In this post, we’ll explore how a recurring product customization within Deployment Services projects has evolved into a standard functionality - Batch Management - available in version 11.1.
Does it answer to all the requirements? Does it hit the nail on the head? We’ll see.
Intro
Before version 11.1, addressing batch management scenarios required project teams to create a custom solution.
While they ensured traceability and met functional requirements, they were time and effort consuming.
Introducing Batch Management
First things first. What is batch management?
Simply put, batch management groups and processes multiple materials simultaneously. It incorporates material-like operations such as track-in and track-out, while also covering batch creation, loading, and unloading processes.
Why Batch Management Became a Need
Let’s consider some of the general demands of a real project as an example, without diving too deep into context-specific requirements:
- Ability to group materials to be processed together and ensure that the track-in is performed for the entire group simultaneously, optimizing resource utilization.
- Materials in a batch might be in different steps or flow paths but share the same resource and recipe.
- Resources must be able to process multiple materials simultaneously.
- Loading and unloading materials from resources may occur in phases.
- The system must display the current batch state and the status of each top-most material within the batch.
- The system must assist users in creating batches manually, considering capacity and compatibility between materials.
A side note, for these requirements, the project leveraged significant factory automation with minimal manual and operator-oriented processes, so most shopfloor batches would be pre-formed to optimize equipment utilization.
There wasn’t a seamless out-of-the-box approach to address these concerns, and although we are just considering one project, it is not the only one. Batch management has become a common demand in SMT-related projects, but not only.
Batch Management Customization Before v11.1
Wait. Pause. Hold On. Why Customization? Wouldn’t Containers do the job?
Containers, frequently used in SMT and semiconductor industries for grouping materials, seemed like a natural solution. However, they fell short for batch management due to several limitations:
- Parent-Child Complexity: Containers may require aggregation into a parent container, complicating operations like docking without altering default behaviors.
- Limited Functionality: Material-like operations (e.g., track-in and track-out) were not applicable to containers.
- Lack of Transparency: Containers lacked information and process visibility crucial for batch management (consider the Resource View, for example).
So, to meet batch management needs before version 11.1, the solution often involved creating customized entities and logic, such as:
- Custom Entity Batch: represents groups of materials processed together and includes batch states.
- Custom Batch State Model: manages batch states regarding loading and processing
- Custom Relations: tracks the association and state of materials in the batch (e.g., not loaded, loaded, in process, processed, unloaded).
- Custom Logic: controls batch states and material-batch relations; considers restrictions on other entities, for example, resources to only deal with batch instead of materials.
While these customizations delivered results, they required significant time and effort and lacked standardization across projects.
Next, we’ll see the main functionalities of the out-of-the-box feature.
Batch Management Functionality
What value does version 11.1 add to the batch management requirements? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Version 11.1 introduces an out-of-the-box solution for batch management with features that eliminate the need for most customizations.
Batch Entity:
- Groups materials and containers to create a batch.
- Supports users in identifying compatible materials for a batch, based on step, product, or service restrictions.
- Incorporates a loading state model to reflect the batch loading process.
- Includes a system state to mimic the processing stage of a batch.
- Establishes clear relationships between materials and batches.
Impact on the Resource Entity:
- The possibility to configure resources to process batches, with resource views tailored to enhance the user experience.
- Facilitates batch creation, management, and tracking.
Customization vs Feature: The nitty-gritty
Now, let’s walk through the step-by-step operations, comparing how the project handled the customization versus how the 11.1 feature might simplify things.
It’s worth noting that the project’s customization was designed with heavy factory automation in mind. For this post, we’ll focus only on the manual workflow. Also, there are plenty of context-specific details that we’re leaving out to keep things concise and on point.
| Behavior | Project Customization | Batch Management V11.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Create Batch | - On the batch entity page, or via a customized button in the resource view, leaving the batch state on Created. | - On the batch entity page, or in the resource view, leaving the batch state on Created. |
| Assign Materials | - Materials can be assigned to the batch. - Saving the batch sets it as Ready. Further changes require a state update. | - Materials can be edited in the Created state. - Once Ready, the batch can be Released to production. Further changes require the batch to be unreleased. |
| Load Materials | - Materials are dispatched individually to mimic the loading process. Materials transition from Not Loaded to Loaded. - The batch state changes from Not Loaded to Loading. Once all materials are dispatched, the batch is Loaded. | - Loading process assumes factory automation; manual loading is unsupported. - If no loading is modeled, materials and the batch are Loaded once the batch is Released. |
| Process Batch | - When tracked in, materials and batch move to the In Process state. | - Same as Project Customization. |
| Processed Batch | -When tracked out, materials and batch move to the Processed state. | - Same as Project Customization. |
| Unload Materials | - Batch transitions to Unloading when the first material moves to the next step. | - Automated unloading only; if not modeled, all materials and the batch are Unloaded after tracking out. |
| Close Batch | - After all materials are unloaded (except those with on hold future action), the batch is closed and terminated. | - After processing and unloading, the batch is closed and dissolved. |
| Resource Batch Configuration | - Resource attributes define maximum materials/containers per batch and maximum concurrent batches. | - Configuration allows minimum usage settings and capacity limits, based on material’s capacity class |
| Container Relation | - Unloading one material, unloads all in its container. - Docking a container tracks in its materials. -All container materials in a batch must belong to that batch. | - Containers are optional unless required by the resource’s position unit type. |
Here are a few limitations I’ve noticed in how the v11.1 system handles certain requirements so far:
- The load and unload process for materials can’t currently be manually replicated in the system.
- A more advanced container-related behavior is needed.
- It is not possible to perform a phased track-in and track-out of materials within a batch.
- The Resource View displays information for a single batch at the resource.
- Batch information isn’t reflected in the material report or traceability view.
Check out the video below where we walk through the process of batch creation all the way to dissolving it using the Batch Management 11.1 feature.
Batch Management Video
Final Thoughts
This new feature brings numerous advantages, as it responds to the batch process generic requirements, leading to faster implementation times and minimizing the volume of customizations.
This was a brief introduction to Batch Management — taking us from outside the box to out-of-the-box.
If you’d like to learn more, check out the product documentation on the Batch Entity.
Author
Hi! My name is Sofia Rodrigues. ☺️
I joined the Critical Manufacturing family back in the striking year of 2020 as an MES Consultant/Functional Analyst. In 2023, I transitioned to the Product Documentation team, where I now focus on designing and creating content.
You can check me at LinkedIn
Skills: Functional Analysis | System Testing | User Training
