Setup Time is the amount of time required to prepare the Resource for a production run and will vary from run to run depending on any number of factors. Accurately modeling setup time is often crucial to the success of the manufacturer. As such, there are a number of ways that setup time can be determined.

Key Concepts

Where Setup is Calculated

There are two primary places that setup time needs to be be established: 1) the Resource level and 2) the Operations level.

The Resource can be used to determine when setup time will be incurred, and if setup is always incurred regardless of any other factors, the Resource will also dictate how much setup time is inescapable.

The Operations will have Attributes that can reference different possible setup tables, which are listed below:

Setup Code table: If these tables are used, APS will match the setup code values (i.e. color) of each operation to the values in this table to calculate the operation setup time.

Attribute code table: Attribute code tables provide more control and options. APS take the operations attribute information and compares values with this table to decide how much setup time there should be.

Attribute number range table: Using these tables you can specify setup time for a range of values. Again, the attribute numbers are tied to operations. There also exists the possibility of using an Attribute Number Range table to act as an eligibility constraint. For example, if a machine can only handle a set number of ranges, only Operations with attributes within that range can be scheduled to that Resource.

Note: Remember that the setup options need to be set in both locations.

Consecutive Setup

Setup time bey default is set to be concurrent, meaning that all of the setup is occurring at once for all the different Attributes that might be incurring setup. There are, however, times where setup must be consecutive, meaning that one Attribute’s full setup time must elapse before the next one may begin. In this case, the “consecutive setup” may be triggered at the Operations level, where it will be determined Operation by Operation, or at the Resource level where all Operations will abide by consecutive setup rules.