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The main data template entities and their attributes are documented below.
Availability
Field/Column Description:
Name - this is the name of each shift pattern required for the operation. There can be as many shift patterns as required.
Day of the Week - the day of the week for each part of the shift pattern e.g. Monday, Tuesday etc
Start Time - the start time of each shift, or shift component e.g. 09:00:00 - 17:00:00 for a standard day shift with no breaks
End Time - the end time of each shift
Simple Example (no breaks):
Monday to Friday from 7am to 3pm (for day shift) with no breaks. This example may suit a standard shift for a continuous operation where equipment runs all day without stopping. Afternoon shift modelled also.
Please also see the Availability Section for management and modelling of Availability Templates, Shifts, Leave and Time in the software.
Equipment, Equipment Class and Equipment Availability
Field/Column Description:
Equipment Code - this is the code for the equipment used as an identifier, usually in the source system that maintains the asset register such as ERP.
Equipment Class Code - the Class that the equipment belongs to - see below.
Description - a description for the equipment that is used within the Scheduler
Equipment Classes are a way to define groupings of equipment for specific purposes. Classes can define categories such as "50t Injection Moulding", or "4hp Pump". These categories are then utilised when scheduling production orders that can utilise any number of the same equipment class to fulfil the equipment requirement. Equipment can belong to one or many classes.
In the Equipment Class template there are two fields - Code and Description. The code is a unique field and the description is used to describe the Equipment Class.
Equipment requires an Availability Template to be assigned to it. This allows each equipment to only produce when it is available to do so. To apply an Availability to a piece of Equipment use the following guide:
Equipment can have one or many different Availability templates assigned. e.g. if a resource changes from Day Shift to Night Shift, you can enter the start and end dates for each Shift assignment
Please also refer to the Equipment Section for details on how to manage equipment in the software.
Personnel, Personnel Class and Personnel Availability
Field/Column Description:
Personnel Code - this is the code for the personnel used as an identifier, usually in the source system that maintains the HR records such as ERP.
Personnel Class Code - the Class that the Person belongs to - see below.
Name - the first name and last name that is used within the Scheduler
Similar to Equipment Classes, Personnel Classes are categories of personnel used to group staff with similar attributes and skills for scheduling purposes. For example a person could belong to class Operator, and somebody with more experience could belong to the Senior Operator Class. Personnel can belong to one or many classes.
Availability of Shift templates can also be assigned to Personnel in a similar fashion to Equipment.
Please also refer to the Personnel Section for details on how to manage equipment in the software.
Materials and Material Properties
Field/Column Description:
Material Code - this is the code for the material used as an identifier, usually in the source system that maintains the Material and Inventory records such as ERP.
Material Description - the description or name of the Material.
Property Name - the property name, usually an attribute of the Material such as Colour, Type etc.
Property Value - the value of the property such as "red" for the colour property name
Similar to Equipment Classes, Personnel Classes are categories of personnel used to group staff with similar attributes and skills for scheduling purposes. For example a person could belong to class Operator, and somebody with more experience could belong to the Senior Operator Class. Personnel can belong to one or many classes.
Please also refer to the Materials section for details on how to manage equipment in the software.
Inventory and Inventory Orders
Field/Column Description:
Date - The date of the Inventory position. The system takes this date as a snapshot of the inventory at that time.
Material Code - this is the code for the material used as an identifier, usually in the source system that maintains the Material and Inventory records such as ERP.
Quantity - the inventory quantity at the date listed.
Unit of Measure - the unit of measure relating to the material inventory position
Arrival Date - the date replenishment orders are due.
Order Code - the replenishment order code.
Quantity Unit of Measure - the quantity unit of measure relating t the replenishment order.
The system tracks current inventory and then accumulates planned replenishment orders for each material type.
Please also refer to the Inventory section for details on how to manage equipment in the software.
Operations
Field/Column Description:
Type - the type of Operation as either Production, Maintenance, Quality or Material. The type is not mandatory and only used if you wanted to group different types of operations.
Code - this is the code for the Operation - for a Production Operation where you are making a product, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Description - a description of the Operation - normally the name of the Product or Process.
Operations are the key configuration item in the software - everything links to the Operation as it defines the Product, Process, Task or Function that requires scheduling. Below Routes, Bill of Equipment, Bill of Materials and Bill of Personnel all relate to an Operation Definition.
Please also refer to the Operations section for details on how to manage equipment in the software.
Routes
Field/Column Description:
Operation Code - this is the code for the Operation - for a Production Operation where you are making a product, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Route Code - for Products or Processes that have more than one method of execution, this Route Code defines the name of the Route. If there is only one, then it is usually the same as the Operation Code. For more than one you could have Route 1, Route 2 etc
Segment Code - the Segment Code represents each production step in the Route. Each Route may be comprised of multiple Segments that together form the multi-step production process.
Duration - if the Segment is a fixed-time based step (such as 1 hour) then the Duration filed is used and requires the Duration to be modelled as seconds. So for a 1 hr segment you would enter 3600 seconds.
Start Time - the start date/time for the throughput rate to apply
End Time - the end date/time for the throughput rate to apply
Quantity - if the segment relates to a throughput or rate based process then the speed is entered here i.e x number of units per hour.
Unit of Measure - the UOM relating to the speed e.g. units, bottles, cases etc
Unit of Time - seconds
In the above example there are two products. Product 1234 has 3 steps of production. This first is a fixed duration step of 1 hour, the second is a throughput process at a rate of 4.5 units per second and the third is a fixed time of 30 minutes.
Product A is a single step operation but it has 2 routes - each one at a different rate. his may occur where a product can be produced by 2 different equipment each running at a different rate
Routes are a sub-component of Operations and contain a lot of information about the time based activities that relate to a process. Routes are also closely associated with the concepts of Bills of Materials, Personnel and Equipment described below.
Operations Dependency
In a specific Route we are able to define the relationship between each Segment. This means that each Step of Segment in a route has a from-to relationship defined. We use the Operations Dependency template to define these stepped relationships in a manufacturing process.
Field/Column Description:
Operation Code - this is the code for the Operation - linked to the Operation Code in the Operations template, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Route Code - this is the code for the Route described in the Routes template.
From Segment Code - the preceding segment in an Operation/Route.
To Segment Code - the linked segment following the From Segment.
Bill of Materials
Fields Description:
Operation Code - this is the code for the Operation - linked to the Operation Code in the Operations template, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Route Code - this is the code for the Route described in the Routes template.
Segment Code - references the Segment in the Routes template.
Material Code - the material required for the Segment. A single segment can have multiple materials.
Material Use - materials are either "produced" or "consumed". The Use column should have one or the other.
Quantity - the amount of that material required for the Segment.
Unit of Measure - the unit of measure for the material used in that segment.
In the example above we are describing the steps the materials go through to produce a finished product. Product 1234 requires 3 steps, where each step consumes and produces a different material until at the end of Step 3 the finished product results.
Consumed materials such as Raw Materials and Work in Progress (WIP) is managed using the consumed and produced relationship.
Bill of Equipment
Field/Column Description:
Operation Code - this is the code for the Operation - linked to the Operation Code in the Operations template, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Route Code - this is the code for the Route described in the Routes template.
Segment Code - references the Segment in the Routes template.
Equipment Class Code - the equipment class required for the Segment. A single segment can have multiple equipment classes required.
Number of Equipment - the number of each equipment class required for that segment.
The above example needs 3 different pieces of equipment for each Step or Segment in the process for Route 1. The Bill of Equipment can have any number of equipment and classes assigned to each process.
Bill of Personnel
Field/Column Description:
Operation Code - this is the code for the Operation - linked to the Operation Code in the Operations template, it would normally reflect the Product Code or SKU code.
Route Code - this is the code for the Route described in the Routes template.
Segment Code - references the Segment in the Routes template.
Personnel Class Code - the personnel class required for the Segment. A single segment can have multiple personnel classes required.
Number of Personnel - the number of each personnel class required for that segment.
Utilisation - the percentage utilisation factor for the resource against that Segment.
Changeover Sets
If the Scheduling requirement requires the modelling of Changeover Times between products or processes, then the Changeover Sets template is required to quickly model the Changeover Matrix between materials.
Field/Column Description:
Changeover Set Name - the name you would like to use for the Changeover Matrix e.g. it could be called Injection Moulding Changeover as a definition of changeover activities between different injection moulded part types.
Default time - if there are no specific changeover times between material properties then the default time will be used in the system.
Property Name - the material property you want to model for each changeover type e.g Plastic Colour for Injection Moulded parts
From Value - the material property you are changing from e.g. Red Plastic.
To Value - the material property you are changing to e.g. White Plastic.
Time - the time it takes in seconds to change from one value to another e.g from Red to White.
The above example shows a plastic colour changeover relationship matrix. You will see that the changeover from White to White is zero seconds whereas White to Red is longer.
This matrix needs to be built for the material properties that have an impact on setup and changeover time.
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