Shop Floor
Chapter 9 of the conceptual manuals, grounded against the live dictionaries. This is the layer that turns a work order into a sequence of operations someone actually works on — and the one PSI most visibly replaced, since the dispatch list the floor sees is PSI’s, not AFTEC’s.
Live usage counts are missing from this page
The per-user UniData API path was returning 403 — “Your account could not be matched to an on-prem AD user” while this was written, so the record counts that appear on the other pages in this section could not be gathered. Everything below is from the vendor manual and the live dictionaries (read from the file share), both of which are reliable. The “what PSI actually uses” question is still open here.
Five designed areas
“Shop Floor extends the user’s control over Work-in-Process to a much more detailed level, from the aggregate order to each operation… by not only providing assistance in scheduling and dispatching, but by feeding back shop floor data for immediate analysis.”
Dispatching · Scheduling · Tracking · Queue Management (CRP) · Simulation Loading
Headline capabilities: lot splitting with consolidated reporting, outside process tracking, on-line net-change CRP, finite and infinite / forward and backward planning, bar-code collection, move tracking, scrap analysis, user-defined priority codes, machine loading and maintenance reporting, input-output reporting, and on-line capacity simulation.
Scheduling
Loading type — OPENWO attribute 27
Every work order carries a loading type (LTYPE) that decides how CRP schedules it:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
FF | Finite forward |
FB | Finite backward |
IF | Infinite forward |
IB | Infinite backward |
CRP loads orders “according to the scheduling code on the work order… with priority sorting within each type by operation planned dates.” Planned, unreleased and released orders can each be optionally included, and machines are loaded per work centre alongside labor.
The shop floor calendar
Used by every planning and scheduling operation. Definable company-wide, by work centre, or company-wide
with exception work centres — days per week, shifts per day, hours per shift, and holiday/exception days.
Files: SF.CAL, SF.CAL.WOCE.
Resource definition
The scheduling database holds work centre structures, operational information, methods, labor capacity,
set-up capacity, machine capacity, machine utilisation percent, efficiencies, price rate per hour, tools,
and queue / wait / move times — all present on the routing line (QUEUE, WAIT, MOVE, MUTIL,
MSET-UP, MLAB.RATE at attributes 19–21 and 16–18).
Release
Two paths: component availability release, which reveals shortages before releasing and lets the user decide, or a direct release without the check — either singly or as a group.
Queue management
Critical ratio
“The ratio between the time remaining to complete the work order (based on the due date) and the amount of
work remaining on the work order (based on the planned hours on the routing).” Optionally auto-updated on
every open work order against a factor of 1. CRIT.RATIO.CALC in PROBASE computes it; SF3080 is the
scheduled update.
User-defined priority codes
The vendor provides 10 alphanumeric digits of user-defined priority “for capacity requirements
planning, queuing and dispatching”, held on OPENWO attribute 26 (PRIORITY).
Worth noting against Routing: the vendor’s priority is per work order. PSI’s
WIPROUTE.LINE.1287 adds PPRI.LN and GPRI.LN — priority per operation. PSI pushed the concept a
level down, which is what you need if you are dispatching individual operations rather than whole orders.
Capacity requirements planning
“Net-Change CRP is bucketless with an infinite horizon”, regenerated on demand. The report shows load by planned / unreleased / released work orders, current capacity, variance, cumulative variance, and load percent — and because the system is bucketless, “the user has the ability to modify each time bucket as it is printed.” MRP generation updates CRP automatically as a net change.
Tracking
Features the vendor put on the routing line itself — all confirmed present in the live
WIPROUTE.LINE dictionary:
| Capability | Field |
|---|---|
| Lot splitting — divide a WO into discrete lots that run individually but stay “chained” for total order status | SPLIT.QTY (32) |
| Destructive test — adjust quantities for projected yield and track status | DEST.TEST (33) |
| Operation overlap | OVERLAP (29), OVERLAP.QTY (30) |
| Rework | RWK (31) |
| Inspection | INSFLAG (41) |
| Scrap | QTY.SCRAP (26) → SCRAPREG |
| Move in / move out | MOVE.IN (27), MOVE.OUT (28) |
| Multi-machine / multi-operation | MULTI.MACH (35), MULTI.OPER (36) |
Outside processing
“The user can enter scheduled ‘outside’ processes into the routing sequence along with scheduled ‘inside’ processing… Outside processes should be viewed as additional outside resource/work centers and can be loaded, planned, tracked, and costed.”
So outside operations are a routing concept in the vendor design, and the line carries OUT-COST
(attr 15). What the vendor line does not carry is which vendor and when it is due — those come from
the purchase order (§13.4.2.5). That is exactly the gap PSI filled with OS.VEND.NO and OS.DUE.DATE on
WIPROUTE.LINE.1287: the vendor modelled outside work for loading and costing, PSI added the
procurement and scheduling attributes so the floor can see them without opening the PO.
The two closes
Confirmed in the OPENWO dictionary, and worth stating precisely because it drives WIP:
“PRO-III-MASTER allows the user to perform separate manufacturing and accounting ‘closes’… many times performance or cost information is not yet available, yet the need for material should not be restricted by this. This design for separate flows is supported throughout… including separate layered stacks for material traceability and costing.”
| Close | Stamped on | Written by |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | OPENWO attr 55 — MFGVARFPER, “manufacturing close variance update fiscal period” | CA1785 |
| Accounting | OPENWO attr 50 — CLOSE.UPD.FPER, “fiscal period of WIP financial close update” | CA1776 |
Plus the financial status flag itself, FIN.STAT (attr 11): "" unreleased · 1 released · 2 closed ·
3 updated. And a separate WOSTAT (attr 19) with WOSTAT.DTE for the manufacturing-side status.
Two closes, two fiscal-period stamps, two status fields. A work order finished on the floor is not finished financially, and the gap between the two is where WIP sits. Any BC design has to reproduce that separation or WIP will close too early — see The Work Order Model.
Open questions
- What of this does PSI actually run? The obvious candidates to check are
SF.CAL/SF.CAL.WOCE(calendar),CAP.REQ.LAB/CAP.REQ.MACH(capacity requirements), and how many routing lines useSPLIT.QTY,DEST.TESTandOVERLAP. Given the pattern established in Design Intent vs Practice — actuals live, standards and planning apparatus dormant — the finite-capacity and simulation features are the ones to be sceptical about. - Critical ratio is optional and auto-updating. Whether
SF3080is scheduled is worth confirming. - PSI replaced the dispatch list. It would be worth knowing whether
SF3210(the vendor dispatch report) still runs alongsideWORK.WIPLINE.1287, or was abandoned.
Related: Routing · The Work Order Model · Design Intent vs Practice · SFBASE