About Efficiency

Efficiency helps to account for the fact that a batch on a certain resource group runs at a certain percentage of its theoretical outflow rate. A batch may run slower in cold temperatures so it would not be 100 percent efficient. In addition, you may choose to run a batch at a slower capacity rather than have the batch finish and then have to shut down a machine and restart it.

When batches are created, they are initially assigned the efficiency of their resource group. The outflow rate of a batch is determined by the following formula:

outflow rate = efficiency x theoretical outflow rate

For example, an efficiency of 0.8 and a theoretical outflow rate of 1000 pieces per hour means that the batch will have an outflow rate of 800 pieces per hour. The efficiency is only applicable for batches with a flow process, flow source or flow buffer method for which the outflow is specified as a rate rather than a fixed duration. If you are still running the same size batch, reducing the outflow will extend the batch duration.

Efficiency is not an attribute of the batch; it is a computed value from the rate. If you manually overwrite the rate/efficiency of a batch, this efficiency is not retained when the batch is reallocated. Instead, the resource group efficiency is used. With resource dependent rates, it is not possible to determine whether the rate is an override or not. When a batch is allocated on its current resource, the (possibly overridden) rate of the batch is used. If it is allocated on another resource, the resource group efficiency is used. To prevent a change in efficiency, lock the resource.

The efficiency of scheduled batches can be modified subsequently in the Process Batch entry window or when modifying efficiency.