Further Pull Rules!

Following on from my previous question;

I have a situation where two combiners are pulling from a shared queue. One combiner pulls 18 items from the queue, whilst the other only pulls 2 items from the queue.

The problem I'm currently experiencing is that when the queue is low, the items are pulled one at a time hence keep getting starved

I'd like to make it so when Combiner 1 requires parts, it looks at the number in the queue and once the amount in the queue reaches 18, Combiner 1 calls "shotgun" on these, hence it is not starved; likewise, Combiner 2 can call "shotgun" on two parts when required.

I think a random variable "k" could be setup, which is increased by one each time a part arrives, then each combiner looks at this variable and decreases it by 18 or 2 each time to call "shotgun"... I just don't know how you'd do this in Flexsim!

Again, any help greatly appreciated!

Regards

May be try something similar to the last query regarding pull rules. You could control the input to the combiners using the onEntry trigger of the queue? onEntry check to see if the queue has 18 of type 1 and open combiner 1, vice versa for combiner 2.

Using the onExit trigger of the combiners close their inputs to stop them pulling in any more parts until instructed by the queue again.