Synchronizing Activities on Multiresources

Use

Using the synchronization procedure, the system creates blocks of activities on a multiactivity resourceor on a multimixed resourceduring the scheduling process. These blocks can be processed simultaneously as they are of equal length and they also have a further common characteristic.The blocks are created as the system schedules each activity to be newly scheduled on the multi-resource as follows:

If the desired start or finish date of the activity to be scheduled lies between the start and finish date of an activity that is already scheduled, is of the same length and has a further common characteristic, the system schedules the activity on the start date of this activity, assuming that sufficient capacity exists.
If there is not sufficient capacity available on this date, the system schedules the activity to be scheduled before the activity already scheduled in the case of backward scheduling or after the activity already scheduled in the case of forward scheduling. In both cases, no overlapping is allowed.

The system always schedules activities with different lengths or with different characteristics with no overlaps.

Note Note

For example, using the synchronization procedure, you can represent the loading of an oven. You can describe an oven as a multiactivity resource. As the oven can only be filled or emptied all at once, it has to be completely filled with products that have to be kept at the same temperature for the same length of time.Therefore, you can only schedule baking activities with the same duration and which have to be carried out at the same temperature. Baking activities that require either a different duration or which require the oven to be set to a different temperature can only be carried out either before or afterwards and overlapping is not allowed.

End of the note.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be fulfilled for the system to synchronize the schedule of a multi-activity resource:

You have permitted synchronization in the master data for the multi resources.
You have not overridden synchronization in the PPM.
You only use the multi-activity resource in the modes of the activities as the primary resource.
In the production process model, you must assign a setup key or a setup group to every operation to be carried out on the multi-resource.

Using the setup key or the setup group, you assign a certain characteristic value (for example, a certain temperature) to the activities of an operation. The same setup keys or setup groups mean the same characteristic values, for example, the same temperature. Different setup keys or setup groups mean different characteristic values, for example, different temperatures.
Note
Note that the setup key for multi-resources is used differently than the one for single resources.
- For single resources, the setup keyor the setup groupclassifies the setup statusof the resource.The system evaluates the setup status of the resource during setup adjustment or during setup optimization using the setup matrix .
- For multi-resources, the setup key or the setup group represents any value of a characteristic (for example, a certain temperature) you want to use to synchronize activities.
End of the note.

Dependencies

In certain circumstances, such as, changes made in parallel modes, the synchronization in planning can be violated.

In the alert monitor, via dynamic alert, the system informs you of this situation and of the start and end date of the period in which activities are not synchronized.

Here, in the alert profile, in tab page PP/DS under Alerts for Activities on a Resource you must have selected the alert Activity Violates Synchronization on Resource .