Factory Properties - Reference

There are several factory object properties that contribute to factory layout design and analysis. The Factory Properties palette is divided into two tabs: Material Flow Object and Factory Asset.

Access: Factory tab > Tools panel, click Palettes and then click Factory Properties.

Material Flow Object Properties

Setting these properties up before creating a new layout can help reduce the amount of editing later on. See Changing Option Defaults for setting up default values.

Transportation Defaults

Property	Description
Transportation Type	List of transportation types used in the manufacturing process. You can define additional transportation types by clicking the Add button.
Travel Speed	Speed at which the transportation type travels between stations.
Cost Rate	Transportation cost per unit of measure
Load Time	Time required to load product on transport method.
Unload Time	Time required to unload product from transport method.
Directionality	Indicates material flow along the path.
Flow Type	Specifies if the material or product flow is continuous or discrete. Continuous: the transportation is continuously flowing, as in a motorized conveyor system. Discrete: the transportation is intermittent based on the means of transportation.

Operation Defaults

Operation Type	List of operation types used in the manufacturing process. You can define additional operation types by clicking the Add... button.
Processing Time	Amount of time required for the operation to complete one full process cycle.
Setup Time	Amount of time required to set up the equipment to run the operation.

Station Defaults

Identifier	A unique user-specified name for the station. If the identifier does not have a value and you export the layout, you will be prompted to resolve all missing identifiers.
Setup Cost Rate	Cost per unit time to set up the station. This is multiplied by the operation Setup Time for a specific job. The resulting cost is then summed to fixed costs to manufacture the product for that job.
Processing Cost Rate	Cost per unit time for processing at the station. This is multiplied by the operation Processing Time for a specific job. The resulting cost is then summed to fixed costs to manufacture the product for that job.
Uptime Percentage	The percentage that the station is available for operation. The value contributes to the Utilization calculation for this station. You can specify an uptime from 0 to 100%.
Energy Consumption	The power consumption rate in Kilowatts for a Station. The value is combined with the job processing time for the station to determine the power consumption for the Station.

Shift Defaults

Hours per Shift	The number of hours for a single shift.
Number of Shifts	The number of shifts available daily.

Job Defaults

Desired Production Rate	The number of parts produced per unit time (default is per work day).
Part Quantity	The total number of parts that are produced for the job.
Batch Size	The number of parts that can be transported per trip. For example: A job produces 100 parts (part quantity). Output from four jobs can be placed on a pallet for transport via forklift. The Batch size is 400.

Factory Asset Properties

Asset properties are defined when an asset is created. When you place an asset, you cannot edit the Summary or Project settings. You can, however, change Process, Layer, and Custom properties.

Model

These are the parameters defined for the selected model (for example, length, width, and height). Variants, if defined, appear in a drop-down list. You can adjust the values in the browser and click Update to see the changes in the layout. To override a pre-defined variant, click Enable Variant Controlled Parameters to enter a new value.

Summary

These properties cannot change on a placed asset.

Title	Asset title
Subject	Asset subject matter
Author	Asset creator
Manager	Manager of the project or workgroup
Company	Company name
Category	Asset category
Keywords	Key terms to identify this asset in searches
Comments	Additional comments related to this asset

Project

These properties cannot change on a placed asset.

File Subtype	File type; for example, dwf or ipt
Part Number	Part number of the asset. If you leave this blank, the file name is automatically assigned as the part number.
Stock Number	Stock number of the asset
Description	A brief description of the asset
Revision Number	File revision number
Project	Project name
Designer	Project or model designer
Authority	Signature authority
Cost Center	Cost center to apply to the asset
Estimated Cost	Cost of the asset used in the bill of materials and other cost calculations
Create Date	Today's date; click the calendar icon to select a different date.
Vendor	Manufacturer or supplier name if this is a third-party asset
WEB Link	Vendor link or other relevant Web site address

Process

Process Object	Check this box to designate this asset as a simulation object, and then select the object type: Buffer, Processor or Source. The fields that appear vary based on your object type selection.
Buffer	Buffers temporarily store items produced by a processor. Name: buffer name; for example, storage1 Capacity: how many items the buffer can store
Processor	Processors receive source materials or parts and perform operations on them. Name: processor name; for example, base assembly Description: processor description MTBF: mean time between failures for this processor and all of its operations; for example, 4400 hr indicates that, on average, this processor will run 4400 hours before failing MTTR: mean time needed to repair this processor after a failure; for example, 60 min indicates that, on average, it will take 60 minutes to repair Setup Cost Rate: setup expenses divided by the amount of setup time Processing Cost Rate: processing expenses divided by processing time Uptime Percentage: percent of time the processor is operating Energy Consumption Rate: number of items processed per unit of energy Processor Operation Name: name of the overall process model of which this processor is a part; for example, engine assembly Processing Time: number of items processed in the selected unit of time Setup Time: time required to set up the processor to perform this operation Sequential Operations: Run the operations in the sequence listed.
Source	Sources are raw materials or parts entering a factory workflow. Name: source name; example, metal rod Output Rate: number of items the source supplies in the selected unit of time Infinite Feed: indicates that an unlimited supply is available; if supplies are limited, leave this blank, and enter a value in the Total Number of Parts field Total number of parts: number of items available from this source

Layer

Name	Asset name
Layer	Assigned layer for automatic placement

Customizable

These are customizable properties created by the asset author.

Name	Property name
Value	Value based on data type
Type	Data type
Category	Property category

AssetTag

These properties store identifier information for the asset.

Asset Tag	Free-form text to display with the placed asset. Internet links are supported. Type the text in the field or click the ellipses (...) to open the Asset Tag window.
Extended Asset Tag	An additional free-form text field for asset information.

Descriptor

These properties store identifier information for the asset.

Descriptor	A descriptor can contain additional information about an asset; such as type, part number, flow rate, etc. and is added when the asset is created. A published asset can only have one descriptor. If an asset has variants, you can use an iLogic rule to create a descriptor for each variant.
Extended Descriptor	An additional free-form text field for the asset description.