Assembly Control

Line station variants and line station orders

When the order content on a specific line station is the same for multiple orders, that content is only stored once. This similar information is stored in a line station variant. The assembly orders only have a link to Line Station Variants. This feature reduces the data storage and improves performance.

Clustered line station orders

The material requirements for a line station for a day. A CLSO consists of user-defined buckets. The material requirements are combined for each bucket. In Assembly Control, transactions can be carried out per line station and per period, instead of per order. LN can combine the same materials for a specific period into one material line. The cumulated quantity is stored in the CLSO. This accumulation reduces the number of transactions that are necessary, because the transactions are performed for a specific bucket. CLSOs are used in assembly part allocation and in backflushing to combine materials for a line-station order for a day.

Assembly kits

A grouping or categorization of parts supplied to a line station is called an assembly kit. Two types of these can be used in LN: line station and product. Line station type assembly kits deliver supplies to a specific line station. The assembly kit is an order-dependant set of components that is determined by the product configuration and is delivered to the shop floor warehouse for the relevant line station.

Product type kits support only Order Controlled/SILS supply from a warehouse that supplies a shop floor warehouse by warehouse transfer. With this kit type it is possible to assign an assembly kit to a specific end item or an assembly line combination.

Partial freeze

Assembly orders can be partially frozen, this means that depending on the position of the assembly order in the process, some parts of the assembly order will no longer be refreshed. The frozen parts of the order can still be manually changed.

Other parts can still be refreshed by linking a time fence to a line segment.

Multicompany assembly

In many mixed-model-flow companies, the assembly process is performed over multiple companies that have their own logistical data set. These companies can have several assembly lines in different logistical companies. A generic subitem is assembled on a supplying line and supplied to the main line on which the final end item is assembled.

Line sequencing and rule types in Assembly Control

Assembly orders generated by Assembly Planning can be sequenced by using the sequencing engine, resulting in a line mix and line sequence. During this sequencing process, line rules are taken in to account, such as clustering assembly orders based on items characteristics, or blocking assembly orders based on capacity rules.

Manual change of the sequence

You use a control panel to manually change the generated sequence. You can move orders to a different position in the line or swap the positions of two orders

Inventory check

An optional inventory check can be performed. A list of problem parts and orders having shortages can be displayed.

Work instructions

For each operation, work instructions can be printed. This is handled through process-triggered workflow. The user can partially determine what type of information is printed on these instructions.

Material supply

Assembly Control distinguishes internal and external supply:

• Internal supply is the movement of assembly parts from a main warehouse to the line.
• External supply is the movement of goods from a supplier to the line.

From pulling materials from supplier of warehouse to the correct destination triggers can be used. For some supplying methods these triggers can be based on events in production.

Different supplying methods can be used and are defined per item/shop floor warehouse combination.

• Time phased order point

  The supply is triggered by a SIC run for the shop floor warehouse involved. When the time phased inventory drops below a certain point, material supply must be performed.

• Order controlled/batch

  Material supply is performed anonymously for multiple orders simultaneously based on triggers in the assembly process.

• Order controlled/supply in line sequence

  Through this method, you can supply items as part of a kit. Material supply is performed separately for every assembly order based on triggers in the production process, even though a single trigger can be used to generate kit supply for a number of consecutive orders in the assembly schedule.

Time-horizon-driven material supply

Instead of initiating material supply based on process triggers, this can also do this based on time fences. Material supply is initiated for a line station order when that line station order coincides with a predefined time fence. Several time fences are defined to control the generation and update of supply massages.

Closed loop

Assembly Control call-offs are stored in sales schedules and sales releases. These releases (shipping and sequenced shipping schedules) are communicated to the supplier through EDI. Additionally, a unique reference per kit, station, and part is included in that information. At the supplier's system, this information is stored in sales schedules and sales releases. After sending the parts, they can be received by reference ID.

Progress overview per line segment

A planner is responsible for a segment and can be linked to a specific segment. All information related to assembly orders will be visible per segment planner.

The status/progress overview per segment shows orders on the segment based on line sequence whereby toggle mode is available to show the orders in various modes.

Progress overview per buffer

A control panel is available on which the schedule orders per buffer are displayed. You can use the toggle function to select different overviews.

Progress overview per line station

Similar to the progress overview per buffer, the progress can be monitored per line station. This can be used to report which line stations contain work for an order.

Processing Trigger Definition

In mixed model flow production environments, many activities are based on the progress information of individual orders. When an event selected by the user occurs for an order on a certain line station, another activity can be started. In the system, process triggering covers the automatic start and execution of a process based on an event.

Processing backflushed hours

The calculation of the man and machine hours that must be backflushed differs for high-volume and low-volume. For high-volume situations, backflushing is based on the rate specified for a line and the number of employees. In low-volume situations, backflushing is based on the duration of every operation and the number of employees required per operation.

Line surcharges

During the assembly process, line surcharges can be booked. Surcharges booked on an assembly line are:

• Assembly line for line station based on transaction processing
• Assembly line and generic item for order-based transaction processing

WIP transfer

WIP transfers between lines are supported and the following steps are distinguished:

• Generation of a WIP transfer warehouse order line
• Issuing of the WIP from the last line station of the line
• Receipt of WIP on the first line station of the next line

The Assembly Line Supervisor Workbench is used by the assembly line supervisor to execute the various tasks that often require just-in-time resolution for the problems. The workbench also enables the supervisor to execute daily tasks from a location. The objective of this workbench is to provide visibility of:

• Assembly orders in the assembly process
• Late deliveries
• Component shortages