Dynamic routing process

A dynamic routing process determines the set of jobs that will be instantiated when needed that are not part of the original work order. (Instantiate means to create a specific instance of something from a pattern.) The main difference between a dynamic routing process and a normal manufacturing process (i.e., other than dynamic routing) is their usage—a dynamic routing process cannot be used to create a normal work order, and a normal manufacturing process cannot be used to instantiate dynamic routing jobs. To identify a process that is to be used for dynamic routings, the Dynamic Routing check box must be selected on the Properties window of the MES Client Processes workspace tab. If the Dynamic Routing check box (highlighted in the following figure) is not selected, the process is a normal manufacturing process.

The dynamic routing process will contain all the additional operations that need to done to accomplish a specific sort of rework. Note that there is no special relationship between the dynamic routing process and the process (if any) that was used to create the work order in the first place.

The only other difference between dynamic routing processes and normal processes is that dynamic routing processes may have only one first operation, and only one entity for that operation. This restriction is needed so that the operator, when reporting production that will trigger rework, does not need to tell MES to which particular job the material to be reworked needs to go, as this is information they probably do not have. All the material to be reworked will go to the first dynamic routing job, which will be instantiated from the first operation of the dynamic routing process, and for the single entity to which it is scheduled.

The filter pane for processes contains a Dynamic Routing list (shown in the figure below) that can be used to filter processes by whether or not they are for dynamic routing. The Dynamic Routing list includes the following choices:

• All (the default), which will show both sorts of processes

• True, which will show only dynamic routing processes

• False, which will show only normal processes

For example, if a new dynamic routing process is being created and the Dynamic Routing filter is set to False, the new process will disappear once it is saved.