Since equipment resources are so important, especially for batch processes with long recipe times, the application offers the user a multitude of charts and tables with information on how equipment is being utilized in the span of a single or multiple batches. Probably the most important chart for equipment use is the Equipment Occupancy chart as it visually conveys for each equipment its utilization. The multi-batch version of the chart is especially important as it directly shows the equipment scheduling bottleneck for the process. The Equipment Gantt chart offers the same information as the occupancy chart, only in a Gantt-chart format, where each occupancy bar is expanded (in a separate line) to its details. Other tables & chart focus on the occupancy measures (indices) for each equipment resource (see Occupancy Indices).
To bring up the chart for a single batch, select Charts } Equipment Occupancy } Single Batch from the main menu; selecting Charts } Equipment Occupancy } Multiple Batches from the main menu will bring up the chart for several batches. In a continuous process that contains batch procedures select Charts } Equipment Occupancy } Selected Time Horizon from the main menu.
Each y-entry represents a main equipment resource and/or an auxiliary equipment resource (such as CIP, SIP etc.). You can customize the contents (e.g. if you wish to view the main equipment only) by changing the chart’s style (through the Graph Style for Equipment Occupancy Data Chart interface). The visual appearance of the occupancy bars (aka task bars) can also be customized (for single batch charts) from the chart’s style. The equipment appear in an order that can also be customized (if so desired). By default, the equipment resources are ordered by time of engagement (earliest at the top to latest at the bottom). If you wish to overwrite the default order then you may select Include } Exclude } Order Equipment from the chart’s command menu or from the Equipment Occupancy Data Chart Style Dialog: General tab.
When a multi-batch chart is chosen to be shown, the default number of batches (Nb) shown at first is calculated as follows:
Nb = 1 + [BT / CT], where
[BT/RCT] is the rounded up integer ratio of the recipe’s batch time (BT) divided by the recipe’s cycle time (CT). The number is chosen this way, so that even if you later view a larger number of batches, all future batch graphs will always have a pattern that can be mapped within this chart (with some offset). In other words, Nb as calculated above, is the minimum number of batches necessary to plot such that it will capture all possible batch interactions. Of course the number of batches can later be set to any number (select Set Number of Batches from the chart’s command menu). Optionally the time horizon can be set and therefore the number of batches will be adjusted so as to fit the selected time span.
SuperPro Designer uses a default coloring scheme for presenting all the occupancy bars belonging to the same batch. This makes it very easy to visually convey the batch number for each activity (task) bar. The legend window at the side of the chart indicates which color has been chosen for each batch ID. The user can modify the color to be used for a given batch ID by simply double clicking on its color sample in the legend window. As an alternative to this coloring scheme, users can select to display the activity bars based on their assigned Operation Type Group. To define Operation Type Groups select Tasks } Operation Type Groups... from the main menu. You can choose which coloring scheme to use from the EOC’s chart style dialog.
The x-axis represents time. By default, the axis start time is 0.0. In other words, the time value of 0.0 is assigned to the earliest engagement of an equipment (aka beginning of the batch). If so desired, a real date/time can be assigned through the Graph Style Dialog (All Time Charts): Time Line Tab. The time axis displays two lines with increments of time: minor and major. The settings for what time increment to be used for major and minor increments as well as what units to be displayed is also customizable. By default a vertical gridline will be displayed on both minor and major increments but they can be turned off is so desired.
The time axis can be either stretched out (in order to view more details of the chart), or condensed in order to manage to fit the chart in a smaller visible region. The three factors that determine how much of the chart will be visible in a given window space are:
1. The Viewing Mode
2. The Time Scale Chosen for Minor & Major Increments, &
3. Zooming Factor
There are two viewing modes: Fit-to-Window and Nominal. When the graph viewing mode is set to ‘Fit-to-Window’, the application will display the graph’s contents always in the available window width. In this mode, a user can gain an overall perspective of the entire graph, at the expense of viewing small details. In this mode, it is possible that not all of the major and/or minor increments of time can be individually visible. Sometimes, the increments will be melded into two, or three or more at a time, in order for the labels to fit and in order for the entire time span to fit in the available space. In this mode priority is given to displaying the entire graph within the allotted space. In the ‘Nominal’ viewing mode, the application decides the scale by which to display the occupancy information in a way that the user’s selection for minor increments is obeyed. In other words, in this mode, all the minor increments are displayed, more then likely requiring more horizontal space that what is available in a single window width, so a horizontal scroll is now visible. In that mode, you can further increase or decrease the zooming factor by using the Zoom to or Zoom by options of the toolbar. The Zoom to option will pick a zoom factor such that the chart’s window will display exactly the selected span of time (a day, a month, etc.). The Zoom by option simply increases or decreases the zooming ratio by the selected percentage, thereby allowing more or less detailed to be visible on the graph. You can also zoom in and out by selecting the corresponding commands in the chart’s command menu.
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The zoom in/out and zoom to/by commands and/or buttons on the toolbar are only active if the viewing mode is set to nominal. When viewing the chart in the fit-to-window mode, the scale is automatically picked to make sure that the chart fits in the available space. |
The chart’s scheduling, occupancy or consumption data can also be exported in a tabular format into an excel worksheet. This can be accomplished by selecting Excel Link } Create New from the chart’s right click command menu and setting up an excel link with an existing excel file. From the dialog that appears you must specify the ‘xls/xlsx’ file (book) to be used as the container for the data and the area (sheet and cell range) where the data will be deposited. The chart styles can also be customized plus further chart type specific options can be edited and exported to excel.
See Also:
● Link Resource Chart Data To Excel Dialog
● Generic Chart Data Excel Link Dialog
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Please note that the excel link created and all specified options specified on the excel link interface on charts pertain to the specific chart and are saved with the document for that chart. The user can then come back to that specific chart and export the updated chart data to excel simply by selecting Excel Link > Update. |
Once a link to an excel workbook has been created the user can revisit the same chart and can either select Excel Link } Update with Current Settings to export the data with the currently displayed settings of the chart or select Excel Link } Edit to edit the excel link options or simply select Excel Link } Update to update the exported data with the settings of the excel link and/or Excel Link } Delete to delete the excel link altogether.
The chart’s scheduling, occupancy or consumption data can also be exported in a tabular format that can be readily imported into MS-Excel for further processing / plotting etc. You can select Export Data to Excel from the chart’s command menu and then dictate a file name and location, and SuperPro Designer will include the data into the selected file.
You can copy the chart (as a picture) by selecting Copy } Chart or Copy } Legend (the latter only available in multi-batch charts). After you have issued either of the above commands, you can go to another application (e.g. MS-Word, or MS-Excel) and issue a paste command. This will paste the chart (or the legend) as a picture in the destination document. Another way of exporting the chart (as a picture) is to save it in a Windows Metafile format (‘wmf’) as a file and later import the picture file into another application (like MS-Word). You can export the chart picture in Windows Metafile Format by selecting Export Chart as Metafile from the chart’s command menu.
You can print (or print preview) a chart directly from SuperPro Designer by selecting the Print (or Print Preview) command from the chart’s command menu. If the printing arrangement is not adequate, or more printing options are desired (e.g. smarter scaling, etc.) then it is recommended that you export the chart as a picture into another application first (e.g. MS-Excel) and then print it.
This chart, and for a single batch (Equipment Gantt Chart (Single Batch)), can be viewed by selecting Tasks } Gantt Charts } Equipment GC; to view the chart for multiple batches Equipment Gantt Chart (Multiple Batches), select Tasks } Gantt Charts } Equipment GC (Multiple Batches) from the main menu.
The equipment Gantt chart presents the same information on occupancy as the equipment occupancy chart, only each occupancy bar (aka task bar) in the Gantt chart can be expanded in its component activities (subtasks) where each subtask is displayed in a separate line (similar to the operations gantt chart). This makes it much easier to view any conflicts that may exist between operations and/or between procedures hosted by the same equipment. Also, subtasks may be collapsed and abstracted to aggregate activities to gain a better overview of how the process utilizes the equipment.
There are seven levels of activities considered by the equipment gantt chart. Those levels in order of hierarchy are as follows:
1. Batch
2. Branch
3. Section
4. Equipment
5. Procedure
6. Cycle
7. Operation
Each task (activity) bar in the above hierarchy expands into subtasks of the level below. Since branches and sections may not be used often in a process they can be optionally skipped and thereby have batch bars expand directly into equipment bars. This is done through the Equipment Gantt Chart Style Dialog: Contents tab. Each bar has its own visual style that can be customized by the user. It is also convenient to display next to each task bar a short description of the activity represented by the bar. You can turn on or off the textual description (perhaps only for certain types of activities, e.g. operations only) by modifying each activity’s style.
The Gantt chart presents a dual view of the activities/occupancy of each equipment: the graph view (on the right) and the spreadsheet view (on the left). The spreadsheet view presents (in a column format) more pieces of information for each activity such as the start time, end time, duration, short description of the activity etc. If you right-click on a task bar you will be presented with a menu that allows you to view (and edit) the properties of the activity behind the task bar (operation, procedure, equipment, etc.) as well as its visual appearance (style). You can fully customize the contents of the spreadsheet view (on the left) as well as the appearance of the chart (on the right) by selecting Style / Chart & Grid.
For information on how the number of batches is calculated (for multi-batch charts), the time line settings and all the basic functionality of the chart (zooming in/out, printing, copying chart’s data, copying chart as a picture, etc.), see Equipment Occupancy Chart.
When multiple procedures share the same equipment resource, or when looking for opportunities for procedures to share equipment (in order to save capital) you may find viewing the utilization of each equipment in the process very helpful. This table presents the busy time of each equipment resource as how each of the hosted procedures contribute to the total busy time. You can view the Main Equipment Utilization Breakdown table by selecting View } Utilization Breakdown } Main Equipment from the main menu of the application.
If you would like to see all the occupancy indices (busy time, idle time, waiting time etc.) tabulated for all the equipment resources in a process then select View } Main Equipment Occupancy Data } Table from the main menu of the application. This will bring up the Main Equipment Occupancy Data Table. You can customize the contents of the table to suit your preferences. For an accurate description on the meaning of each index and how it is calculated, see Occupancy Indices.
The same occupancy indices that are presented in the equipment occupancy data table, can also be viewed in chart format. To show the occupancy data of all equipment resources in a process as a chart, select View } Main Equipment Occupancy Data } Chart from the main menu of the application. This will bring up the Main Equipment Occupancy Data Chart. You can customize the contents of the chart to suit your preferences. For an accurate description on the meaning of each index and how it is calculated, see Occupancy Indices.
