Representing Operator Vacations

[noah_zenker]

[ FlexSim 16.0.1 ]

I can use MTBF/MTTR and Time Tables as two ways of taking operators off of availability to represent vacations taken. However, I don't know of a way to to use either of those while satisfying the following operator logic needs:

1. Avoid taking vacation concurrently with other operators connected to the same dispatcher (Example: If I have two operators trained on a piece of equipment they would coordinate in real life to prohibit concurrent unavailability)
2. Only take a single two week vacation once per given year but have it be randomly timed (except for respecting the caveat of #1.)

Does anyone have a clever way they have tackled representing operator vacations? Even if a technique you've used doesn't meet my two specifications I'd be interested to hear how vacations have modeled by other users/developers.

[adrian_haws · Accepted solution]

Noah,

This is a method to use in order to prohibit more than one operator to be scheduled down at the same time, although it may not be ideal for your situation.

In the attached sample model, I used two Operators connected with a Dispatcher. The first operator transported items to the Processor from the Source, and the second was utilized to process items. I made a Group with the two operators, and used this group as the members of the MTBF/MTTR.

The next step is to add a Sub Flow where I acquired a Resource (the group of operators), entered a Zone with a max content of 1 (to restrict the number of operators on break), then had a Delay Task Sequence activity set to the desired amount of downtime, and to the state of “scheduled down.”

I then referenced the sub flow from the Down Time picklist in the MTBF/MTTR window.

With the parameters in this model (which include fairly frequent breakdowns) one operator can be off right after the other, but never two at the same time.

Hope this helps.

[adrian_haws]

Here is a way I went about the random two-week vacations (albeit with different time units).

Similar to the first answer, I created a separate process flow with a Schedule Source activity (with whichever statistical distribution is best for the arrivals), acquiring a Resource (the group of operators), entering a Zone with a Max Content of 1 and a Delay task sequence set to the "scheduled down" State and the entered value for Delay Time as preferred.

(See updated sample model attached).

[Flexinator]

Hi @Adrian Haws , i am using your solution approach at the moment. In your model i get the error: exception: FlexScript exception: Array index out of bounds at MODEL:/Tools/MTBFMTTR/vacation>variables/downfunction

what is that mean?

[Jeanette_Fullmer]

Hello @Flexinator,

Great work on using the forum to find solutions for your models. If you have a question about a post that is old and has already had an accepted answer, I recommend starting a new post and referencing this post in your new one.