We are attempting to deploy the use of MES to our factory and have run into an issue while testing regarding resource assignment within a resource group. Our methods have all been prepared with an operation and resource group, but left the resource blank. When a job is created, it is defaulting to the first resource within the resource group which is an individual and not a location.
We intend on using MES Work Queue to report labor quantity in various cells. While testing, we were unable to report labor quantity as the resource on the job was not a location. While investigating the resource groups, it simply defaults to the first resource which is a person. Unfortunately the company has not done a good job keeping up with the resource groups, so there are all kinds of people who do not work anymore.
Within the same resource group we do have the locations set up where we’d like quantity reported, but because the job is defaulting to a person it is throwing an error in MES Work Queue. Is there any way to change the default resource within a resource group to a location rather than the first resource in the list or any other ideas?
I believe the default resource for a job/operation is the resource the job/operation is scheduled to run on.
Part of the process of starting an activity is selecting the resource the operation is happening on, are you not starting an activity before you report quantity?
What we’re running into is it won’t let you start activity because the resource that was assigned is not a location. If I filter by a job and resource group in Work Queue, all the sub-assemblies appear in available work and if I select all to start activity, it will let me report labor quantity on all. But say I’m cell A operator and I only need to start activity on one of those sub-assemblies, it locks you out because the resource assigned to that sub is not a location.
We do not currently use scheduling but we plan on implementing that later this year. Phase 1 is get labor reporting on the floor and phase 2 is using Epicor to schedule.
My recommendation would be to put all employee resources in their own resource group. Mixing people and machines in a resource group could cause issues depending on how you end up wanting to schedule.
Generally speaking, you don’t want to have both operator resources and machine resources within the same resource group… they’d be in different resource groups, and then you can assign an operation to require a resource from EACH group.
This is a TEDIOUS process to be sure, but if you eventually want Epicor to schedule your shop floor, this would be your first step.
That is a good point. At least in our Assembly resource group, we operate in cells so we have each cell as a location resource currently. But unfortunately, we also have people who are current and not current in it as well. Just a mess.
If you are set up similar to where I am, you are going to want to mark your Employees as the finite resource and not your machines. Especially if people are cross trained in the cell.
You can transfer resources between resource groups. It will take a little while to do manually, but worth it. Unless there is a way to do it in a DMT.
I’m going through the process of defining Operations, Resource Groups and Resources. I was advised by our Epicor consultant to set up Resources Groups for both Workforce and Equipment/Workspaces. That the Equipment/Workspace Resource Groups should have Location and Auto Move checked, and Input and Output Warehouse and Bin assigned. The Workforce Resource Groups should not have Location checked. When setting up Operations, assign the Equipment/Workspace Resource Group first (primary), and then the Workforce Resource Group. (This follows the examples laid out in the Training database.)
First off, when beginning a new functionality, set it up JUST LIKE THEY DO IN THE BOOK. Get it working the way they designed it to work. THEN, after you’ve gotten the hang of it, start riffing and see where you can take it.
Every Little League coach in history shows you how to hold the bat and plant your feet. Once you discover you’re Mike Trout you can break the rules… but not all of us are Mike Trout.
Another consideration. If you using Advanced Material Management (AMM), and you deploy it after creating the Resource Groups, AMM will force you to define Input and Output Warehouse and Bin values if the Location box on the Resource Group Detail tab is checked (without AMM deployed, it only allows you to define the Backflush Warehouse/Bin). If you set up your Resource Groups prior to deploying AMM, and you edit a Resource Group with “Location” checked, Epicor will not let you save edits to the Resource Group changes until you define the Input and Output Warehouse and Bin values, and the error message was somewhat cryptic.
The Training Database does not deploy AMM, so there is no example there, but our consultant advised setting the Input and Output Bin the same (this may be subject to change, and I welcome input by others).
They all recommend that. I have not come across someplace that has this in place, but I always imagined the In bin would be where an operator would check for work and the Out bin would be where a material handler could find the parts finished for moving to the next operation.
May I ask what your structure is for Op–>resource group for the cell structure? For any given sub-assembly, we’ve set the operation to be the cell name and letter, and resource group is Assembly (which currently has all the names of assembly employees plus the cell locations).
We originally wanted it to be the opposite, operation Assembly and resource group cell name but found an issue where if a sub-assembly is built on different assembly lines for different products, the resource group has to be common to both assembly lines for the part to show up in Work Queue.
We use this functionality. Some machines have fixed, most are dynamic. Generally, the first operation in a process has fixed input BINs for materials. The rest are dynaimc.
The vast majority of our manufacturing workflow goes like this:
Pull up an empty cart to the output side of a machine, produce until that cart is full, swap for another empty cart, repeat.
That full cart gets wheeled up to the input side of a machine for the next step in the process, when that cart is empty, get another full one, etc.
All of our carts are BINs, and in each area, they have an updateable dashboard where they dynamically set the input and/or output BINs on each machine in real time as they switch these carts out and move them around. It gives great visibility on what is where. It is especially helpful for the folks downstream in the process where they are looking to process specific jobs ahead of others.
We have a resource group for each cell with all machines in that cell as resources. We then have a single resource group for all employees. We use Capabilities to create a skill matrix that combines operations with a skill level and that skill level is another Capability that has employees behind it. The production floor workers can log into the Work Queue and pick themselves as the Resource to get their list of jobs to work on.
