part. In similar way for Processor 2 and Processor 3 as shown in the table.

But in Material Consumption and Replenishment Process Flow template for each processor there is only one 1 part consumption. So how to scale the below scenario to the available standard template. Please any feedback and suggestions helps me to achieve this.

Software Version:

FlexSim 20.0.0

fixed resource process flow

mcr.png (48.7 KiB)

inputdata.png (13.0 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2019-12-20T17:36:35Z

Benjamin W2 answered Dec 20, '19 Priyanka Bhoite commented Feb 22, '23

Hi @Sudheer R,

The easiest way to do this is to have 1 processor for each part and adjust their processing times accordingly. Please see the attached picture and model.

Let me know if this does not work for your situation. It will require some difficult and in-depth process flow manipulation if you want to use multiple parts on each processor.

materialconsumptionandreplenishment.fsm

matconsumptionandreplenishmentpic.png (92.8 KiB)

materialconsumptionandreplenishment.fsm (62.2 KiB)

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SudheerReddy commented · Dec 20, 2019 at 10:17 PM

@Benjamin W2

Thanks for the feedback and model. I will try the same.

Each instance has different StartLevel, DepletionUnit, ReorderLevel and ReorderQty. Instead of going to each instance and update the Process Flow Variables, could it be possible to update the Process Flow Variables through global table or any other way. As the instances increases, updating for each instance respective process flow variables is difficult.

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pfinstance.png (31.1 KiB)

SudheerReddy commented · Dec 20, 2019 at 10:58 PM

As shown in below image, when we have processor for each part and adjust their processing times accordingly for example

Processor 1: 10 sec process time is split into

2 sec for Queue1(Part11) , 3 sec for Queue2(Part12) and 5 sec for Queue3(Part13)

Processor 2 : 10 sec process time is split into

5 sec for Queue4(Part21) and 5 sec for Queue5(Part22)

Processor 3 : 10 sec process time is split into

3 sec for Queue6(Part31), 1 sec for Queue7(Part32), 2 sec for Queue8(Part32), 4 sec for Queue9(Part34).

Now the speed of the line is changed from 10 sec before adjusting to 5 sec after adjusting (max of above all adjusted times).Now the bottleneck process time shifted from 10 sec to 5 sec, so material consumption happens at rate of 5 sec. Which is faster than required.

Instead if I don't split, each Processor runs at 10 secs. So consumption happens at 10 sec for all parts.

Is my logic makes sense. If so how to handle this situation.

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mcp.png (82.0 KiB)

mcr.png (48.7 KiB)

Benjamin W2 SudheerReddy commented · Jan 02, 2020 at 04:28 PM

Hi @Sudheer R,

I don't know of a way to update the process flow variables with a table. However, there should be an easy way to fix your bottleneck problem. At the beginning and exit of each phase, add an "OnExit" trigger. For the first processor in each phase, close the input on that processor. On the exit processor in each phase, open the input on each processor. Just make sure the processing times on each phase of processors adds up to 10, and it should give you the same behavior.

Please see the attached model:

close-ports.png

materialconsumptionandreplenishmentports.fsm

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materialconsumptionandreplenishmentports.fsm (63.5 KiB)

close-ports.png (24.6 KiB)

SudheerReddy commented · Jan 09, 2020 at 12:22 PM

@anthony.johnson

Each instance has different StartLevel, DepletionUnit, ReorderLevel and ReorderQty. Could it be possible to update the Process Flow Variables through global table or any other way.

Any ideas or sample model for this

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tannerp SudheerReddy commented · Jan 09, 2020 at 08:45 PM

@Sudheer R,

I'm assuming you meant to tag @Benjamin W2 as he was the one who provided the answer, so I've notified him here.

To answer your question, you can update Process Flow variables just like other variables in FlexSim using a Global Table. There is a picklist next to each variable's value in which you can select Table -> By Global Table Lookup. It would look something like this:

There are additional options available to you, including token labels, array values, statistical distributions, and others, as listed here:

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pf-variables-with-table.png (7.6 KiB)

pf-variable-other-options.png (16.6 KiB)

Answer 2 · 2019-12-27T20:24:40Z

tannerp answered Dec 27, '19 tannerp commented Jan 2, '20

Hi @Sudheer R,

You might consider using combiners, as this is the purpose of the combiner object. You just need to specify how many of each product to "assemble" (combine) at each station, how many to reorder, etc. I did this using a Global Table, which also identifies the location of each queue.

The Process Flow I used is very simple and just listens to the content of each queue to make sure the parts are replenished when the content drops below the specified level.

I added some color to the boxes for fun, too.

This works as long as you can take the statistics you need from FlexSim and then break those out into more detailed statistics. For example, for every 10 seconds at Processor1, you know there were 2 seconds spent for Part11, 3 seconds for Part12, and 5 seconds for Part13, etc. This can be done in FlexSim or in Excel after running your model.

Hopefully this helps. I've attached an updated model.

material-consumption.fsm

part-reordering-table.png (6.2 KiB)

material-consumption-loop.png (11.3 KiB)

material-consumption.fsm (33.5 KiB)

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SudheerReddy commented · Jan 02, 2020 at 08:56 AM

@tanner.p Thanks for your answer.

I have gone through the model. Following is the question I have on the model you have shared

In a simulation it would be overkill to simulate each part as its own object. As model size increases number of parts will be high and each part pack quantity will be high for example bolts pack quantity is 1000. If each part as its own object as shown in the below image will be overkill. Instead if we can able to achieve material supply and demand as simple number quantities. Just like standard Fixed Resource Process Flow- Material Consumption & Replenishment where each part quantity is stored in a variable and when flow item enters a station required part quantity is reduced instead of creating a object for each part.

Is that possible?

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mcr.png (110.5 KiB)

tannerp SudheerReddy commented · Jan 02, 2020 at 04:25 PM

Hi @Sudheer R,

This is possible and you are correct in that it is much more efficient to go this route than to create thousands of 3D objects and use those. Rather than having me explain it in pieces, I recommend you review Process Flow Tutorial 4 in the User Manual as it explains all the details necessary to achieve this, including the incorporation of visuals to accompany the numeric values being pulled from. The key is using a label with the quantity and then using a Query to pull from that label quantity. Hopefully this helps get you started. If you run into any problems, feel free to post a new question.

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