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Proplanner PFEP
eKanban, eKitting, eTracking Rules
Proplanner’s PFEP solution includes three workflows which can be used concurrently to solve the
majority of in-plant logistics challenges within any manufacturing facility. As a Commercial-Off-TheShelf (COTS) application, it is important that companies evaluate their internal business practices to
determine if their organization can adopt these LEAN logistics methodologies which form the basis of
the Proplanner PFEP solution.
eKanban
With Kanban, users have 2 or more containers, located in their workstation, of each part that they
consume for production. When a container is consumed, this acts as a trigger to request a new
container from a supermarket that supports that workstation. A part at a station must always use the
specified container with a fixed quantity of parts in each container. Kanban tracks containers, so the
quantity of parts at a station, or supermarket, are determined by counting containers as opposed to
parts.
Rules
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Parts at stations have a fixed quantity of dedicated containers stored at fixed locations in the
station. Container quantities can be instantly changed (added or removed) via the PFEP
administration interface. Increasing container quantities, immediate creates labels in the
supermarket for new demand of containers at that station. Reducing container quantities is
accomplished by ignoring one or multiple container requests from the station.
Parts may only be stored in a single identified location in the supermarket.
Part quantities in their containers are fixed
Accuracy of logistics counts is by container, not parts in containers
Scanning empty containers is the request for new containers to be delivered. Users actually
scan the empty container label.
When replenishing containers back on the shelf in the station, the container label and rack label
are scanned. This is done to ensure that the container is being placed in the correct location.
Delivery of parts to stations is based on a fixed delivery window (i.e. every 15 minutes a driver
will come by each station to pick up and scan empty containers and also deliver full containers
that were requested in during the prior delivery window).
If supermarkets cannot fulfill an order, then a hold is placed on the container request. When
container holds are released, it is common that those parts are expedited to their respective
stations (as opposed to waiting for the next fixed delivery window). PFEP does inform an
operator, and their supervisor, of a hold placed on their part request.
Supermarkets can themselves be workstations to upstream supermarkets. In this way, when a
supermarket ships a container to a downstream station, it uses the shipment scan as a trigger
for replenishment from an upstream supermarket.
Supermarkets can be located within the factory, or even at a vendor in a different city. Since
PFEP is web-based, these triggers can be sent to any valid web address.
Copyright Proplanner 2015
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Container label formats are changeable, however the scanned ID of a container is derived from
the part number, station and container count (i.e. if there are 3 containers at that station, then
each container is uniquely identified e.g. 1, 2, 3…)
Rack label formats are changeable, however the scanned ID of a rack location is derived from
the station ID, rack, and slot.
Cart label formats are changeable, however the scanned ID of the cart is derived from the cart
ID and the cart count (i.e. if there are 3 identical carts in the system, then each cart is uniquely
identified e.g. 1, 2, 3…)
eKitting
With Kitting, users create a specific parts list required for a specific product or order being produced. All
of the parts must exist in the same supermarket. If this is not possible, then multiple kits are requested
from their respective supermarkets, and those parts will appear on separate carts. In some cases, Carts
from one supermarket can be re-used at another supermarket (sequentially), such that a cart can
progress through multiple supermarkets prior to ending at the consumption location. These parts will
be grouped together into a cart that has an ID and is tracked to the downstream station.
Rules
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An order entered into PFEP will generate a kit request to one, or multiple, supermarkets at a
specified time.
Users at those supermarket(s) will select a cart and fill it with the order. Once the order has
been fulfilled, the cart is scanned as complete and available for delivery.
Carts are tracked as delivered to their consumption workstation.
Part shortages in the kit, are flagged by PFEP and reported to the operator and supervisor of the
downstream station. Missing parts in kits are expedited to the consumption location
independent of the Kitting delivery process.
Each kit is assigned a dedicated cart type. This way, carts can be designed to specifically
accommodate particular kits of parts going to specific workstations. As such, parts in kits have
no storage location defined within their consuming workstation.
Kit carts can serve multiple workstations in sequence, so that kitted parts assigned to one of the
workstations will be automatically combined into a kit that serves the upstream consuming
workstation. This allows kit carts to follow the product through multiple workstations.
Kit carts can contain kits for multiple products. For example, a kit cart of 3 axles can fulfill three
product orders within the same cart as delivered to the station. As such, kit orders need not be
dedicated to one product, but to a set of products.
eTracking
Tracking is primarily used to report on the status and location of work processes along multiple
sequential workstations. While you can track individual components, it is common to track a kit of
components through multiple manufacturing (assembly) steps.
Rules
Copyright Proplanner 2015
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A fixed set of stations where parts are tracked is defined.
Users at those stations, or material handling people serving those stations are responsible for
scanning parts into, and out, of the station.
Multiple parts can be scanned in a kit at a station, and only when all of those parts in the kit are
scanned, is the kit complete from that station.
Sequence of part movement between stations is well defined in the plant (i.e. not a job shop),
although kits can easily skip stations.
Stations can be defined into groups, so that a part need only visit one station within the group
to satisfy that the part is complete for that station step.
Container/Kit/Part label formats are changeable, however the scanned ID consists of the order#
plus the part number. In the case where there are parts with a quantity greater than one, then
those parts are given the same scanned ID, and the system is expecting a certain quantity of
scans for that part number in the kit.
Scanners are logged into a station while scanning, however the operator can quickly and easily
switch between station IDs within a group of stations.
Copyright Proplanner 2015