Set up production flows
This unit describes the components that need to be set up for production flows for lean manufacturing in Supply Chain Management.
Activities
The production flow is composed of one or more activities. The activity will define the detailed requirements of a kanban job. It is important to note that an activity should accurately describe the actual production conditions and lead times. To set up activities on a process flow, you will open the Production flows page, select an existing flow or create a new flow, then in the Versions FastTab, select the Activities button.
Single process activity production flow
The simplest form of a production scenario for lean manufacturing is a production flow where all operations are grouped into a single process activity in a single work cell. The demo data for Supply Chain Management contains an example of this type of production flow.
Creating a process activity
After a production flow version is created, you can define activities for the production flow. The activities are automatically associated to the version that they are created for.
The creation of a production flow activity is done with the activity wizard. The different wizard pages are displayed based on the selected settings.
All activity time types are added up to calculate the throughput time of the activity. Based on the due date of a kanban job, the throughput time is used to determine the issue time for the material. The queue times are only considered in scheduling, not on cost calculation.
For a single activity production flow, no additional interactions need to be completed. With the creation of the activity, it is now possible to create kanban rules that use this single process activity. However, to create kanbans, the production flow version needs to be activated.
Activity relations
If a production flow version has more than one activity, the sequence and structure of the activities in the production flow version must be defined before the production flow version can be activated. This definition is done by adding activity relations.
Predecessors and successors
The activities, process and transfer, are connected within the same production flow by using predecessors and successors to define the activity relations between the two.
Production flows will generally have predecessors and successors defined unless the flow has only a single activity. Predecessors are the upstream activity or activities that are defined for the selected activity. The activity relations that are configured for these activities can carry sequence constraints.
Successors are the downstream activity or activities that are defined for the selected activity. The activity relations that are configured for these activities can also carry sequence constraints.
When defining predecessors and successors, you only need to define either the predecessor or the successor. After a predecessor has been defined for an activity, the downstream successor activity is automatically defined for that step. If a successor is defined first, then the upstream predecessor is automatically defined.
Validations
Before kanbans can be created for activities of a production flow version, the version needs to be activated. The activation initiates the validation and activates the production flow version if no errors are found.
The validation checks the consistency of the activities and kanban rules of a production flow version. Validation can be done at any state before or after activation. For a single activity production flow, the validation is of low importance because there is only one process activity and no connecting activities to validate.
With any production flow, the validation check will ensure that the first and last activities of the production flow are selected to have Update on hand activated on pick or receipt. This activation occurs because material consumption and product supply of a production flow must be posted to inventory, as is the case with a production order. Therefore, a single activity production flow must have Update on hand activated on both.
You can only add or remove activity relations on production flow versions that are not previously activated.