Changeover time

Changeover time refers to the time needed between batches on a resource. For example, you may need to clean the machine between running black olive oil and green olive oil. The time needed may differ if changing from green olive oil to black or from black to green.

The changeover time can be set as a standard time if it is always the same or it can be set as a variable time if it depends on other factors. A standard changeover time can be entered on a resource. A standard changeover time on a resource would apply to all batches run on that resource. This is defined in hours and minutes.

Variable changeover times can be set using transition rules or transition matrices. These take into account product sequence-specific durations of changeover times between two batches on an individual resource.

After transition matrices and transition rules are created, they need to be assigned to resources and then to process steps. It is a three-step process.

Automatic scheduling functions recalculate the sequence dependent changeover times after each modification.