Dynamic routing code

A dynamic routing code is an arbitrary string of up to 40 characters that links the operation of the manufacturing process that requires rework with the dynamic routing process from which the jobs to accomplish the rework will be instantiated. Each operation of a process, and each job of a work order, can be assigned a dynamic routing code. When a job is created by instantiating a work order from a process, the operations' dynamic routing codes are used to set the dynamic routing codes of the jobs that are created from those operations, though the codes can subsequently be modified. If a job is to be capable of initiating rework, a dynamic routing code must be assigned to it, as the code is used to identify which dynamic routing process to use. This identification is needed because it is possible to require rework at multiple operations in a manufacturing process, and the process for the rework—the dynamic routing process—that is required at different operations might be different, because the nature of the product changes at each operation.

It is reasonable to ask why the operation ID is not used directly to identify the particular dynamic routing process used to handle rework, since it obviously has to include something that varies with the operation. While that would be possible, it can be easier to set up and maintain the correct linkages by referring to the operation indirectly via the dynamic routing code. There are two reasons for this:

• In addition to the appropriate dynamic routing process depending on the operation from which the rework is initiated, it also depends on the reason for the rework—that is, the particular problem the rework is to resolve, as expressed in the reason code given for production. These two factors—the operation from which the rework is initiated and the reason for the rework—are the minimum amount of information required by the system to choose which dynamic routing process to use. The choice can further be based on the item being made and the identification of the process from which the work order was instantiated.

• It is often the case that the same dynamic routing process would be used from multiple operations of a manufacturing process, given the same reason code, manufactured item, and manufacturing process. In this case, it is useful to have the indirect dynamic routing code by which to reference the operation. Instead of having to define dynamic routing processes for each combination of these four elements, the same dynamic routing code can be used for multiple operations, thus greatly reducing the number of combinations to be defined. It also allows for different manufacturing processes that use different naming conventions for operations to use the same dynamic routing process for rework without having to define the usage for each naming convention.

The following example shows how a single dynamic routing code called Deburring can be used to identify operations from multiple operations of multiple jobs, and to link to multiple dynamic routing processes through the use of different production reasons X and Y:

The dynamic routing code has a second function, which is to define the point in the manufacturing process to which reworked material is to be returned if it is not being returned to the very next operation after the one that originated the rework. Since an operation is defined as that which accomplishes a physical transformation in the product being manufactured, if the dynamic routing jobs involved in correcting a problem also accomplish an equivalent transformation, it might be desirable to skip one or more operations in the manufacturing process if the reworked material is returned to the work order from which it came, and the same dynamic routing code is used to identify the target operation wherein normal processing of the reworked material will be resumed. Since the reason we allow for a dynamic routing code in the first place is because the same rework may be initiated from multiple operations, there could be multiple points to which it ought to return. The rule is that the reworked material is brought back to the next operation after the one from which the rework originated that has the correct re-entry route code.

For example, the following diagram shows how a dynamic routing process that is originated from routing code A1 and uses routing code B1 as its re-entry reroute code would look if initiated from two different operations (20 and 50). In both cases, the reworked material is returned to an operation other than the operation immediately following the one from where the rework originated. In the case of rework originating from operation 20, it is returned to operation 40. In the case of rework originating from operation 50, it is returned to operation 70. But the same dynamic routing process (consisting of operations A and B) is used in both cases.

If there is no downstream operation with a routing code that matches the re-entry routing code, the material is returned to the operation immediately following the one that generated the rework. So in this example, if the re-entry routing code were C1, the material would flow back to operation 30 or operation 60, just as if no re-entry routing code had been defined.