ATTENTION

This FlexSim Community Forum is read-only. Please post any new questions, ideas, or discussions to our new community (we call it Answers) at https://answers.flexsim.com/. Our new Question & Answer site brings a modern, mobile-friendly interface and more focus on getting answers quickly. There are a few differences between how our new Q&A community works vs. a classic, threaded-conversation-style forum like the one below, so be sure to read our Answers Best Practices.


flexsim.com

Go Back   FlexSim Community Forum > FlexSim Software > Q&A
Downloads

Q&A Using Flexsim and building models

  #1  
Old 02-12-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default Repacking

Hi everybody.

I would like to simulate a situation where a process would change the no. of WIP that a single pallet can hold.

E.g. a pallet which contain 10 pcs of raw material goes into a processor. During the processing, the size of raw material increased, so after the process a pallet can hold 6 pcs of WIP only, the remaining 4 pcs WIP would go into the next pallet.

should I simulate the above situation by a separator+combiner?

Kelvin
  #2  
Old 02-12-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default

And one more question, how can I create a flow item which contain pallet & material as separate object which can be separate by a separator and directly comes out from the source?
Thx.
  #3  
Old 02-15-2008
Martijn van Oostenbrugge's Avatar
Martijn van Oostenbrugge Martijn van Oostenbrugge is offline
Talumis, Flexsim Distributor, The Netherlands
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 71
Downloads: 12
Uploads: 0
Thanks: 44
Thanked 44 Times in 24 Posts
Rep Power: 268
Martijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to all
Default

It is not complete clear what you mean. Somewhere you need extra pallets at the process to manage your overflow. I've added a little model, which could answer your first question.
Attached Files
File Type: zip splittingcontents.zip (50.2 KB, 292 views)
  #4  
Old 02-18-2008
Martijn van Oostenbrugge's Avatar
Martijn van Oostenbrugge Martijn van Oostenbrugge is offline
Talumis, Flexsim Distributor, The Netherlands
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 71
Downloads: 12
Uploads: 0
Thanks: 44
Thanked 44 Times in 24 Posts
Rep Power: 268
Martijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to allMartijn van Oostenbrugge is a name known to all
Default

To answer your second question. It is possible to add and alter a flowitem in the FlowItem Library. Make a copy of a pallet item in the FlowItem Library and open the item in a tree (right-click on item in Library view). Here, you can add a sublayer with the ENTER. Then, also open the textured colored box for instance in a tree. Now, you can copy and paste the textured colored box in the node you added. With the space-bar you can add more boxes and copy a textured colored box in it. I've added the result in an example. Problem is, the locations of the items are at the same place at the moment. Of course, you can also alter this if you like. To conclude, it is quite some work.

Therefore, I would recommend to use a combiner, because it is actually one of the purposes of a combiner. If you have a situation which you would use very often, just collect them in a container and store it in your own library.

Martijn
Attached Files
File Type: zip ExamplePallet.zip (61.4 KB, 306 views)
  #5  
Old 02-20-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default

Thanks Martijn, my 2nd question is solved with the design of flowitem in tree.

For the 1st question, the case should be a pallet can hold more or less finished goods wrt the incoming material.

I attached a sample:

for the top line: packing size increased from 10 pcs to 15 pcs, I added queues between the separator and the combiner to store pallets and boxes, it works fine.

But I just wonder Can the queues be removed, but doesnt work in the middle line.

for the bottom line: packing size decreased from 10 pcs to 6 pcs, I used the method you told before.

In order to meet the reality, THE INCOMING MATERIAL packing size for different pallets are different, so there would be increasing or decreasing of packing size throught the process, so I would like to combine the top line and bottom line to a single "processor" which would increase/decrease the output packing size bases on the input packing size
Attached Files
File Type: zip reapck with more or less pallet size.zip (60.9 KB, 286 views)
  #6  
Old 02-28-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default

In addition, every machine in my model will change the no. of WIP a pallet can hold, so most of the "processors" are represnted by "separator + combiner".Thus there are much more flowitems since there are many cases of splitting and combining, which makes the simulation running very slow.

Is there a better solution for repacking?

Since I'm working in a printing company, for the simulation of the factory, I really need to consider the no. of WIP a pallet can hold b4 and after the process as the printed paper thickness would be greatly increased after each prcoess, and this will greatly affect the no. of pallet need to handle.

Regards,
Kelvin
  #7  
Old 02-28-2008
Steven Hamoen's Avatar
Steven Hamoen Steven Hamoen is offline
Talumis, Flexsim Distributor, The Netherlands
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Soest, NL
Posts: 854
Downloads: 43
Uploads: 0
Thanks: 391
Thanked 661 Times in 379 Posts
Rep Power: 684
Steven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond repute
Default

Kelvin,

Have you considered getting away from flowitems and simply create a pallet containing labels or a table containing information about the WIP. Use that information to determine process times and on exit of the processor determine the remaining WIP and change the labels/table accordingly.

The animation of the flowitem/pallet/order can be made completely seperate from the actual flowitem.

That way your model will increase in speed enourmously.

Regards,

Steven
  #8  
Old 02-28-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your suggestion. For storing the WIP level in a table, I have the following question:

After storing a WIP level, how to control the creation of new flowitem?
e.g. there are 2 cases:
1. combing pallets WIP into 1 pallets
2. splitting a pallet WIP into multiple pallets

For the ease to explain, consider each pallet hve a label "Q" stating the no. of WIP in that pallet , a table cell "W" stating the no. of WIP in an output pallet of a processor , and a tabel cell "C" stating the current WIP level

when pallet goes into the processor,

C = C +Q
WHILE (C >= W)
{CREATE FLOWITEM WITH Q = W;
C= C - W; }

I would like to know how to write a script to:
CREATE FLOWITEM WITH Q = W;

since there would be cases of combine or split of flow item when passing through the "process", am I right to use "processor" (not separator/combiner) for this function?

I would like to produce real no. of flow item after the processing coz I would like to consider the transfer of pallet and the pallet utilization in the model. Thanks

Kelvin
  #9  
Old 02-28-2008
Steven Hamoen's Avatar
Steven Hamoen Steven Hamoen is offline
Talumis, Flexsim Distributor, The Netherlands
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Soest, NL
Posts: 854
Downloads: 43
Uploads: 0
Thanks: 391
Thanked 661 Times in 379 Posts
Rep Power: 684
Steven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond reputeSteven Hamoen has a reputation beyond repute
Default

Kelvin,

I created a demo model. I hope you can do something with it.

The 1st source generates pallets with a wip label that has a value (set on the onexittrigger)

the processor adds that wip to it's own wip label (on the onentry)

When the pallet exits, the processor looks if the wip passes a value and then the first pallet from the pallet queue is released (by using openoutput) and the label on that pallet is set to the right amount of wip.
and ofcourse the amount of wip is withdrawn from the processors amount of wip

To turn it into a real pallet again I used the combiner and adapted the onentry rule that let you change the componentlist on bases of a table. It now does it on bases of a label.

This works if the wip per pallet increases. If you want to decrease the amount than on exit you determine how many pallets you want to release and use a for loop to open the output of the queue and set the right amount of wip.

As said I hope this helps you further.

Steven
Attached Files
File Type: zip repacking demo.zip (50.7 KB, 287 views)
  #10  
Old 02-29-2008
KelvinHo KelvinHo is offline
Flexsim User
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 129
Downloads: 18
Uploads: 1
Thanks: 44
Thanked 23 Times in 7 Posts
Rep Power: 171
KelvinHo will become famous soon enough
Default

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your demo model, but in the model cant refect the real situation:

1.As I would like to consider the pallet movement (even for the blank pallet), in the case less pallet size to more pallet size (e.g. 5 -> 10); as there is no update of the label for the pallets remained in the queue, the blank pallets cannot be identified and the pallets in Queue 3 will accumate only.

2.I amended ur model update every pallet label when there is output in the queue, but the another problem is I don know how to trigger the pallets with label "pallelsize" = 0 to come out the queue.
Attached Files
File Type: zip repacking demo2.zip (45.4 KB, 296 views)



All times are GMT -6.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2020, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1993-2018 FlexSim Software Products, Inc.