Refreshing and Freezing Assembly Orders

Start Manufacturing > Assembly Planning > Refresh and Freeze Assembly Orders (tiapl3203m000).

Use this session to update assembly orders in Assembly Control for product variants that are present in Assembly Planning. Optionally, the session can freeze assembly orders that fall within the freeze time fence.

Note
  • You can start this session only if your current company is defined as master company in the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session.
  • The differences between the creation and the refresh of assembly orders can be summarized as follows: The planned offline date of the product variant is not evaluated against the assembly order time fence, but against the refresh time fence. The assembly order can be updated partly meaning that some segments only are updated. Line station orders (LSOs) that were frozen are not updated. LSOs that fall within the freeze time fence of the segments can be frozen after the line station orders are updated.

Assembly orders are refreshed only if the the following criteria are met:

  • The Assembly Status in the Product Variants (tiapl3500m000) session is Planned.
  • The To Be Deleted check box in the details of the Product Variants (tiapl3500m000) session is cleared.
  • The Planned Offline Date in the Product Variants (tiapl3500m000) session precedes the refresh time fence of the roll-off line. The refresh time fence is defined for each assembly line in the details of the Assembly Lines (tiasl1530m000) session.
  • The Assembly Line Structure Status of the roll-off assembly line, which is displayed in the Assembly Lines (tiasl1530m000) session, is Actualized.

  • The item has the following characteristics:

    • The item type is Generic.
    • The item is Serialized.
    • The item's item ordering data exists.
    • The item ordering system is FAS.

If you select the data in the current session by zooming to the related sessions, only those assembly lines, product variants, and generic items that meet these criteria can be selected. The time fences and planned offline date do not influence the selections you can make.

Refreshing an assembly order refreshes the LSOs. The current session can also freeze the LSOs, which means that changes in the order content are no longer automatically processed for these LSOs. Frozen LSOs can be changed manually only in Assembly Control. LSOs are frozen if the following conditions are met:

  • The Freeze check box is selected.
  • The line segment start date, which is determined when the assembly order is sequenced, falls within the freeze time fence of the line segment of the LSO. The freeze time fence is defined in the Line Segments (tiasl1540m000) session.
  • The previous segments, that is, the segments closer to the start of the assembly line, are already frozen.
  • The LSO is sequenced. Sequencing is carried out in Assembly Control for each assembly order. For each company a separate assembly order exists.

To understand the refresh process, you must understand the role of line-station variants (LSVs). Assembly orders are made up of LSOs. The actual order content of the LSOs is stored in LSVs. LSVs store the assembly parts and operations that are required for a specific line station. LSVs can be reused, which means that the LSV can be used for other assembly orders if these orders require the same assembly parts and operations on the line station concerned. This way, the LSVs reduce unnecessary data and enhance performance. Each LSV is identified by a unique code.

The refresh of assembly orders is a complex process, because much data must be combined. The flow of this process can be outlined as follows:

  1. Based on the selection of the product variants in the current session, the product variant structures are generated. Refer to the online help of the Generate Product Variant Structures (tiapl3210m000) session for a detailed explanation of this process. Note that the product variant structure is generated only if the External Product Variant Structure check box is cleared in the details of the Assembly Planning Parameters (tiapl0500m000) session. If this check box is selected, LN uses the current product variant structure.
  2. Assembly order information is retrieved from Assembly Control. Line segments that are already frozen are not considered for the refresh of the assembly order. LSOs that are not sequenced cannot be frozen. For LSOs that are not frozen, the LSV codes must be retrieved.
  3. The line structure is browsed, starting from the end of the roll-off line to the start of the supplying assembly line. While browsing the line structure, the assembly parts and operations that are related to an engineering module are determined. This information is used to gather information for the comparison and/or creation of LSVs. This information is taken from the flattened assembly parts and operations, and is evaluated based on effective dates and units. The required materials and operations are stored for each line station.
  4. For each line station, a unique LSV code is calculated that identifies the required materials and operations for that line station. Then, LSV codes are compared with the codes of the LSVs that were already used by the LSOs. If, for a particular LSO, the LSV code that is just calculated differs from the code that was already present, an update is required. Something in the assembly parts and/or operations was changed.
  5. The assembly orders are refreshed, which means that the LSOs are updated with new or other LSVs. If necessary, new LSVs are created and sent to Assembly Control; otherwise, existing LSVs are used.
  6. If all LSOs on an assembly line were frozen, the Frozen check box, which appears in the Product Variant - Assembly Lines (tiapl3520m000) session, is selected. If all assembly orders for the product variant are frozen, the Assembly Status in the Product Variants (tiapl3500m000) session is set to Frozen.

After the assembly orders are refreshed and/or frozen, a completion report is created.

Click Make Job to add the current session to a job to run the session in batch mode.

To refresh and freeze assembly orders, complete these steps:

  1. In the Product Variant selection range, select the product variant. Ensure that the Freeze check box is selected. Click Refresh.

  2. Ensure that the status of line station orders is set to Frozen.