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Object documentationRouting

 

A representation of how you process work on your floor. Typically, a routing is made up of a series of operations, also called routing steps. However a routing may include other steps, such as Hold or Scrap, or other routings.

Structure

Routings can have the following attributes:

For more information, see Routing Maintenance.

You can create and maintain routings in the following modes:

  • Graphical

    In a graphical mode, all the operations you have created are displayed in a tree list on the left of the screen. You create a routing by first dragging the operations onto the drawing area, and then connecting them with lines that represent the flow of work.

  • Tabular

    In tabular mode, the sequence of operations is displayed in the table. You create a routing by inserting the new table records representing the routing steps. You can further add new and remove the existing operations as well as change their order.

Routing Types

On the Main tab page in Routing Maintenance, you use the Routing Type field to classify each routing as follows:

  • Production

  • NC

  • Special

  • Disposition Function

  • SFC-Specific

  • Sample

Note Note

In NC Code Maintenance, the Disposition Routing tab includes all routings defined with the NC Routing and Special Routing type. The Disposition Function Routing type in Routing Maintenance is used by the system to define disposition functions (see Disposition Functions).

End of the note.

While Production routings represent your manufacturing processes, such as building a printer, Special and NC routings represent how you handle exceptions, such as a printer’s failure of a functional test. The purpose of a Special and NC routings is to process nonconformed SFC numbers sent to the routing from a step on another routing.

In addition to operations, Any Order Groups, and Simultaneous Groups, Routing Maintenance provides the following elements you can add to your Special and NC routings:

  • Hold steps

  • Scrapped steps

  • Done steps

  • Return steps

Return steps include returning to the following:

  • The step on the routing where the SFC number originally came from

  • Any other step

  • The previous step

  • Any other previous step

  • The next step on the routing where the SFC number originally came from

These steps are helpful when you create Special and NC routings.

See also: Routing and Child Tables

Nested Routings

You can use a nested routing as a step on your Production routing.

Note Note

The routing being created must not have itself as a nested routing otherwise the SFC number will be in a continuous loop.

End of the note.

Returning from a nested routing differs from returning from a pulled Special routing or from a Disposition routing. The following table describes the differences from the standard return:

Return To

Special Routing and Disposition Routing

Nested Routing

Original Step

Returns to original operation step

Treated as Return to Next Step

Next Step

Returns to steps after the original step

Returns to steps after the original step

Previous Step

Returns to steps immediately before the original step where the SFC number has already been processed. Under rare conditions, this may be multiple steps. For example, when the routing has 2 or more paths to the original step and the SFC number has been processed on both of those paths.

Returns to steps after the original step

Any Previous Step

Returns to any steps before the original step where the SFC number has already been processed

Returns to steps after the original step

Any Step

Returns to any step on the routing

Returns to steps after the original step

For more information, see Layering Routings.

Integration

In addition to the linear steps on a routing, you need to indicate where units go when exceptions occur, such as failing a test step on a routing.

This situation creates the possibility of multiple next steps at a point on the routing. For example, at a TEST step, if a unit passes the test, it is sent to the PACK step. If the unit fails the test, it is sent to the ANALYSIS step to determine why it failed the test.

There are two ways you can handle multiple next steps:

SAP ME ERP Integration

If you use the SAPMEINT component, see Transfer of Routing.

Example

An operator at the TEST step on RTR1 logs an NC code against an SFC number. This action causes the system to automatically send the SFC number to the first step on the NC routing, RTR2. When the SFC number completes the last step on RTR2, the system sends the SFC number back to the TEST step on RTR1.

Following is a Special routing named PMR. PMR is also the name of the first step on the routing. Because PMR is a Special routing, SFC numbers are never released to its first step. SFC numbers are never released to the first step on Special routings or NC routings. Instead, the system sends an SFC number to PMR only when an operator or machine on another routing logs an NC against the SFC number.

Because the nonconformance indicates that something is wrong with the SFC number, the operator at the PMR step is to determine the condition of the SFC number. When this operator completes the SFC number, the system displays a list of the possible next steps for the SFC number. The operator determines whether to scrap the SFC number, send it back to the original step it came from for retesting, or send it to a repair routing. In this case, the repair routing includes a retest of the SFC number, so when the SFC number completes the repair routing, the system sends the SFC number back to the next step on its original routing.

Note Note

If a Special or NC routing has a Done step and the Track Floor Stock system rule is set to True (the default), the SFC number goes into inventory when it reaches the Done step. If there is no Done step, the SFC number automatically returns to its original production routing.

End of the note.