About Rates

Inflow and outflow rates define the processing rate (also called the working or turnover rate) of batch inflow or outflow segments expressed in units of the main product per hour. Rate is related to other batch segment characteristics by the formula rate = quantity / duration. You can enter the rate when creating a process step for the methods listed below; for other methods, duration and rate are deduced from coupled batches upstream and downstream.

 

Method	Theoretical Inflow Rate	Theoretical Outflow Rate
flow process	same as outflow	enter value
flow buffer	same as outflow	enter value
batch process	enter value	enter value
batch inline	enter value	deduced
batch buffer	enter value	enter value

 

Here is a brief guide to the variants:

•  The initial rate of an inline tank batch is the inflow rate during the period that the batch has no outflow. When the filling level is reached, outflow begins such that outflow rate = inflow rate <= initial rate, ensuring that filling level is never exceeded and a so-called bounded inventory simulation exists (see time links). Initial rate only applies to process steps using flow inline and batch inline methods.
• The maximum rate is the maximum outflow rate for a tank batch. It is checked with the function check schedule. Any conflict in the planning board can be signaled optionally. The default is zero, which implies that no checking takes place. You can specify maximum rates for batch process, flow pushed, flow buffer, flow process and flow pushed methods.
• The theoretical outflow rate is entered in the process step entry window for each alternative resource group. When batches are created, they are assigned an outflow rate equal to the theoretical outflow rate multiplied by the efficiency of the allocated resource group. Instead of an outflow rate, you can enter a duration.