topic FlowItem Placement in a FlowItem with Process Flow in FlexSim Forum

FlowItem Placement in a FlowItem with Process Flow

king_ki_f — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 15:01:43 GMT

[ FlexSim 20.0.2 ]

Hello,

I'm trying to model a merging process where I need to take a FlowItem Tote 1 (contains a FlowItem Box within FlowItem Tote) and perform a number of tasks such as

Split the two FlowItems
Place FlowItem Tote 1 to a storage location
Place FlowItem Box (token.PolyBagItems) into a specific location in the rack

Within the specific location, there is another FlowItem Tote 2

I'm having issues with the 3rd step. When I'm trying to place the FlowItem Box into the specific location in the rack, the FlowItem Box (orange box in the model) is placed outside of FlowItem Tote 2 and I need it to be placed inside FlowItem Tote 2. Could someone explain how I can accomplish this please? I've uploaded my project below

merge-sample.fsm

Re: FlowItem Placement in a FlowItem with Process Flow

regan_blackett — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 15:40:02 GMT

It looks like you are using the Storage system API to assign a slot in the Merge Wall rack which means that the item will be placed in a slot in the rack, not inside an item in a slot in the rack. So for your Unload task the "Station" parameter has to be a reference to the tote that you have in the rack.

So you can either keep track of the target tote yourself on a label or find it using the Storage system API. It looks like your .assignedSlot call in the custom code might already be choosing the right slot, so you should be able to add this code to your custom code activity:

token.TrueDestination = item.assignedSlot.slotItems[1].item;

and then use the label:

token.TrueDestination

For the Unload "Station" Parameter. However I think this makes it so you effectively can't virtualize the tote in the rack

Re: FlowItem Placement in a FlowItem with Process Flow

king_ki_f — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 18:59:28 GMT

Could you explain what virtualize means?

Re: FlowItem Placement in a FlowItem with Process Flow

regan_blackett — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 19:13:22 GMT

The Storage System object in your model is configured to "Automatically Virtualize Items"

From the Manual:

"You can check this box to virtualize items. This means that when an item is placed in a slot, the item will be destroyed. The Storage System will preserve minimal information about that item, such as its spatial and color information. This way, the item will still be drawn. In addition, any labels listed in the Item Labels list will also be preserved. When you later need to access the item (perhaps to retrieve it from storage), the item will be recreated as soon as it is accessed."