How to assign a label to specific batch of products

[mc_bunji]

[ FlexSim 23.1.3 ]

Hello flexsim Gurus!

My source is to release flow items in batches of 50 flow items. I used the arrival style ärrival schedule to simulate this. Find the picture attached below.

From the source, The flow items are to be carried in batches to two different processors by a task executer.

I increased the maximum capacity of the task executer to 50 and it is able to carry 50 items.

The processors have been set to perform batch processing with the batch size set at 50. The processors maximum capacity too have been increased to 50.

However, the Task executer doesn't drop all of them on one processor. It shares them between the two processors. This doesn't produce the results I want because each processor is expected to process the items in batches of 50.

I'm thinking I can create an item list and make use of the push and pull function on the source and processors respectively.

However, to use this function, I will need the batches designated for processor 1 to have a specific label and those designated to processor 2 to have a specific label.

How can I set the first 4 batches to get a specific label and the next 11 batches to get their own label? This way all items in a batch will be dropped to only the processor that is pulling the label they were assigned.

[natalie_white · Accepted solution]

@MC Bunji,

You can add a label to your arrival table for the source.

I am not able to recreate the issue you described. If you need further assistance, can you post your model?

[natalie_white]

If I understand your question correctly, then it is not necessary to use a list. You can simply set a label on creation of the flowitems in the source and then use the specific item label pull requirement option on your processors.

[mc_bunji]

If I do it that way, the items will be assigned labels intermittently one after the other, as they flow into the system. I want the first 50 items to get a specific label different from the next batch of 50 items if that makes sense.

[mc_bunji]

Not as the default setting will behave by assigning the first item the lable 1, the second getting the lable 2 and so forth...

[natalie_white]

To clarify, you should assign the labels in your arrival schedule table of your source, like in this example model.

batch_labels.fsm

[mc_bunji]

Attached is my model. You can check it out for a better understanding.

Potatoes processing site.fsm

[natalie_white]

Thank you! Do you want your model to behave the same way my example model behaves? Or is there something else that I am not understanding?

[mc_bunji]

Can you please share it in version 23.0.3? I'm not able to open the model.

[mc_bunji]

I can't open your model. Can you please, share it in the version 23.0.3?

[moehlmann_fe]

As Natalie said, you'd specify the label values in the source table.

potatoes-processing-site-fm.fsm

With that said, if the items in the model are always handled in batches of 50, you should consider using single items to represent a whole batch.

That would simplify many parts of the model (processing times, loading/unloading as a batch, etc.)

For example, in your current model you use the Batch Processing option for the process times. What this option does is to set the process time of the first item to that of the batch and the process time of the next 49 items to 0. Since your processor is set to have a maximum capacity of 50, 49 items will finish the process instantly after unloading, whereas the first remains on the processor until the batch process time has elapsed. This also allows further items to enter the processor because most items finish instantly, leading to mixing batches and other, probably unwanted, behaviours.

Similarly, the items are still loaded/unloaded individually with the load/unload times of the transporter applying to each item. So the items actually start processing consecutively and not at the same time.

All of this would not be an issue if each batch was represented by a single item.

And even if the individual parts of the batch are needed at some point, you can still just use a separator to make copies of the object until you have as many items as the original item represented.

[mc_bunji]

Wooo! Thanks, Felix. This should work for me.

[natalie_white]

Hi @MC Bunji, was my answer helpful? If so, please click the "Accept" button at the bottom of the answer. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

If we haven't heard back from you within 3 business days we'll auto-accept an answer, but you can always comment back to reopen your question.