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.