Board Grade and Trim Statistics

The Crystal report “Board Grade and Trim Statistics” lists production data on board grades by flute type. It shows production totals as well trim and average roll size within the selected date range for each grade, flute type, and roll size.

Separate summaries by flute type and roll size are additionally illustrated by pie charts.

The new report doesn’t show upgrade cost, like the classical report does. For analyzing upgrades, a new report will be available allowing more detailed analysis.

Corrugator Production by Day

This report shows production totals separate by shift for each day in the month (or other selected periods).

Corrugator Speed by Flute Type

The reports starts with a graphical view of day by day production speed for each flute type for a month, following by the underlying figures for each day.

Paper Requirements by Roll Size and Week

The new Crystal report “Paper Requirements by Roll Size and Week” substitutes the classical report “Paper Requirements by Weeks”. It calculates the amount of paper required to produce all orders remaining to be scheduled on the corrugator.

The Crystal paper requirements report offers more reliable forecasts because it takes into account paper consumption data of the past: The distribution of the required amount of a particular paper over the different roll sizes is now based on the data of the same week in the previous year, in order to correctly reflect seasonal influences. (If there is no data available for that week in the previous year, then the last three months are taken as calculation base.)

Paper Consumption by Roll Size

The second new Crystal report "Paper Consumption by Rollsize" takes the place of the classical "Paper Consumption List".

Like the classical report it lists the consumption figures during a selectable period of the past for all papers, as well as their distribution over the available roll sizes. What is new is the nicer and clearer layout plus the fact that, like all Crystal reports, the report can easily be emailed as it is provided as a PDF.

A new page has been created to show, create or modify downtime causes. Besides, a new class of causes has been added, to explain planned machine shutdowns.

Better User Interface, New Options

The PC‑Topp.NET Downtime Causes page combines breakdown causes, scheduled downtimes and internal complaints plus the freshly introduced downtime category "Machine Shutdown Reasons" in a single page. The downtime categories can be selected via the tabs at the page top.

This is what sets apart the four different categories:

Like before, the causes in each category are broken down by groups. It is easy to create new groups and downtime causes, or to edit entries.

Flags for Breakdown Causes

For the breakdown causes you can now say whether the downtime is machine related, or order or crew related. Note that any combination of those flags is possible.

These flags are not evaluated in most PC-Topp reports, except that some statistics show downtime totals grouped by these flags. However, they are available in PC‑Topp's SQL Server database and can be used in personalized reports.

Like before, you can say which downtime causes are supposed to appear on each machine, to exclude causes that don't apply. However, this "filtering" still needs to be done in the "classical" Downtime Causes program (DOS).

A more detailed explanation of the effect each kind of downtime cause has on the calculation of production times in PC‑Topp is available in the news entry Calculation of PC Topp Times for Statistics Explained

The Corrugator Control page fulfills two main purposes:

In the corrugator control room it functions as the online connection between corrugator and Planning. The Corrugator Control page lets the corrugator operator transfer runs to the Dry End controller and change the run sequence while keeping Program Memory and Dry End controller synchronized.

Furthermore, the Corrugator Control page lets the corrugator crew print out a variety of production documents like corrugator programs, cutting and material lists or pallet labels right at the machine.

Elsewhere in the plant, e.g. at the Wet End, the Corrugator Control page allows printing corrugator schedules and material requirements but without the possibility to make sequence changes or to transfer runs to the Dry End controller.

More Control for the Corrugator Crew, Program Memory Always Up to Date

The Corrugator Control Page changes PC-Topp's approach to the link between Planning and the corrugator: Originally, the On-line Link program was run on a PC in the planning office. When new schedules were ready, the planners used it to transfer them to the corrugator.

Now, the Corrugator Control Page is used by the corrugator crew, directly in the corrugator control cabin, for the same purpose. This not only gives the crew much more control over what programs are downloaded to the corrugator, it also allows PC-Topp to follow corrugator production more closely.

Before, new programs were sent by Planning always to the end of the queue of schedules waiting to be produced. If such a new schedule needed to be run earlier, the corrugator crew had to make the necessary sequence change at the Dry End controller computer, which had the advantage that they maintained full control over what was happening at the machine. Planning could not simply make a sequence change without informing them, or without their okay. The disadvantage was that the schedules in PC-Topp's Program Memory usually stayed in the old, now obsolete sequence.

Now, Planning simply releases new schedules for production, and they appear at the end of the queue of schedules waiting for production. If a sequence change is needed, the corrugator crew makes it right there in the Corrugator Control Page, which is usually much easier than using the corrugator's own user interface. The sequence at the Dry End controller computer is automatically kept in sync with the changes done on the Corrugator Control page.

Moreover, the Corrugator Control page automatically synchronizes Program Memory with the new sequence. This way, the actual program sequence is always visible in Planning as well as at the corrugator.

With the Corrugator Control page, runs can be transferred to the Dry End controller computer either manually or automatically. The automatic mode always keeps enough programs in the queue to maintain a smooth production flow. Optionally, the Corrugator Control page can only be used for displaying and printing programs and paper requirements, without the functionality for modifying the run sequence.

Changing the Production Sequence

The Corrugator Control page displays the runs in the corrugator queue marked with padlock symbols. They show the status of each run and allow you to change it.

	Runs whose position can't be changed anymore because they are either already being produced or very close to production.
	Runs that have already been transferred to the Dry End controller computer. Those runs are locked, i.e. their sequence can't be changed. If you want to modify the position of those runs you can unlock them with a mouse click on the green padlock. Unlocking a run means that it is temporarily deleted from the Dry End controller computer. The run is retransferred as soon as the desired sequence has been established.
	Runs that are in Program Memory but haven't been transferred to the Dry End controller computer yet. You can change their position anytime.
	Runs whose position in the queue of the Dry End controller computer is different from their position in Program Memory. This happens when runs are manually inserted or when the sequence is modified at the Dry End controller computer. These runs can be changed after unlocking them with a click on the padlock.

The queue always starts with one or several red padlocks, followed by runs with a locked padlock symbol (ideally all green, after changes done at the Dry End controller some of them may be orange). The last run with a locked padlock marks the end of the schedule that has already been downloaded to the Dry End controller. After that point, all runs have open padlock icons.

Sequence changes in the section marked with open padlocks can be done directly. If however a change is needed in the locked part of the queue, then the corresponding runs must be unlocked first by clicking on the padlock symbol of the first run in the locked part of the schedule.

On the Corrugator Scheduling page, only grades that have orders to be scheduled for the corrugator are of interest, all other grades are omitted to allow the planner a concentrated view on the grades he needs to work on.

However, any grade that has no orders to schedule in the range of days shown, but where there are runs in Program Memory waiting for production, should also appear, in order to show the planner all grades with runs in Program Memory for the selected flute type.
This situation is rare, as most grades that are being produced do have orders for the near future waiting and thus are shown along with the Program Memory info.

The page has been revised slightly and now shows even grades where there is nothing to schedule for the immediate future when they have runs waiting in Program Memory. As a side effect, the total of the Program Memory column is now always compatible with the numbers shown for each grade below.

Corrugator Scheduling has become even easier and more powerful: It is now possible to activate Automatic Upgrades in the Corrugator Scheduling tool box.

When Automatic Upgrades are activated, PC-Topp automatically selects orders from selected other board grades as optional orders (blue) in addition to the orders from the grade you're about to schedule. Optimisation will make use of them if the result can be significantly improved. Of course, just like with manual upgrades, the cost of the upgrade is taken into account, and upgrades will only occur if the resultant total cost per 1000m² warrants that additional cost.

Which grades exactly are looked at when you schedule a particular grade is defined in the Options page for that grade: You can specify a list of up to 10 compatible grades from which orders will be upgraded if it makes sense. Of course, you could also allow for downgrades, but who would want to do that!?

Production Targets are calculated as a snapshot of the current schedule situation at the exact (theoretical) moment of the shift change, they reflect what Planning had committed to deliver during the following shift.

The Production Targets page shows these targets along with the current production, showing at any time whether actual production is on target (100%), or above or below. The crews at the machines can use that indicator to see how they are doing, and starting out at 100% it should motivate them to stay at or above 100% even if the schedule changes during the shift. That way, the production totals at the end of the shift will more likely match the objectives.

As a new feature, the corrugator's production targets can be added to that page (which until now only showed the conversion machines' targets).

The Corrugator Monitor has been improved again to offer additional information for the user.

Next to the Day Info, the user can look up the next programs following the current run, to stay informed about the schedule sequence as well as upcoming paper size or flute type changes.

The new information box appears on the right hand side of the Entire Day box, and users can hide it to view the Current Program Details box again by clicking on the link in its head section.

In Corrugator Scheduling, PC-Topp used to always propose the 'normal' roll sizes, according to the corrugator settings. Now it is possible to have the right paper size appear automatically for Pre-Print grades, or other grades that are only available on certain particular paper sizes.

Go to the Board Grade Settings page and select a pre-print grade. You will find a set of new fields on the bottom of the page where you can define the correct roll size for this grade. Once you save the new settings, Optimisation will automatically propose the right roll size when you schedule that grade.

The Program Memory page marks schedules containing orders that require special scores with a little red icon ( , see Orders with Special Scores Marked in Program Memory).

The same functionality has now been added to the Corrugator Scheduling page. There the red icon now shows you the board grades and dates containing orders with special scores so you can check those orders in detail.

In the pop-up that appears when you click on a date, the orders with special scores are marked in the same way so you can easily locate them.