K-in-M Restriction

Definition

You can use the K-in-M restriction to restrict a characteristic to a maximum quantity within a certain interval, such as a maximum of three out of five vehicles have air conditioning.

Example

As a result of the assembly team leader’s experience, you know that the production load in summer is very evenly distributed if a maximum of three out of five vehicles are equipped with a petrol engine. Therefore, you define a K-in-M restriction with this condition for the object dependency:

Engine = “Gasoline”

According to the current demand program, however, the percentage of diesel vehicles falls from September which is why you then want to produce four out of five vehicles with a petrol engine.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

The first period of validity for the restriction starts on the 1 ^st June 2001 in the first shift and is valid until the second period of validity starts on the 1 ^st September. Initially, the second period of validity is valid to infinity.
In the first period of validity, a maximum of 3 out of 5 vehicles in the sequence should be equipped with petrol engines.
In the second period of validity, a maximum of 4 out of 5 vehicles in the sequence should be equipped with petrol engines.
The restriction has not been given a “hard” weighting but it has been given a high one as in individual cases other sequences may also be produced. Therefore, the weighting “2” has been entered in both periods of validity.