Related Machine - Allocating Jobs to Machine
Introduction
Often a production process can be done on one of many presses or machines. For example, when a company has multiple of the same press or folder.
This is where the ‘Related Machines’ concept comes into play.
By default an operation is linked to a single press or machine.
By linking machines with the same capabilities together, the All Jobs, Pre-Production and Production boards can be used to swap a process from the quoted machine to a ‘related machine’.
Workflow
From the All Jobs, Pre-Production and Production boards, when one or more jobs are ticked, the ‘Allocate Machines’ option will show:
Clicking this option will return a list of operations on the selected job that are linked to a machine that has related machines linked to it
(any operations that only have one machine option will not show in the list as there is no machine to change it to):
Clicking an operation will list all jobs that have a related machine option.
Using the checkboxes to select the jobs opens access to a dropdown for the machine selector.
Select the new machine to allocate against the selected jobs and click the ‘Allocate Machine’ button:
You'll see the job updated to "Folder 2".
Additional Details
To help with selecting the related machine to swap an operation to, some fields contain a ‘hover’ that displays additional details on the operation:
STOCK SIZE
The hover on the stock size displays the sections sheet qty and the make-ready time, run time and the total time of the selected operation:
JOB SIZE
The hover on the job size displays the job qty and the make-ready time, run time and the total time of the selected operation:
SECTION
The hover on the section field displays the job description details:
Setup
Access
By default, only users with the role of ‘Planner’ have access to allocate machines.
This is controlled by an internal setting. If you need additional user roles linked, please contact support
Linking Machines
This is done using the ‘Inherit Production Path from’ field against the press, guillotine or machine. Always link the additional machines to the primary machine used for quoting.
Presses
Presses are more complex to setup than guillotines and machines.
‘Inherit Production Path from’ is set on the press ‘Details’ screen:
We recommend setting the presses up differently depending on whether you have the Capacity Planner module or not.
Set Up Presses Without Capacity Planner
When you do not have the Capacity Planner, floor staff will use the Production Board to manage their work lists.
With this workflow, configure a separate press for each press and workstyle.
Example setup of multiple presses.
Below we have two 20” 4c presses. We create a (1) and (2) for each press option (Sheetwork, W/Turn, W/Tumble, etc):
For the second press (and any other additional presses of the same kind),
link back to the same workstyle from the (1) press using the ‘Inherit Production Path From’ field and leave the ‘Capacity Plan As’ field blank:
Also, for the second press (and any other additional presses of the same kind), set ON the options to ‘Hide from Production Preferences’ and ‘Production Only’.
This will reduce the number of paths generated when quoting, as only 1 press is required for quote pricing. This will speed up the quote calculation process:
When allocating jobs to a different press, you will only see options for the same workstyle as configured in the press links.
So, when changing a W/Turn, only other W/Turn options will display:
Press operators use the ‘Production Board’ to filter their work list by machine/workstyle options:
Set Up Presses With Capacity Planner
When you have the Capacity Planner, floor staff will use the Capacity Planner Board to manage their work lists.
With this workflow, we configure MASTER presses for ‘planning’.
A master press is required for each press you have (these
are not used for quote pricing).
We also configure WORKSTYLE presses (these are used for quote pricing). We only need a single one for each workstyle (Perfect, Sheetwork, W/Turn & W/Tumble).
Example Setup of multiple presses.
MASTER - Below we have three 40” KBA presses. We create a MASTER version for all three.
WORKSTYLE - For the Perfect, Sheetwork, W/Turn, W/Tumble options, we create these just the once and have these linked to ‘Capacity Plan As’ the base (1) press.
These are only used for quoting calculations:
Type of Presses
- Master Presses - used for planning purposes only
- Workstyle Presses - used for calculating at a quote level.
Master Presses
These presses are used for planning purposes only (they are not used when calculating quotes).
First MASTER Press setup - Press (1):
Details – Leave ‘Inherit Production Path From’ blank:
Additional Master Press setup - All additional master presses:
Details – Set all other master presses to ‘Inherit Production Path From’ the press (1). This sets all job to default to ‘Press (1).
All Master Presses
Options – Configure as below.
As these presses are not used for quoting set to ‘Hide fron Production Preferences, and ‘Production Only’:
‘Workstyle’ Presses
These presses are used for calculating at a quote level.
With the options such as Perfect, Sheetwork, W/Turn, W/Tumble, leave the ‘Inherit Production Path From’ blank and set the ‘Capacity Plan As’ to all link to the master (1) press:
All Workstyle presses
Options – Configure as below. Only ‘Active’ to be checked ON:
When quoting, only the ‘Workstyle’ presses are calculated:
When ‘Allocating’ machines, you will see the default MASTER press with the ‘WORKSTYLE’ below.
This allows you to always see what workstyle the section requires:
When a section is selected, the list of presses available is a list of the MASTER presses:
Changing the press updates the MASTER and retains the WORKSTYLE:
On the Production Board, you can filter to the press and use the ‘Machines’ field to see the workstyle:
When using the Capacity Planner, you view by press, not by workstyle.
Allocating to presses prior to capacity planning will default to the selected press:
Guillotines and Machines only require the single ‘Inherit Production Path From’ file set:
GUILLOTINES
MACHINES
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