I am simulating a machine that each product is loaded on a wheel and then index' s when all the stations are completed. I have the products going to each station but struggling to figure out how to make it index like a wheel. If I have 7 processing stations on the wheel. The wheel cannot index until all the stations are completed processing.
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It sounds like you're trying to model a rotary indexing table like in the image shown below:
Is that the case?
If so, there's not a default tool in FlexSim to do this, but you could use kinematics to accomplish the 3D aesthetic if you needed it. Otherwise, if you can do without the 3D aesthetic, I would just model it using processors in a circle. It will have all the same data and functionality, just without the visuals.
That is exactly what is it an here is the model I was working with the problem is trying to get all the products on the wheel move the same time. Each station will have a different cycle time and MTBF. I put a copy of the model below. Spent 4 hours on in it this morning I think it may be able to do it with opening and closing ports and sending messages but still pretty new to FlexSim and could not get it to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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@Tanya W,
Thanks for the feedback and for uploading your model. I recommend using Process Flow for this. You can use an Event-Triggered Source and Batch activity to simulate how the index table can't move until all the stations are done. I also used a Global Table to keep track of how many items are on the "Table". The table value increments at Bag Load and decrements at BAG OFFLOAD. Then we can use the table value to know what the batch quantity should be. For example, if there are 3 items on the table, the batch quantity should be 3.
I just developed a basic example of Process Flow. You may have to adapt it to meet your specific needs. Note that stations are often starved because the Bag Load Robot takes too long to fill the combiner relative to the process time of the various processors.
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