topic Re: Operator pick all orders at once in FlexSim Forum

Operator pick all orders at once

junyuan_s — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 14:55:12 GMT

I want the operator to follow the path, pick 24 random items in total from different racks at once, and then send to the combiner. Right now, after it picked up the first item, it went to the combiner straightaway and requested to go back to the next rack. I don't need the operator to go back to the startpoint when the picking process is over.

Thanks anyone who could help in advance.

picking.fsm

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

joseph_g3 — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 21:27:45 GMT

@Junyuan S

When you say that you want the operator to pick up the 24 items "at once", do you want all 24 items to be teleported to the operator at the same moment, or do you mean simply that he should pick up all 24 items while on his way to the combiner?

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

junyuan_s — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 22:46:09 GMT

Hi @Joseph Gillespie,

Thanks for you response. I want the operator to pick up all 24 items while on his way to the combiner. Just like in Walmart, we shop for different items and then go to the checkout counter.

Hope this help

Best@Joseph Gillespie

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

aaron_c — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 11:16:44 GMT

The problem is that as soon as that first item is created, the Dispatcher tells the Operator to deliver it to the combiner. This Task is created before the other objects are created (If you watch the Event List Viewer as you step through, you can see this happening). I would suggest restructuring and using Process Flow. You can push your items to a list and have the operator Pull, Load, and Unload all of the items at the Combiner.

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

joerg_vogel_HsH — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 12:38:27 GMT

The model looks good. There are some minor adjustment necessary. Very important is, that the pallet for the combiner is coming from input port 1

Also important is that the racks are allowed to release items. The Dwell Time function is not allowed to be set to "Do Not Release item". It is also necessary that items are available to fulfill the components list before the operator starts to collect the items. This is what @Aaron C said above.

The order of the component list defines the order of the input ports of the combiner. If you get an error that a destination isn't reachable, then the needed item wasn't available as the operator was at the network node which is connected to the rack or the racks' input port isn't at the right rank.

I attach an adjusted model variant of yours to show that the collecting works as intended.

picking-item-jv.fsm

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

joerg_vogel_HsH — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 12:41:09 GMT

You can set the Dwell Time function to "Do Not Release item", but then you must be asolutely sure, that the items are released when the operator starts collecting the items of the combiner components list.

Re: Operator pick all orders at once

junyuan_s — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:59:10 GMT

Thank you so much! Also, thanks to Aaron C for your help.