The listings of PC-Topp Paper Codes and Board Grades are now available as PDF files in the new design of all PC-Topp Crystal reports, or can be downloaded as Excel files. The new output formats offer several advantages:
Step by step, all parameter listings will become available as PDF and Excel files, thus eliminating the need for printing through the classical PC-Topp modules.
Categories: Parameters
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.
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.
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
Categories: Conversion Machine Scheduling | Corrugator Scheduling | Parameters
A new PC-Topp.NET page has been created to supplement (and eventually substitute) the classical Conversion Machines Settings. The Machines page offers some convenient extras the old version doesn't have.
In the new Machines page the plant's machines are presented in groups according to their machine type. This gives the new machine overview a clearer structure than in the classical program where the machines are simply sorted alphanumerically.
In the Machines page you can see immediately if a machine code stands for a corrugator or an ordinary conversion machine, if it is a placeholder for an external sheet supplier or for sheet orders, if it belongs to Shipping etc.
Clicking the "Edit" link to the right of each machine opens a graphical view of this machine like at the Machine Terminal. It shows you the machine design and its relevant parts in more detail. This detailed view also lets you modify the three new fields discussed above.
For viewing and updating the other machine settings PC-Topp.NET relies on the classical Machine Definition program: Click the link "Further Settings for this Machine (DOS)" and the DOS program will open.
Categories: Conversion Machine Scheduling | Parameters
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!?
Categories: Corrugator Scheduling | Parameters
We have made a few minor changes to the Machine Timetable dialog to make it easier to use. In case you had missed it: In Conversion Machine Scheduling you can get to the timetable of any day by clicking the timetable icon next to the date in the headline of that day.
To open or close an entire shift, just click on the shift letter that precedes the opening and closing times of that shift. Of course, the old links on the top of the dialog are still there, for the same purpose.
Previously, a shift that ended early looked a little odd: PC-Topp showed e.g. 05:00 - 13:00, and only on second looks would you discover a break from 11:00 - 13:00 and understand that the shift really ended at 11 a.m. on that day.
Now, the same situation is simply shown as 05:00 - 11:00, as one would expect.
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.
In the past, many customers wanted to be able to attach comments to breaks etc. in the Machine Timetable. We have now implemented a functionality that lets them do that, and that can also be put to use in many other ways.
The new comments can be attached to any day in a machine's timetable and appear on top of the corresponding day in Conversion Machine Scheduling. Thus they can explain why a machine is open (or closed) on that day, draw attention to the fact that the shift ends 2 hours later (see also Improved Machine Timetable), but they can just as well be used for general reminders, information on personnel, or a comment on a particular order on that day's schedule.
To enter a comment, click on the Timetable icon of that day in Conversion Machine Scheduling. You can use the feature to attach a remark to a particular break or order by clearly specifying it in the comment, e.g.: "09:00-09:30: Maintenance of feed unit!"
The comments will slowly find their way also into other pages where information is organized by day.
The classical Service Customers program has been replaced by a PC-Topp.NET web page which offers more features than the old program.
If you haven't been using that functionality: Service Customers is a small group of clients who guarantee you a high order volume regularly, and for whom you can reserve capacity on the machines in advance using the program "Capacity Reservations".
Additionally, a new type of customer has been introduced: Flop Ten customers are a kind of client every plant has, clients where everything goes wrong, or clients who are too critical. PC-Topp now allows you to identify them and attach a specific remark to each of them that warns of the special conditions and dangers for that customer. It works in the same way as the Service Customers and you get to it by clicking on the link "Flop Ten Customers" in the Service Customers Toolbox.
To create a new Flop Ten or Service Customers entry, select a name from the automatic dropdown in the Customer Name field. And you can optionally add a message that then appears at orders for that customer.
Flop Ten customers and Service customers are clearly marked throughout PC-Topp: The names of Service customers are displayed in blue, those of Flop Ten customers in red letters (see screenshot). If you move your mouse over a Flop Ten customer name the message for this customer is displayed in a Tooltip.
At the Machine Terminal a warning appears whenever an order for a Flop Ten customer is run: Either the message entered for the customer or - if there is no message - the hint "Flop Ten Customer" is displayed in red letters.
Visit the new pages on http://demo.pctopp.com.
The machine timetable can now be modified via PC-Topp.NET (so far this could only be done in the classical Machine Timetable program). The functionality is available in Conversion Machine Scheduling. The Timetable link opens a small window offering the most frequently used functions for changing the timetable for the current machine and day.
You can easily change the timetable with a click either on the link in the Toolbox or on the little timetable icon on the day you want to modify. To open or close a shift you can either use the links in the shift list or enter a period of time manually in the fields at the top of the timetable box.
The detailed view of the board grades has a new feature: The option for setting the target speed that is displayed in the Corrugator Monitor.
In the field Expected Speed, the page usually shows "same as for all B-Flute grades" or something similar. With that setting, the speed for predicting the duration of a run in Program Memory is taken from the corrugator settings. However, if a grade runs much more slowly (or faster) than other grades, then a lower or higher speed can be entered here.
In the new field Target Speed, one can now enter the speed that the corrugator crew will see on the new corrugator monitor page, for example. It will normally be higher than the Expected Speed, indicating the speed the grade should be run at to achieve 100% performance.
Where the Target Speed has not been entered yet, it defaults back to the Expected Speed, so that the crew will at least see something reasonable. However, for best use of the new page, you should enter a specific target value here.
Below these speed settings, there is the area Exceptions that is only needed very rarely, in plants that have several corrugators: While the standard Expected Speed is found in the corrugator settings and therefore will reflect the corrugator's performance, any special entry (a lower speed for a special grade, for example) in most cases needs to be different for each corrugator. Likewise, the Target Speed can also vary between corrugators.
Therefore, both speeds can be entered here for every corrugator in the plant. The list is endless, as some plants have several machines in one site.
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