Work Centers

Internal Table Name: WorkCenters

Simulation: Currently only used with Production Processes in the Simulation problem type.

Name

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterName

Type: Short Text (100)

Enter a unique name for your work center.

Site

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: SiteName

Type: Short Text (100)

Enter the site where this work center is located. When using work centers in process modeling, there are cases in which the work center can be located at either the source or destination site, based on the type of process. See Work centers in process modeling for additional information.

Type

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterType

Type: Short Text (50)

One of Existing Work Center, Potential Work Center.

This field enables you to specify whether this is an existing work center or a potential work center. Along with the Status, this field will determine which of the fixed startup cost, fixed operating cost, and closing cost fields will be incurred during the network optimization run.

Default: Existing Work Center

Fixed Operating Cost

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterFixedOperatingCost

Type: Short Text (255)

Fixed Operating Cost allows you to specify operating costs for a work center. These costs can be different for different levels of throughput. In this field, you can enter a value or select the step cost that defines the relationship between operating capacities and operating cost. If you enter a cost value, note that the default throughput basis is Quantity and output will be reflected in terms of Quantity.

You create the step cost using the Step Cost Definition and Step Costs tables. For example, create a Step Cost Definition such as the following:

And create the associated Step Cost records:

This step cost definition indicates that there is an initial operating cost of $10,000 before any product is produced. When the capacity is more than 5,000, the operating cost increases to $20,000. To set a maximum capacity on the Work Center, enter a value for Maximum Capacity. You can use "INF" when creating the step cost using the Step Cost Definitions and Step Costs tables, or entering the value directly in Fixed Operating Cost (such as <0|85000><50000|INF>. This effectively acts as a maximum capacity and is a hard constraint. Please note that when creating a step cost in Supply Chain Guru X using the Step Cost builder on the Fixed Operating Cost value, a value of "INF" is not valid as the Cost value on the last step.

For Work Centers, the capacity is often limited in terms of time, such as 1600 HR. The units of measure for throughput level are determined by the following inputs in order:

• the Fixed Operating Cost in Work Centers.
  • If a step cost is applied, the Step Basis in the Step Cost Definitions table determines the Throughput Basis.
  • If a numeric value is entered for the Fixed Operating Cost, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity". If you want to report utilization in terms of time, you can define the Fixed Operating Cost in a format such as <0 HR|10000>. The comma (,) and semi colon (;) are also supported for the value separator.
• If there is no Fixed Operating Cost applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Maximum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.
• If there is no Maximum Capacity applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Minimum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.

If none of these values are defined, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity".

Network Optimization uses the value in Step Period in the Step Cost Definitions table to determine how to calculate the fixed operating cost:

• If Step Period in Step Cost Definitions is set to “Horizon”, then fixed operating cost is calculated based on the total throughput level across horizon.
• If Step Period in Step Cost Definitions is set to “Period Length”, then the fixed operating cost is calculated based on the throughput level at each period .
• If Step Period in Step Cost Definitions is set to “Day”, “Week”, “Month (30 Day)”, “Quarter (91 Day)”, or “Year”, then the fixed operating cost is calculated based on the throughput level at each period while Minimum Quantity is adjusted by the ratio of the “length of each period” over the Step Period duration.

When using Time as the throughput basis, there is a default constraint on the throughput and it is limited by the length of the period in hours. For example, assume you have monthly periods. The throughput of the work centers has to be less than or equal to (30)*(24) or (31)*(24) depending on the specific month. This constraint provides an upper bound on the work center throughput. This constraint is ignored when the "Ignore Work Center Hard Time Constraints" option on the Modeling Options tab of Network Optimization Options is checked.

The Fixed Operating Cost is reflected in the Total Fixed Operating Cost in the Network Summary output tables.

Fixed Startup Cost

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: SiteFixedStartupCost

Type: Short Text (255)

Fixed Startup allows you to select a Step Cost Definition for a potential work center opening at certain levels. In this field, select the step cost that defines the relationship between startup capacities and startup cost. You create the step cost using the Step Cost Definition and Step Costs tables.

For example, create a Step Cost Definition such as the following:

And create the associated Step Cost records:

This step cost indicates that before any products can be shipped, an initial expenditure of $10,000 must be invested. In order to get capacity to more than 5,000 units, an initial expenditure of $20,000 is needed. For capacity to be greater than 7,000, an initial expenditure of $25,000 is required.

Fixed Closing Cost

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterClosingCost

Type: Number Short Text (25)

Enter the monetary cost of shutting down the operations of this work center. In an optimization, closing cost will be included if a work center with the type Existing Work Center is closed.

The Fixed Closing Cost is reflected in the Total Closing Cost in the Network Summary output table.

Default: 0

Expansion Only

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: ExpansionOnly

Type: Bit

One of Yes, No. (Actual database values are 1,0.)

If set to Yes, then the current period throughput capacity level can only be sustained or increased to a greater throughput capacity in the later periods. This applied to the Optimized Status, meaning that if the work center has an Optimized Status of "Open at Level 2" in Period_001, it cannot have an Optimized Status of "Open at Level 1" in a later period. The throughput can be any value within the step level. This prevents the model from reducing the throughput to a lower capacity level (as defined in the Fixed Operating field's step function) in later periods.

If set to No, the capacity levels can vary up and down period to period.

Default: No

Minimum Capacity

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: MinimumThroughput

Type: Short Text (100)

RNE Eligible

Enter the minimum capacity that must be handled by the Work Center. This is a minimum constraint, not a conditional minimum. Enter a value, then optionally select a quantity, weight, volume or time unit of measure. If you do not select a unit of measure, the default Quantity Unit Of Measure from Model Settings is used.

The units of measure for throughput level are determined by the following inputs in order:

• the Fixed Operating Cost in Work Centers.
  • If a step cost is applied, the Step Basis in the Step Cost Definitions table determines the Throughput Basis.
  • If a numeric value is entered for the Fixed Operating Cost, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity". Keep in mind that 0 is a numeric value and will result in a basis of "Quantity". If you want to report utilization in terms of time, you can define the Fixed Operating Cost in a format such as <0 HR, 10000> or enter the name of a Step Cost Definition that uses Time.
• If there is no Fixed Operating Cost applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Maximum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.
• If there is no Maximum Capacity applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Minimum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.

If none of these values are defined, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity".

Maximum Capacity

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: MaximumThroughput

Type: Short Text (100)

RNE Eligible

Enter the maximum capacity that can be handled by the Work Center. Enter a value, then optionally select a quantity, weight, volume or time unit of measure. If you do not select a unit of measure, the default Quantity Unit Of Measure from Model Settings is used.

The units of measure for throughput level are determined by the following inputs in order:

• the Fixed Operating Cost in Work Centers.
  • If a step cost is applied, the Step Basis in the Step Cost Definitions table determines the Throughput Basis.
  • If a numeric value is entered for the Fixed Operating Cost, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity". Keep in mind that 0 is a numeric value and will result in a basis of "Quantity". If you want to report utilization in terms of time, you can define the Fixed Operating Cost in a format such as <0 HR, 10000> or enter the name of a Step Cost Definition that uses Time.
• If there is no Fixed Operating Cost applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Maximum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.
• If there is no Maximum Capacity applied:
  • the unit of measure applied to the Minimum Capacity column in the Work Centers table.

If none of these values are defined, the Throughput Basis defaults to "Quantity".

Capacity/Fixed Cost Period

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: FixedCostPeriod

Type: Short Text (50)

One of Period Length, Day, Week, Month (30 Day), Quarter (91 Day), Year, Horizon.

Select the period to which the Minimum Capacity, Maximum Capacity and fixed cost columns apply. If no value is selected, Period Length is used.

In Simulation, the Capacity/Fixed Cost Period is not currently used. The capacity and fixed cost values apply at the horizon level.

Queue Capacity

Technology: S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterQueueCapacity

Type: Short Text (50)

Enter the maximum number of order lots allowable in the queue leading up to the work center based on the Order Lot Size in Production Process Steps. If the value is set to INF, there are no limits on how many production lots could be queued up waiting for production. If the Queue Capacity is reached, production items that are routed to this work center will be blocked, and will not move until queue capacity is available.

In Classic Simulation, this is the maximum quantity allowable in the queue leading up to the work center.

Default: INF

Queue Selection Rule

Technology: S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterQueueSelectionRule

Type: Short Text (50)

One of FIFO, FirstAvailableResources, QueueOnly.

Choose the way new orders will be lined up in the queue for this work center. For the FIFO (first in first out) option, orders are queued in the order in which they arrive. In case there are multiple routes specified for this work center in the Processes Table, the First Available Resources rule checks which route will have the resources needed available the soonest and queues the order accordingly (resources used by work centers are specified on the Processes Table). The Queue Only rule only puts the orders into a queue, but does not trigger the production of any, it is assumed that this is taken care of through a script (Scripts Table) when Queue Only is selected.

Default: FIFO

Planning Capacity

Technology: S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterPlanningCapacity

Type: Number (Double)

Enter the planning capacity value for this work center. This value is not used by the simulation logic; rather, it is a model variable which is visible to be used in the model’s scripts.

Default: 0

Changeover Table

Technology: S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterChangeoverTableName

Type: Short Text (255)

This field is used to associate a work center changeover table with this work center.

Capital Investment Cost

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: CapitalInvestmentCapCost

Type: Short Text (255)

Capital Investment allows you to add a cost of expansion to both potential and existing work centers. This cost is applied at the throughput level and at all previous levels. For example, you can use Capital Investment to figure out if an existing work center should spend an investment cost to expand. In this field, select the step cost that defines the relationship between startup capacities and startup cost. You create the step cost using the Step Cost Definition and Step Costs tables.

For example, create a Step Cost Definition such as the following:

And create the associated Step Cost records:

When going over a 200,000 Throughput Level, a Capital Investment of $500,000 is made. When going over a 350,000 Throughput Level, an additional $400,000 Capital Investment is made. At this point, a total of $900,000 has been invested.

When going over a 2,000 Throughput Level, a Capital Investment of $1,500 is made. When going over a 3,000 Throughput Level, an additional $1,000 Capital Investment is made. At this point, a total of $2,500 has been invested.

When maintaining the same Throughput Level or lower in subsequent periods, no additional investments are made:

Refer to Financial Modeling for additional information.

The Capital Investment Cost is reflected in the Total Capital Investment in the Network Summary output table.

Book Value

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: BookValue

Type: Short Text (100)

Enter the value of the site or work center at the start of each year for which you want to track book value. If you want to enter values for a number of years, you can enter them in the format:

<BookValue1|BookValue2|BookValue3>

For example, if the value is $1,000,000 in year 1, $800,000 in year 2, and $600,000 in year 3, you would enter:

<1000000|800000|600000>

or

<1M|800K|600K>

where M represents Million and K represents Thousand.

Depreciation Schedule

Technology: NO

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: DepreciationSchedule

Type: Short Text (100)

One of 5 Year Straight-line, 10 Year Straight-line.

Select the depreciation schedule you want to use:

• 5 Year Straight-line
• 10 Year Straight-line

Default: 5 Year Straight-line

Status

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterStatus

Type: Short Text (50)

One of Include, Exclude, Consider.

The status field defines whether this work center will be included, considered, or excluded during optimization runs.

Choose the work center status:

• Include – This work center will be included in a simulation or optimization run.
• Exclude – This work center will be excluded from a simulation or optimization run.
• Consider – In optimization, the design engine will determine if this work center should be used (opened) or not (closed).

Default: Include

Notes

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: WorkCenterNotes

Type: Memo

Enter optional descriptive notes about the work center.

Custom 1

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: Custom1

Type: Short Text (255)

Optional field to enter descriptive information.

Custom 2

Technology: NO S

Table: WorkCenters

Internal Name: Custom2

Type: Short Text (255)

Optional field to enter descriptive information.