Routing
This represents how an item is manufactured. A consumed item goes through a series of steps before it becomes the produced item. This series of steps is termed an operation. If there are multiple operations within a routing, then the sequence of operation is specified.
Resource carries out the operation. There can be more than one resource to carry out an operation. Details specified at the operation-resource level are:
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Time is taken to produce an item.
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Number of resources needed to carry out the operation.
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Setup time and wait time.
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Transfer batch quantity.
Setup Time
This is the time taken to set up the resource before carrying out the operation. This is a fixed time whenever a new item is loaded on the resource. This results in the increase of cycle time as now the total time to complete the operation is set up + runtime.
Wait Time
This is the time taken to unload the item from the resource after the operation is complete. This results in an increase in cycle time, as now the total time to complete the operation is runtime + wait time.
Yield
During an operation, there could be wastage or loss of items. Suppose, if we put 10 Kg of yarn into an operation, only 9 kg would come out and the other 1 kg goes to waste or lose. Here the yield is 0.9.
In the above case, quantity to be fed = 10 / (0.9 * 0.8) = 13.89
Transfer Batching
Transfer batching is necessary to model situations where the downstream operation can be started before the upstream operation is completed. For instance, if the upstream order is for 100, the downstream order need not wait for all the 100 to complete before it can start processing. Depending on the transfer batch quantity, the downstream operation will start as soon as the transfer batch quantity has reached. So if the transfer batch quantity is 50, when the upstream operation has finished making 50, it will pass this 50 to the downstream operation. Now upstream operation will be working on the remaining 50 and the downstream operation will be working on the new 50 that it has received. Transfer batch quantity allows the reduction of cycle time.
If no transfer batching is specified
If a transfer batching of 50 is specified
Interruptible
It is used to specify if a work order can be broken and loaded in both primary and alternate resources. If the interruption is false, a search for capacity is made on that resource which will entirely fulfil the work order. If the interruption is true, the work order is loaded as much as possible in the primary resource. If enough capacity is not found, then the remaining portion of the work order is loaded on alternate resources.
Entering Data
The Routing Screen helps define the Routings and the Operations attached to those Routings. The screen is divided into two parts. The first part defines the Routing and the second part the operations attached to the routing. Basic fields in the Routing master screen.
| Field | Description. |
|---|---|
| RoutingId | Name of the routing |
| RoutingDesc | Description of the routing |
Click on the Add button to add the Routing and Routing description. To define a set of operations, right click on the Routing, and click on Operation
Operation Resource
The Operations screen helps define the operations attached to a particular routing. The important fields are:
| Field | Description. |
|---|---|
| RoutingId | Name of the routing |
| Operation | Name of the operation |
| OperationSeq | Sequence of operation in the routing |
| ResourceId | Name of the resource |
| ProdRate | Continuous flow processes use ProdRate instead of RunTime. ProdRate is in terms of quantity/time. For example if ProdRate = 19, ProdRatePer = Minutes and Item Uom = litres then this operation simply produces 19 litres per minute. |
| ProdRatePer | The time unit of measure associated with ProdRate. For 19 litres per minute, this value would be Minutes. |
| RunTime | Time required for producing one unit of the item. For example if RunTime = 2, RunTimePer = Hours then this operation takes 2 hours to produce an item |
| RunTimePer | The time unit of measure associated with RunTime. |
| FixedTime | Fixed time to process irrespective of the size of the order |
| FixedTimePer | The time unit of measure associated with Fixed Time |
| NoOfUnits | Number of pooled resources required to perform this operation. This is specified only if the resource is Pooled |
| SetupTime | Setup time for this operation-resource combination. |
| WaitTime | Wait time for this operation-resource combination |
| TimeUom | Unit of measure for time |
| TransferBatchQuantity | This is the partial quantity moved from an upstream operation to start the downstream operation before producing all the required quantity at the upstream operation thereby reducing overall routing processing time |
| MinQueueTime | The minimum time material waits in the queue before being processed at this operation |
| Yield | This is the expected spoilage or material loss. The value of yield should be less than one |
| Interruptible | This indicates if a work order in an operation can be split and loaded on both primary and alternate resources. If true, the work order can be split and if false, the work order cannot be split. |
| Campaign | Campaign name associated with this route. The campaign refers to the pre-defined setup of resources. It can be populated here only if Campaign Master and CampaignResource tables are populated. |
| SpaceUtilizationPercent | Total batch resource space utilized in percentage if this operation is carried out |
| VariableCost | Variable cost associated to run this operation |
| LaborCost | Labor cost associated to run this operation |
| LaborCostUom | Unit of measure for the cost |
| NoOfPooledResourcesToUse | This is used to specify the number of simple resources to be used from a pooled resource to load an operation. |
| LoadPercentage | This is used when parallel loading of both primary and alternate resources is required. For both the resource percentage of the load should be populated, which cumulatively should be equal to 1. |
| OpMaxTimeGap | This signifies the time gap between two subsequent operations in the routing should be within the specified time limit. |
| SubResourceShift | This is a value in terms of time. This is used to calculate the total number of simple resources belonging to an aggregate resource to be used for a particular Operation. |
| SubResourceShiftUom | The unit of measure for Sub Resource Shift. |
| NoOfBatchForCleanUp | Items with multiple work orders could be scheduled continuously one after another so that setup is reduced. Sometimes, after scheduling to say 10 batches of work orders of the same items, there could be a need to do a clean up compulsorily which is like a major setup. This column defines after how many batches of the same items, do we need to do a clean up. |
| CleanUpTime | This column defines the clean up time after a certain number of batches of the same item is scheduled continuously. This needs to be populated along with NoOfBatchForCleanUp. |
| LoadQuantity | This is used in Planning for deciding how much quantity to be scheduled in the primary and alternate resource of a given work order. The same column is there in OperationResourceAlternate as well. The support work order quantity is 100 and the load quantity is 30, then 30 quantity will be scheduled in the primary resource. The remaining quantity will be moved to other alternate resources depending on what load quantity is specified in OperationResourceAlternate for each of the alternate resources. |
| SetupColor | Consultants can use this column to update the WorkOrderOpResPlan SetupColor column. The tool will not use this column to colour the Gantt in Interactive Scheduler. The tool uses the column from WorkOrderOpResPlan to colour the Gantt in Interactive Scheduler. |
| ScheduleColor | Consultants can use this column to update the WorkOrderOpResPlan SetupColor column. The tool will not use this column to colour the Gantt in Interactive Scheduler. The tool uses the column from WorkOrderOpResPlan to colour the Gantt in Interactive Scheduler. |
| DependentOperationSeq | By default, scheduling is done based on Operation Sequence. But there might be a case when one operation may not be dependent on the completion of the immediate previous operation sequence. For example, operation sequence 50 may be dependent on the completion of operation sequence 20. So as soon as operation sequence 20 is completed, operation sequence 50 can start. It need not wait for operation sequence 40 to complete. In this column, it can be defined that the current operation sequence is dependent on which upstream operation sequence. |
| DependentOperationStart | This works along with column DependentOperationSeq. This Flag decides whether to consider Dependent Operation Start Time or End Time. The value is True or False. If True, it will use Dependent Operation Start Time for scheduling the next operation. If False, it will use the Dependent Operation End Time. By default, it is False. |
| SetupTimeWeight | This is used in Scheduling to decide on the rules whether to pick primary or alternate resources. This column takes integer numbers. Suppose in the primary resource we have scheduled till 5th with item I1 and in the alternate resource we have scheduled till 2nd with item I2. While trying to schedule another work order with item I1, there is an option of continuing to schedule in the primary resource from the 5th onwards or scheduling in an alternate resource from the 2nd onwards. This decision is taken by taking the setup time weight value and multiplying it with the setup time incurred if we schedule in that resource. This value is then added to the last scheduled time. The resource which comes earliest will be the one to schedule the item. The higher the SetupTimeWeight, more the likely it will continue in the same resource and not go to an alternate resource even if it is available much earlier. |
| RouteLoadBalance | This is used in Planning. There could be multiple routings to produce the same item. If the routing has the same priority, then Planning decides the route based on which is least loaded. A single route will have multiple operations and resources. If sums the used capacity of the resource to decide which route is least loaded. This flag decides which resources in a route should be considered for used capacity. The value here is True or False. For infinite capacity resources, one might want to keep the flag as False. By default, the value is True. |
| StartSetupBeforeMaterialAvl | Whether we can start the setup before the material is available from the previous operation. The value is either True or False. If True, then setup will start before the completion of the earlier operation. |
| NonWorkingTimeForContSchedule | This flag will decide whether non-working time should be considered while calculating continuous time in Pull Push Scheduling. This works along with OpMaxTimeGap column. Suppose the 1st Operation completes at 2 pm. In the 2nd Operation, there is non-working time from 1 pm to 6 pm and OpMaxTimeGap is 3 hours. Then should we consider the non working time of 2nd Operation from 2 pm to 6 pm as part of the Time Gap or not. If the flag is True, the 1st Operation will not be adjusted and the 2nd Operation can be scheduled at 6 pm as the non working time is not taken as part of OpMaxTimeGap between the 1st and 2nd Operation. If the flag is False, the 1st Operation will be adjusted so that it completes between 3 pm and 6 pm. |
Validation
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RoutingId and Operation combination should be unique
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OperationSeq should be specified and it should be an integer
Operation Resource Alternate
Defines the alternate resources for the operation. An example would be if there are three press machines to model a Press operation, one of them could be made primary and the remaining alternates to this primary resource. The only additional fields to consider are specified below:-
| AltResourceId | Name of the alternate resource |
| Priority | Priority if there is more than one alternate |
Validation
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RoutingId, Operation and AltResourceId combinations should be unique
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Operation and OperationSeq should be consistent with what specified in Operation Resource
Operation Resource Additional
In manufacturing environments, the situation often arises where an operation requires, in addition to a primary resource, some additional resources. One example is tools or fixtures. These auxiliary resources are needed concurrently with the primary resources. These requirements are modelled as additional resources. Many times the additional resource is not used for the entire duration of the operation. It might be needed only during the beginning or end of the operation. Scheduling of simultaneous resources depends on the primary resource. When the primary resource is scheduled, the usage of simultaneous resources is automatically calculated.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| RoutingId | Name of the routing |
| Operation | Name of the operation |
| ResourceId | Which resource in OperationResource or OperationResourceAlternate, this additional resource needs to be used. If kept blank, then the additional resource is common for both primary and alternate resources. |
| AddResourceId | Name of the additional resource |
| OperationSeq | Sequence of operation in the routing |
| UsagePercent | This is the usage of resources relative to the runtime of the task. If the runtime is one hour, and usage_percent is .5, then this resource will be used for 30 minutes. |
| NoOfUnits | Number of pooled resources required to perform this operation. This is specified only if the resource is Pooled |
Validation
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RoutingId, Operation and AddResourceId combinations should be unique
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Operation and OperationSeq should be consistent with what specified in Operation Resource