As a temporary workaround for the Internet Explorer 9 memory hogging problem described earlier, PC-Topp Terminal pages will automatically refresh every 60 minutes, causing a momentary flicker, and potentially displaying the start page of the terminal (and not the page that was last being viewed). We do however watch out for ongoing user interaction and delay the refresh until we are have not seen any user interaction with the page for a reasonable time.

This workaround now makes it possible to use Internet Explorer 9 with PC-Topp's terminal pages without suffering the effects of long term memory loss inside Internet Explorer 9.

However, any other problems Internet Explorer 9 still has will not disappear with this trick, so users may still experience browser failures and similar effects in PC-Topp under IE9, the same effects Internet Explorer 9 users experience in popular Internet services like Google's www.gmail.com.

Internet Explorer 9

When working with PC-Topp.NET in Internet Explorer 9 you may face difficulties like unexpectedly high memory usage or browser crashes.

These are Internet Explorer 9 specific problems; in Internet Explorer 8 PC-Topp.NET is stable and runs with the usual reliabilty.

Microsoft has admitted the memory hogging problem in Internet Explorer 9 (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2572253/en-us); concerning the browser crashes a Microsoft statement is still pending.

Our developers are currently trying to find a workaround. However, in the meantime resp. as long as there is no official Microsoft fix we recommend using PC-Topp.NET with Internet Explorer 8. We will inform you via this blog as soon as there is a solution available.

 

Internet Explorer Add-Ons

No matter which version of Internet Explorer you are using, Internet Explorer add-ons can cause performance and stability problems in PC-Topp.NET.

Therefore, we advise you to disable all Internet Explorer add-ons like search engine toolbars, social networking tools etc., except those you absolutely need.

You can find instructions on how to disable add-ons here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Internet-Explorer-add-ons-frequently-asked-questions

For getting a better overview of the overall performance of machines and crew leaders the following four new reports have been implemented:

Overall Machine Performance

Overall Machine Performance by Crew Leader

Overall Crew Leader Performance

Imagine one of the machine operators in your plant has an accident due to issues warned against in the safety instructions provided to the crew. How to prove to your insurance company that he has disregarded or failed to read them?

What It Is Good for

This is where the new Safety Instructions functionality at the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal and Multi Machine Terminal comes into play:

• It forces crew members who haven't signed in at a machine for a certain period of time to take note of important information (e.g. reminders to wear safety clothes, hints on things to keep in mind or changes in the workflow etc).
• It allows you to prove that a crew member has acknowledged important information so you aren't liable for damages incurred through non-observance.

How It Works

• If a crew member who hasn’t signed in at a machine for the specified number of days signs in at the Machine Terminal a dialog prompts him to read the safety instructions for this machine.
• This dialog appears if the safety instructions file has been modified, too. Everybody who signs in at the machine for the first time after the modification is prompted to read the changed safety instructions.
• At the same time the feature demands confirmation by a superior that the person in question has done so, thus guaranteeing that users really view relevant information and don't just skip the dialog.
• The Safety Instructions feature is best used in conjunction with the PC-Topp.NET Messaging functionality. It can alert the supervisor by email or text message in real time that a crew member has to read the safety instructions, thereby automatically creating written evidence of the procedure.
• Moreover, when the supervisor comes to the workstation of the person in question to give his confirmation he can print out two copies of the safety instructions, have the person in question sign both, and file one copy in the crew member's personal record.

If the new feature is used as outlined above, your personnel is kept up-to-date on important information, and at the same time the fact that staff members have received this information is fully documented to protect you against unjustified claims.

How to Switch It On

To activate this feature you have to:

• Upload a safety instructions file to the PC-Topp server via the Machine Settings page (Machine Terminal tab),
• Define how much time has to pass after the last sign-in of a crew member for the safety instructions to be displayed (in the DataSet Parameters, Machine Terminal tab).

• The overview can show more quality checks at a time because the quality checks are listed in a timeline, additionally organized by check type (rather than just by chronological order as before).
• Whether upcoming, pending, or already performed, all quality checks remain in view (whereas in the vertical layout you see mostly the pending and upcoming ones).
• The status of the quality checks is instantly visible thanks to their color codes which are similar to the PC-Topp order status colors:
  • Yellow – Upcoming quality checks
  • Blue – Due / imminent quality checks
  • Gray – Performed quality checks
  • Red – Expired quality checks
  Additionally, failed quality checks are marked in red, passed quality checks in green:
  

You can switch the quality checks to the new view in the Machine Terminal tab of the DataSet Parameters page:

Due to their pink background color, orders flagged as "Forbidden" by Planning or Sales clearly stand out in the machine schedule of the PC‑Topp.NET Conversion Machine Scheduling page. As of now, you can spot orders flagged as "Suspended" by Planning or Sales more easily, too: They are displayed with a pink order number.

In the PC-Topp.NET Machine Settings, you can now configure set-up times for up to seven different ink colors. (Before this was restricted to max. four ink colors.)

This way the set-up time for orders with four or more ink colors can be calculated more precisely than before and thus the total work time calculation is more accurate.

We are currently reorganizing our customer response management to further improve our customer support in terms of reaction time and solution quality. In order to streamline our handling of customer inquiries we have introduced a new central e-mail address for support requests. As of now, please exclusively use this e-mail address if you need our support.

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Nouvelle adresse de support de PC-Topp

Afin d’améliorer notre support concernant le temps de réaction et la qualité des solutions nous avons réorganisé le système de réponses de nos clients.  Nous avons introduit une adresse e-mail centrale spécialement conçue pour les demandes de support : Désormais, veuillez utiliser uniquement cette adresse si vous avez besoin  de notre support.

---

Neue Mailadresse für den PC-Topp-Support

Wir reorganisieren derzeit unser Kundenreaktionsmanagement, um unseren Kundensupport im Hinblick auf Antwortgeschwindigkeit und Qualität der angebotenen Lösungen zu verbessern. Zur Optimierung der Bearbeitung von Kundenanfragen haben wir eine neue zentrale E-Mail-Adresse für Support-Anfragen eingerichtet. Bitte wenden Sie sich ab sofort ausschließlich an diese Adresse, wenn Sie per E-Mail Support anfordern möchten.

support@pctopp.com

Alternatively you can give us a call on / Ou bien vous pouvez nous appeler au / Oder rufen Sie uns an unter +49 (911) 994000

In the past, if you wanted to execute a password protected action at the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal you had to re-enter your password for each following restricted action as well which could be quite bothersome.

This policy has been changed to make consecutive restricted actions easier: After a user has authenticated himself for a password protected action his user rights remain extended for one minute so he doesn’t have to enter his credentials again for the next restricted action.

So far, article comments, special instructions etc. used to be immediately visible at the PC‑Topp.NET Machine Terminal only up to a certain length.

In order to make all comments attached to an order readable at a glance, a Comments sub tab has been added to the Machine Terminal Orders tab. There you now find a structured list of all special instructions, article comments, customer complaints, and extra customer information entries for the current order.

And what’s more, the order comments sent via OTDATA (which were missing until now) are displayed in this new tab as well.

• Machine operators can closely monitor corrugator production without having to stay next to the machine controls.
• No matter where the members of the machine crew are working, everybody can see in advance when the next change of flute type, board grade etc. is due so the team can better prepare for a smooth transition.
• Everybody at the corrugator is immediately alerted to downtimes.
• Supervisors and all staff at the machine can effortlessly get information on corrugator performance with just a glance at the overhead display at all times, without having to leave their workstation.

Customizable Range of Production Figures

There is a wide scope of production information available for displaying with the new feature. The figures and texts to be shown can be easily personalized according to customers’ needs. Some possibilities would be:

• Production Figures of the Current Shift, e.g.
  
  • Current speed
  • Program number, board grade, roll size, flute
  • Total meters produce and average meters per minute for the current run and shift respectively
  • A forecast of meters to produce until the next change of board grade, roll size, or flute type
  • Shift duration
• Production Figures of Previous Shifts
  
  • Shift duration, total meters produced, average meters per minute
• Current Order
  • Order number
  • Customer name
  • Sheet size
  • Quantity
• Downtime or Off-Line Alerts
• Freely Configurable Messages

The displayed information can optionally be toggled in certain intervals, e.g. from production times to produced and scheduled quantities or other information of interest, or even between production figures and announcements or text messages for special occasions like visitors in the plant etc.

How to Get the New Extra Large Display

Basically, all you need is a license, an idea of what you want to display, and a large screen. So if you are interested in taking advantage of the new possibilities provided by this functionality, please get in touch with us:

Contact the PC-Topp Team

Both the PC-Topp Label Designer and the PC-Topp Label Printer have been reengineered to support Windows Vista and higher. Besides, both applications now offer several functional enhancements but maintain full compatibility with their predecessor version.

PC-Topp Label Designer

PC-Topp Label Printer

The PC-Topp Label Printer lets administrators view and modify pallet labels from production history in case a pallet label has been damaged or a label’s data needs to be modified.

The application has been refined to no longer block the print server during startup and loads much faster than before.

The Label Printer’s new search function makes it easy to locate all pallet labels printed for any order. Likewise, in the detailed label view (opened by clicking any label in the overview) the pallet label data can be searched by field name and content in an Excel-like interface.

Besides, the Label Printer allows displaying the different label designs to be printed for the selected print job (e.g. additional labels to be printed at first for each pallet or after the printout for all pallets). And what’s more, you can now create pallet label designs including sample data from any existing label.

For better usability some small modifications have been made to the PC-Topp.NET reports.

Easier Access to Personalized Reports

Besides the standard PC-Topp reports, the PC-Topp.NET Statistics page now shows all your personalized reports, too. At the bottom of the toolbox you will find a new section “Personalized” containing your customized reports.

Send Reports by E-Mail

If you need a PC-Topp.NET report outside of PC-Topp or on a different computer you can now easily e-mail it to your own address right from the page that generates the report (instead of downloading it to the workstation’s hard drive).

On the Reports page, below the usual links for print-out or output as an Excel file, additionally a link saying “Send to (user name)” can now be displayed which sends the selected report to the address provided in your PC-Topp.NET user profile.

If you want to use this feature please contact us so we can configure it for you.

The Quality Check Shift Report which used to be available only in the Statistics section of PC‑Topp.NET is now accessible at the Machine Terminal, too. It is displayed in a new sub-tab of the Shift Report tab.

Thus the machine operator can now view information on the results of all quality checks during the current shift right at the machine.

The PC-Topp.NET Messaging app adds the iPhone to the list of options for receiving alert messages from PC-Topp.NET. You can get the app at the Apple App Store

The PC-Topp.NET Messaging system alerts supervisors and managers to production incidents or system events via e-mail or SMS text message. With the PC-Topp.NET Messaging app you can now get those alerts on your iPhone, too.

The app lets you receive information on production events or system incidents on your iPhone in real time. It can alert you to events like downtimes, overruns and quality checks, send status messages or report critical user actions.

You can let the system warn you e.g. if a machine has a breakdown longer than 30 min or you can receive notifications if a quality check has expired, or failed.

A wide range of message triggers is already implemented in the PC-Topp.NET Messaging system (some for free while others require a license) and can be further extended on short notice.

Get the PC-Topp.NET Messaging App at the Apple App Store

For some reasons like very complex product shapes or limited machine capabilities it can be necessary to die-cut orders in two passes. In addition to Second Pass Printing, PC‑Topp now also supports second pass die-cutting.

The necessary data, i.e. cutting die number, location, availability and date of use, can be sent via OTDATA, the extension of the Order Entry / Update screen has to be specifically configured. If you are interested in using this functionality please contact the PC‑Topp Team.

Articles consisting of several parts like e.g. boxes with removable top are produced in several order parts. For better coordination all parts of an order are now displayed in an overview in the General tab at the Machine Terminal as well as in the Order Summary. To make sure the appropriate amount of items is produced for every order part you can now see the number of items produced or scheduled so far for all order parts.

If several orders for the same article run consecutively on a machine there is no set-up time between those orders (as the set-up needs to be done only for the first of those orders). This leads to incorrect goods counts because if the machine runs at full speed while processing those similar orders it is as good as impossible to manually push the Order Change button at the PC‑Topp.NET Machine Terminal at the right moment between orders to properly close them.

Therefore a new option has been implemented in the Machine Terminal section of the PC‑Topp.NET Dataset Parameters which lets you allow the system to do automatic order changes under the following conditions:

• The order has the same spec number as the following one.
• The machine is last in the order's machine sequence.
• The order’s good quantity equals its ordered quantity.

With this feature you can make sure that the number of products for such orders is always correct.

In case you need to modify the quantities of any in such a batch of similar orders you find them in the Orders to Close list in the Palletisation tab.

As of now you can sign in at a machine right at the Multi Machine Terminal without deviation to the Staff Time Registration page.

On the Corrugator Control page the sign in functionality has been added as well (Personnel tab).

For more precise scheduling it is now possible to enter the expected end of current downtimes at the Machine Terminal and Multi Machine Terminal. This automatically corrects the calculation of the end of the current as well as the following orders. As scheduling will adapt accordingly this will make sure that the displayed situation is as accurate as possible.

The PC‑Topp reporting module has been enhanced by a new functionality for group-wide reporting. The system now allows larger enterprises owning several plants, sometimes located in different countries, to analyze all their sites’ performance at a glance with PC-Topp’s group-wide reporting tool.

You can easily compare production key figures of all sites in an enterprise by e.g. grouping them by country and site, or you can create reports comparing the performance of either all conversion machines or similar machines across the group.

The only technical requirements for using group-wide reports are that the same version of PC‑Topp.NET and SQL Server must be installed at all sites as well as stable HTTP or TCP connections to allow access to all PC‑Topp service PCs within the group.

The scope of group-wide reports available under the Group-Wide Reporting license will be extended in the future. Customized reports can be created on demand; please contact us if you want a personalized group-wide report.

Currently available Group-Wide Reports

		The Enterprise-Wide Corrugator Production by Flute Type Report contains an overview of corrugator production key figures, ordered by country and flute type, with totals for number of runs, produced area and meters, and trim per site as well as per country and flute type.
		The Enterprise-Wide Corrugator Production by Roll Size Report offers the same survey as Corrugator Production by Flute Type but focuses on roll size instead of flute type.
		The Enterprise-Wide Conversion Production Summary gives an analytical overview of conversion machine key figures (one line per machine), by country and site.
		The Enterprise-Wide Conversion Production Overview shows conversion production key figures by country and site, with pie charts for work hours and passes by country.

PC‑Topp’s calculation basis for estimating order end time has been improved. Basically this means that for calculating an order’s speed we have modified how PC‑Topp allows for downtimes during an order’s production.

In the past, the system used to take into account every downtime, regardless of its length, for order end calculation. Therefore long downtimes during an order’s production lead to an unrealistically long expected order duration.

To improve this, the following changes have been made:

• Mini downtimes are always taken into account.
• For all other downtimes a maximum duration can be specified in the DataSet Parameters.
  • Downtimes exceeding this maximum duration are ignored for calculating order end times.
  • For downtimes below the maximum you can specify which type of downtime should be taken into account for calculating order end times (order, machine, or operator related).

(By default, the maximum downtime duration is 30 minutes, and only order related downtimes are taken into account.)

This change helps estimating order end times in a more realistic way.

The PC-Topp statistics page now contains a new report called “Corrugator Production by Board Grade and Roll Size” in the section Corrugator > Production Statistics. This report gives you an overview of the corrugator production of the selected period by flute type, board grade and roll size. The production totals per board grade are broken down by roll size.

The freshly created Events & Actions module is a versatile tool for triggering messages on all kinds of unexpected events or situations needing close control. It is highly customizable and can make information on all sorts of events available via a wide variety of media and devices inside as well as outside PC‑Topp, thereby extending PC-Topp’s informational power beyond the system itself.

From downtime alert e-mails to a supervisor and Twitter threads on quality checks to status messages to Management members’ SmartPhones, everybody in charge can receive real time alerts in his preferred technological environment. This ensures that relevant information is noticed in time.

 

Monitor All Actions and Events

You can closely cover all sorts of user actions and goings-on in production or in the system itself, whether it is unexpected events in production, situations you want to keep an eye on, or system problems. A wide range of message triggers is already implemented and can be further extended on short notice.

The following types of events are currently available, some for free, while others require an additional license. (For a full list of all supported events and more information on event pricing please read PC-Topp.NET Events & Actions)

• Unexpected or Undesirable Production Events, e.g.
  • Downtimes
  • Excessively long production times or shifts
  • Over- or underrun orders
• Production Events Indicating or Potentially Causing Irregularities, e.g.
  • Use of the “Undo” functionality at the Machine Terminal
  • Manual runs
  • Pending confirmation of the next order
  • Pending or failed quality checks, failed quality checks that nevertheless got backup approval etc.
  • Production material not prepared
• Production Situations or Events Where Extra Attention Is Advisable, e.g.
  • Special or problematic orders (with production control code, internal complaints, …)
  • Password protected actions
• System Related Events and Problems, e.g.
  • System failures (backup failed, terminals off, …)
  • Program Memory full
  • Archiving required

You will find more detailed information on event types and pricing on the following page: PC-Topp.NET Events & Actions

 

Send Alerts to All Types of Recipients and Media 

Messages can be used very flexibly in a variety of ways to inform certain people or to trigger predefined actions. They can be targeted not only to individual recipients or predefined groups of users or staff members, but also to PC-Topp terminals or even to external services or media.

Or they can trigger actions like setting off devices like alarm lights etc. Currently the following recipient types and target media are supported:

• E-Mail
  You can send messages to
  • Individual e-mail addresses or recipient groups, including all persons signed in at certain machines or machine groups (machine tables)
  • Personnel Numbers
  • PC-Topp Users
  The system allows easily configuring individual messages as well as creating and using your own HTML e-mail templates.
• New (Jan 20, 2011): iPhone Message
  The PC-Topp.NET iPhone app lets you receive information on production events or system incidents on your iPhone in real time. You can get in the Apple App Store.
• SMS Text Messages
  You can also send messages to a mobile number in SMS format (provided you have an e-mail / SMS server). This greatly helps keeping the persons in charge up to date on the current situation in the plant as the recipient isn’t bound to a workstation to stay informed.
• PC-Topp.NET Message
  You can send messages to all PC-Topp.NET users in general or to selected PC-Topp.NET users only.
• Publish in Twitter or in an RSS Feed
  Twittering messages or publishing them in an RSS feed is an interesting way of distributing information beyond the limits of the system to make it available to many people without having to target them individually.
• Log File Entry
  Another possibility is to have a log file entry written as soon as an event is triggered, thereby creating a history of events.
• FTP Upload
  You can also trigger a file upload to a server via FTP with an event.
• Set Off Alarm Device
  It is even possible to make an event message trigger a visual alarm by setting off a police light, e.g. to alert personnel present on the shop floor to downtimes etc.

On demand, new events can be easily and rapidly implemented at little additional cost to meet each customer’s individual needs.

If you are interested in using Events & Actions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

 

If a corrugated plant produces orders with more colors than its conversion machines can print at a time those orders have to be printed in two passes.

PC‑Topp.NET Conversion Scheduling now better supports this way of production by displaying the colors for each printing step of an order. The colors appear in one line per printing pass, those for the current production step in black, the others grayed out. A tooltip shows the full color name.

Let PC‑Topp.NET help you to improve production flow in conversion by ensuring that materials required for production on the machines are available on time. The new Material Preparation Terminal is a valuable instrument for avoiding machine downtime in conversion due to missing materials.

At the new terminal the status of the materials required for all scheduled orders is displayed with colored dots. The personnel responsible for readying inks, dies, pallets etc. can see at any time whether everything is prepared for producing an order and, if not, what is still missing.

The items to be prepared can be individually configured; the available options are:

Cutting die Printing die Ink colors Pallets

Top pallets Protection Printing die for second pass printing Ink colors for second pass printing

Color Coded Preparation Status

Unprepared items appear as white dots (). After having prepared an item for an order the person in charge clicks this item’s status dot to change it to “ready” (). In case it isn’t available (due to damage, insufficient stock etc.) he can set its status to “not ready” ().

The overall preparation status of an order only changes to “ready” if all individual items required for an order are marked “ready”. As long as the materials for the order are only partially prepared (e.g. the inks and the dies are ready but the pallets aren’t) the order’s overall status remains yellow (), indicating that the preparation has begun but isn’t finished yet.

If the mouse is moved over the overall status indicator for an order’s machine or for the order itself the status details of all required materials are shown in a tooltip. Thus it is easy to keep track of an order’s overall preparation status and to check what is still missing.

(Orders with nothing to prepare are marked with .)

Customizable View

By default the orders are shown by start time so the ones that have be prepared next are always on top. Thus the person in charge can always make sure he doesn’t overlook imminent orders which are not yet completely prepared. But if he wants to prepare the materials for all orders scheduled on a specific machine he can switch the view to display just this machine.

Print Out Material Preparation List

Staff members responsible for readying production materials can’t always stay within eyeshot of the Material Preparation Terminal. They can export the list of orders to prepare in PDF format for printout so they can take the materal preparation list along.

There is a new link in the PC-Topp.NET Conversion Machine Scheduling page toolbox that lets you print out several job cards at once in PDF format. You just need to select the orders you want to print out (via the checkbox) and then click “Print Job Card”. This feature is very useful for planners because they can print out the job cards for the program of the day in just one step.

There are new options for configuring the Production Today section in My PC-Topp available that are interesting in plants with more than one corrugator. The configuration page (reachable via the Configuration link in the lower right of the Home page and the Corrugator menu page) lets you select whether the production figures should be displayed:

1. For Each Individual Corrugator
   One line per corrugator, new default setting.
2. Totaled for All Corrugators
   One line summing up all corrugators, old default setting.
3. For Each Individual Corrugator and Totaled for All Corrugators
   One line per corrugator plus one totals line.

(In plants with only one corrugator only one line showing the corrugator’s production is displayed no matter which option is selected.)

Following a prompt from a customer, we have created an alternate path to attach special instructions to each production step of an order.

In addition to the comments fields available in the order and in the order data transfer, you can now attach a Production Control Code to each operation (machine) of an order. That code then makes a predefined text message appear in the order, on the Job Card, in conversion machine planning and of course at the Machine Terminal.

Examples of such predefined messages would be “FOUR COLOR PRINT” or “RE-WORK AFTER CUSTOMER COMPLAINT” and similar messages for situations that occur again and again.

The instruction messages and associated Production Control Codes can be pre-defined in a corresponding table found in Settings where it is also possible to print a summary of all Production Control Codes and their meaning.

Order specific quality checks at the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal are a powerful instrument for making sure that your products conform to the given quality standards. They are highly configurable and can be adapted exactly to your needs. A quality check’s execution is defined by its content (e.g. ink viscosity, bar code, caliper,…) as well as by the following factors:

• Interval of execution Quality checks are executed periodically; the intervals between the quality checks can be defined very flexibly, e.g. every 15 minutes, every third run, after every order etc.
  • New: Quality Check at Shift Start
    Forces the user to execute the quality check by blocking every other action until the check is done.
• Conditions of execution
  Quality checks can be restricted by specific conditions. Currently, PC‑Topp.NET supports the following conditions four of which have been newly added:
  • New: Customer Name
    Applies to orders for the specified customer.
    (Please note that even slight spelling differences like e.g. Universal Plant vs. UNIVERSAL PLANT can cause errors.)
  • New: Customer Number
    Applies to orders for the specified customer number.
  • Extra Customer Info
    Applies to orders by customers marked for the Extra Customer Info functionality.
  • First Run
    Applies to orders resp. articles that run for the first time.
  • New: Next Machine
    Applies if the next machine of this order is the given one.
  • Last Machine
    Applies if the current machine is the last before Shipping in the current order’s machine routing, i.e. for finished goods orders.
  • Die Cut
    Applies to orders that are die cut on the current machine.
  • New: Scores
    Applies if the order has either corrugator or conversion scores.
  • Print
    Applies to orders that are printed on the current machine.
  • Preprint
    Applies to orders that are produced with preprinted liner.
  • Customer Complaint
    Applies to orders for which a customer complaint has been entered.
  • Article Number
    Applies to orders with the specified article number.
  • Rework
    Applies to orders returned by the customer that have to be rerun.
  • Number of Printing Colors
    You can define a number of printing colors and an operator (EQUAL, NOT EQUAL, LARGER THAN, LESS THAN).
    Applies if the number of printing colors in the current order equals the predefined number of colors and if the predefined operator applies.
  • Color and Print Unit
    You can define a color and the position of the color resp. print unit in the printing sequence.
    Applies if the predefined print unit contains the predefined color, e.g. if color no. 3 is black.

The Products section of our homepage provides more in-depth information on the PC-Topp.NET quality checks

If you would like us to implement specific quality checks for you please contact us: Our Contact Page

So far you could exchange or remove a machine in an order’s machine sequence in PC-Topp even when this order was already scheduled on the machine in question.

Modifying the machine that an order is currently running on in this order’s machine routing leads to unexpected effects at the Machine Terminal in question. Therefore as of now you can only change a machine in an order’s machine routing if the order does not currently run on this machine.

This means that the machine routing of orders which are displayed on a blue background in the PC-Topp order lists (= scheduled in the past on the machine in question) can’t be modified or deleted any longer.

Running the archiving procedure for PC-Topp statistics interferes with other PC-Topp modules accessing statistics. Most importantly, the archiving process impairs the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal functionality. Besides, when using the classical program for editing and printing production statistics PC-Topp users are forced to interrupt their work while archiving runs.

To avoid such disturbances a new automatic archiving mode has been implemented that can be configured in the PC-Topp Communications Control.

Statistics auto archiving can be set to run on a specific day of the week. Ideally you would configure the auto archiving procedure to run on days with minimum activity in the plant when nobody is disturbed by it.

(Consequently, in the classical program for editing and printing production statistics the PC-Topp users won’t be bothered by the blue info screen any more.)

If an unspecified downtime with a certain duration (no mini downtime) has been recorded at the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal the system prompts the user to enter a downtime cause by showing the downtime start and end on the Downtime button in the lower right corner of the terminal interface. So far the operator was reminded of missing downtime causes only for the last recorded downtime. (The causes for all earlier downtimes in the shift had to be entered via the Shift tab.)

As of now, PC-Topp.NET asks the user to assign reasons to all unspecified downtimes during the current shift, i.e. starting from the last downtime, all downtimes without cause are presented. When the operator has entered a cause for the downtime currently displayed in the button the next downtime in the queue is shown.

The new Quality Check Shift Report shows all quality checks done during the selected shift(s). For each order all quality checks are listed with execution time(s), results and the responsible crew member. If a quality check has expired or failed it is color highlighted.

Additionally, the Quality Check Shift Report contains a shift summary with the attendance times of the crew members, the number of quality checks per crew member, and an overview of this shift’s passed, failed, and expired quality checks.

PC-Topp customers who manually enter new orders into the system (instead of using the automatic order transfer from the host) will find this new feature convenient.

If you have new orders for standard American type (FEFCO type 201) boxes you needn’t input all data by hand any more. If you enter the inner box dimensions PC-Topp can now automatically calculate the following values from them:

• Sheet format
• Corrugator scores
• Conversion scores
• Box type

If you enter the internal box dimensions via the “Input Box Size” dialog in the Order Input / Update screen and press Alt-E the above values automatically appear on screen:

This new functionality saves work and prevents input errors that inevitably occur when order data are keyed in manually. If you are interested in using it please contact us:

http://www.pctopp.com/en/about_us/contact.mspx

You can now adapt the columns displayed in the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal, the Multi-Machine Terminal, and the Machine View to your individual needs and preferences.

• Machine Terminal
  The machine schedule at the Machine Terminal allows you to insert as many columns as you like in which you can display any desired content, be it order fields, personalized fields or even information provided by external data sources. You can arrange the columns in your preferred sequence and width; the number of possible columns is only restricted by the screen size. Besides, you can also modify the font size and type of the "Due", "Order" and "Available" columns to make them more easily readable.
• Machine View
  The new display options apply to the Machine View, too. The Machine View lets you create your own individual information board by inserting any number of columns (i.e. as many columns as the page width allows) in the machine schedules. And you can personalize those columns in the same way as at the Machine Terminal.
• Multi-Machine Terminal
  Here only the width of all columns can be customized.

If you are interested in using this option please contact us so we can make the necessary changes:
http://www.pctopp.com/en/about_us/contact.mspx

In the Next Orders section of the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal toolbox a new button prompts the machine operator to confirm any schedule changes done outside of the Machine Terminal.

 

The End Shift dialog for closing a shift at the Machine Terminal or the Multi-Machine Terminal now contains a new checkbox saying "All Personnel Will Leave". This new feature permits signing out all staff signed in at this machine during the current shift at once.

This has some advantages:

• The machine operator who often does the signing out for the whole crew needn’t sign out every single crew member individually.
• The sign out times for all personnel at this machine during the current shift are unified and they are identical to the shift end time. So you can make both shift end and personnel sign out happen at a specific point of time, e.g. 17:00, instead of having everybody sign out between e.g. 16:57 and 16:59 and then closing the shift at 17:00.

The feature has to be activated via a special data set parameter. When available it is switched off by default so if you want to use it you have to switch it on by clicking the checkbox.

On a small scale, the former PC-Topp.NET Flop Ten functionality already allowed storing and displaying short texts on customer particularities. This basic feature has been renamed to Extra Customer Info and extended so that one PDF file per customer can be accessed directly in PC-Topp.NET. This lets you store much more customer information than before because a PDF file can contain any amount of text as well as images.

Besides PDF files the functionality also supports text documents of all file types and graphics file formats. (The files must be stored in a dedicated folder on your network. Additionally, the customer with whom the document is to be associated must be entered in the Extra Customer Info list that you can access via “Settings“.)

The documents associated with a customer will be displayed in all places where PC-Topp.NET shows Extra Customer Info (ex Flop Ten) texts. Currently they are accessible via the General tab of the PC-Topp.NET Machine Terminal. If there is a document available for the customer whose order is currently running a PDF icon is displayed in "Instructions & Comments" next to the Flop Ten image. Clicking the PDF icon opens the document. In the future links to customer specific documents will be provided in the other PC-Topp.NET pages displaying Extra Customer Info texts, too.

There is a new link in the PC-Topp.NET Waste Reasons page toolbox that lets you print out all detailed waste reasons in PDF format.

The PDF file contains code, name and position of all waste reasons, ranged by group like on the web page.