Changing Sequence table over time

[antonio6vieira]

Hi everyone!

In the project I'm developing I need something similar to what was done on the Simbit "EntityFollowsSequence".

The difference is that I need to be able to change the destinations (update the contents of the sequence table) over time (the number of rows of the table can be fixed, although it would be ideal if they could be dynamically created).

Could someone please explain how it would be possible to do this? My edition is NOT Enterprise.

Thanks.

[zhongshuai]

I have no idea of how to change the table contents, but I will try to use SetNode process to route the entities. That could be nasty but you have a lot of freedom.

[dsturrock]

1) You don't have to consistently move BySequence. You can take detours off the sequence. For example you may normally travel A-B-C-D but if you fail at B you might instead move (off sequence) to E.

2) You can use SetRow to change your sequence or the sequence step the entity is executing.

3) {Advanced concept alert}Unless you are using Enterprise Edition, each cell in a table is a property (e.g. Row 5, Column 3 is a property), but the contents of a cell can be defined as a state. Since its a property you cannot change the definition of a cell during runtime, but if that cell definition is referring to a state, you can change the value of that state.

So you can create a model state of type NodeReferenceProperty called MyDest. Then in the destination column of the sequence table manually type in MyDest. Each time you execute that sequence step it will evaluate the current value of the state MyDest and send the entity to that location.

[ASagan]

Dave...

Did not know number 3.

Excellent

[Toon]

Hi David,

I am trying to get your option 3 to work in my model, as the solutions sounds brilliant. I created an Add-On Process that probabilistically assigns destinations to the Entity and by assigning the destination node to the Entity's State Variable MyDest.

In the Routing Logic, I've set the Initial Sequence to the sequence table called Routes that holds all possible routes. 

However, the entities now only follow the first sequence Routes (Input@LoadingDock9, Input@Sink_HTB), whereas Entities with the destination Input@Sink_RTM should follow the sequence Input@LoadingDock10, Input@Sink_RTM. 

How can I let the Entity follow a specific sequence from my Sequence Table Routes?

[dsturrock]

I have attached a simple model using model states to illustrate. I think it should work in a similar fashion using entity states.

First, I define the states:

Then use those states as Sequence destinations:

Until you provide each of those states a value, the Sequence will make no sense and the entity won't know where to go. So on the Source I use an Assign to initialize all the values. This will direct the entity sequentially through Servers 1-4, and then to the Sink:

Finally, just to illustrate the technique, on the output node of Server3, I interrupt the normal sequence by Assigning it to instead go to Server5 as its 4th step:

If you convert these states to Entity states instead (I was just lazy), I think it should work the same but allow you to selectively override any Sequence Step at any time.

 

 

UsingStatesInSequences.spfx

Edited March 30, 2023 by dsturrock
Added the model

[Toon]

Thank you Dave! Inspired by your approach, I defined two Node Reference State Variables for the Entity: EndDestination and NextNode. In the model Processes, I first determine the Entity State Variable EndDestination based on a DataTable with probabilities per destination node.

Then, at routing decision points, I have created processes that evaluate the EndDestination node and set the next node for the unity based on that.

 

Although it requires a bit of 'hard modeling', it works like a charm!

Thanks

Edited April 3, 2023 by Toon

[Rebecca Obasi]

I'm trying to do something similar to do this where an order has 4 different routes or paths it can go (My model currently doesn't have paths). I created 3 separate sequence tables and created a process logic depending on if a certain workstation is already processing an order/entity, to go through this sequence. For some reason, whenever it gets to the "set row" step, there is a table reference error mentioning "no entries found" if though in the process step, I specify which row to start the new sequence. What is the reason behind this error?

[dsturrock]

Without seeing the model, I might guess that it is a timing issue - perhaps the SetRow is not executed before the results are used. You might be able to discern that by stepping through the model Trace and Watch window.

[Rebecca Obasi]

Ok I can do a trace and see what I find. Also, I do have different entity/job types getting processed. In my routing tables, I do have the entities specified in the table. I'm trying to use the "ChooseAlternateSequence" simbit as a reference. Is it possible to do this if you have more than one entity type?

[Rebecca Obasi]

I used the "DashboardForScheduling" simbit as an example for this case. For the order that is using "FinishedGoodA" material, I want to change the sequence after the welding process is complete if both shape stations are not available. So, I created an alternative sequence table and referenced in the process logic I created. Whenever this happens, I get same type of error message. Do you think this is happening because the normal routing table is referenced at the source object?

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Rebecca Obasi
Wrong error message snippet. Process Logic snippets needed to be resized.

[Rebecca Obasi]

Could somebody help me with my previous post?

[jzhou]

Without seeing the model, it is hard to give advice...

[Rebecca Obasi]

Does the screen shots not helping? I made the changes from the "DashboardForScheduling" simbit in this case. I attached the simbit example with the changes that I made.

DashboardsForSchedulingExamples_RoutingsUpdate.spfx

[jzhou]

I don't see the DefaulteEntity has assigned any Sequence?

[Rebecca Obasi]

That's because there is a routing table in this case. That's how it was set in this simbit before I made the updates. I also I tried to set the "Routing Table" as the initial sequence for the entity and I'm still getting the same error.

 

[Rebecca Obasi]

Could anyone please help me with this?