Setup time

The setup time can be described either through a distribution or in a table. The one used is selected with the radio buttons a the top of the setup time editor, see image to the right.

Setup of an object is done when a variant different than the last processed one enters the object and the start of the processing will be delayed until the setup is finished.

Note: For assemblies it is the Assembly identity that determines what variant the assembly will be treated as.

Distribution ↑

How to setup a distribution is described under statistical distribution. The distribution used for the setup time should model setup time variations that occur due to variations in the actual execution of the setup.

Since this distribution will be used for all variants being setup on the object, it will imply some restrictions for the modeled process. The process that the object models should be a process with a variant mix where all variants have very similar setup times.

Note: These statistical distributions should ideally use settings based on distribution fitting of historical production data of the process being modeled.


Table ↑

Defining the setup time in a table/matrix will enable each shift from one variant to an other to have its own setup time. See table cells for details on how to enter a distribution in a cell.

The setup time table is edited under table in the setup time editor, see image to the right. Each pair of row and column in the setup time table belongs to a variant. The matrix should be read as follows:

  1. Find the row containing the variant last processed on the object.
  2. Find the column of the variant that is about to be processed on the object.
  3. Now the intersection of these holds the setup time that will be used.

Note: The diagonal of the setup time table represents a setup from one variant to the same variant and will not need setup and the gray color indicates that it can't be edited.

Add variants: Variants are added to the setup time table (right gray frame) by selecting them in the left frame and pushing .

Remove variants: Variants can be removed by selecting rows in the setup time table and pushing .