Have you ever wished you could access order data directly from the order summary window, rather than having to find the order again inside one of the classical PC-Topp programs? Well, now you can:

The full PC-Topp order screen (classical version) is now accessible straight from the order summary, by clicking on the new link "Display / Update Order (DOS)" just below the order number. (Try pressing Enter immediately after the order summary has opened. The link is active then and directly launches the DOS program as soon as you hit Enter.)

For users with planning rights, the link opens the program "Order Entry / Update" where they can view and update the full order data. All other users get access to "Order View", offering some additional order information but not the modification of order data.

Runs Are Recorded Automatically Now

Production feedback from the corrugator can be done largely automatically now thanks to a new optional feature of the PC-Topp Corrugator Terminal. The terminal can now be connected to a signal from the corrugator that indicates the end of a run, enabling the software to register production data automatically, at very little additional work and costs.

No More Manual Data Entry

In the past, runs had to be recorded manually by the corrugator staff. This meant that someone had to watch for the end of the run and press a key. That was relatively easy with corrugators that stop between runs, but as good as impossible if the machine continued to run at full speed during a format change.

Now there is a way to automatically detect format changes. All that is required is a counter (the exact type is NE 212) which can register two separate signals, one for the lineal meters produced and the other at every format change.

Easy Use of the New Automatic Recording Functionality

In automatic mode, the terminal records the starting and ending times as well as the lineal meters produced and marks the run that just ended as produced, in a preliminary way: The run is shown in a special color (brown) until the operator confirms it. The operator can choose to confirm little batches of runs now and then; the terminal can store the data of many runs that have been finished.

Secure Operation through Manual Confirmation

Operator confirmation seems important because there is a risk that the corrugator occasionally sends an incorrect format change signal (for example following a jam), which would lead to totally incorrect production figures.

A special situation occurs when the terminal is first started, for example in the morning: PC-Topp cannot be sure that the run known to the terminal as "current run" is still in production, or if one or several changes have occurred while the terminal wasn't "watching".

For that reason, the terminal always starts in manual mode, where it requires operator input after each and every run. Once the operator has made sure that the current run is shown right, he can switch to Automatic Mode by hitting a function key (F10).

Thus, the new feature for automatic production feedback from the corrugator offers a cheap, convenient, and highly precise method of production data recording.

Linked orders have been introduced to let PC-Topp handle products that are not produced by converting a piece of corrugated board into a box (or similar), but that require several separate elements to be assembled, each of them converted from its own piece of corrugated board.

A good example for this type of order is a display stand that may require one front, two feet, and several trays or drawers: Each of these elements is an order in PC-Topp's usual sense. The finished display can be assembled when each of those elements is ready, and may require one or several operations by itself.

PC-Topp models this by a separate order with its own order key for each of the elements, plus one order for the assembled display, again with its own order number. (The order numbers of all orders linked together must be different, but of course they can all have the same main part of the order number with different suffixes.)

Obviously, production of the assembled display can only start when all components are ready. PC-Topp shows that information just like it shows the date (and time) when an ordinary order will be ready from the previous machine: The date and status reflect the combined status of availability of all required components.

Thus, the planner sees that the last component required to start working on assembly is scheduled to be ready the next morning, for example, or that all parts are ready (i.e. produced on their respective last operation).

The use of linked orders goes beyond assembled displays, however: A pair of linked orders can much better model an order that is stitched together from two identical (or non-identical) parts. Or, if an order needs more than the six operations supported by PC-Topp, then it can be broken up into two linked orders, where the first feeds the missing operations stored in the second order.

In the following example, an order of 50 boxes requiring eight operations is divided into order 5689A for the first five operations and order 5678 for the remaining three operations.

In all examples above, linked orders had N parts feeding 1 final order (in the last example, N was equal to 1). But also the opposite is possible, where 1 original order feeds several final orders. This is useful, for example, if the same box is ordered by several customers, and should be manufactured in one large job. Or, to run identical sheets for several different articles on the corrugator in one large run.

Please also see the document PC-Topp.NET Linked Orders for more information.