Hello,
We are trying to access the Batch functionalities and possible usages on the industry equipment. Use Cases to perform “batching” operations.
Our question resides if is possible to cover with the out of the box functionality, or we will require some implementation. As it seems today the functionality is much more driven towards a single resource operation.
Use Case 1
For industrial equipment the usage of in batching in some processes, example: Furnace processes. The use cases, is normally the following steps:
1- User creates the batch with different Products (coming from different Production Orders)
2- Batch enters the Furnace, it performs operation 1 > operation 2 > operation 3.
3- The Batch tracks out from the Furnace and the Batch is not disassembled. It will require to go to another Quality workbench where the user will check if the parts are ok or not ok.
4- The user will decide to keep the Batch and redo the process, or disassemble the batch.
Keypoints:
- batch processes in different steps
- batch is not disassembled and not bound to a resource.
Use Case 2 (this case probably steers towards the Material Logistics, but is also a kind of batching operation)
For industrial equipment the usage batching in logistic processes.
1- User wants to ship a container between Areas.
2- The user creates a container with all the product and quantities (batch). And “Ships”.
3- The user receives the container and checks the digital content vs real content.
4- The user disassembles the batch.
Keypoints:
- batch movement between areas/steps
- batch formation without resource.
Regards,
Elder Hernandez
Hello Elder,
related to your UC 1, I also had the same requirement for semiconductor project and after talking to some colleagues, we realized it is not accomplished OOB. There is already a ER for this Customer Portal
Hi Elder,
Regarding Use Case 1, does the post trakout analysis and rework decision need to be done in another step? Couldn’t this be mapped for a Processed state decision with a rework or even a DC done at that state?
Hello, physically the workbench is separated form the Furnace and has a queue as it is making a testing with a hardness instrument. Also, once you trackout, the functionality automatically disassembles the batch (correct me if I am wrong) and they want to have the option to keep the batch and redo the process.
I was just checking if this could be handled in another way. So as OOB strategy the only one I find is to use a material as a parent, but that would mean that you would have to use “dummy” products to represent the set of products that can be mixed…
the other alternatives seem to be waiting for the ticket that is already open, or have some customization to rebuild the same batch for the next step each time you trackout…
not sure if anyone else has other suggestions.
I would only see three possible solutions right now:
- Transfer the materials to a new batch
On track-out (and move next), have a simple customization that would create a new batch in the following step and trasnfer the materials to that batch. One of the possible issues here is that the new batch is a new instance, meaning a different name from the previous one - it might or might not be a problem but at the very least a counter would need to be added to the original batch name. If this is ok, this would be my preferred solution considering the current system functionalities.
My suggestion would also to evaluate the cardinality and the number of objects/context used. There are some serious performance drawbacks in using the Batch entity if there are dozens of materials with related context objects like Data Collections (there will be 1 instance per material).
- Add materials as sub-materials to a Parent “Aggregator” material
This was mentioned by Leonor and something similar to this was already done in other projects. There might be some drawbacks here: define the Product of the parent material, OOB report requirements might be affected (e.g., if there is a common DC/CHK attached to the parent material, it would need to be replicated to all sub-materials).
We would also need to address some usability questions, such as when and how is this “parent” created?
- Using Containers
Containers can be used as an aggregator of materials but they have no OOB concept of flow/step traceability or bulk material operations, which would require very high extensibility effort to support all those cases.