Access The Layout Optimization Screen
Note: The following information applies to both estimates and jobs.
After you obtain a license and enable the Layout Optimizer feature, do all of the following to access the Layout Optimization window:
- Do one of the following from the iQuote desktop:
- Navigate to Sales > iQuote > Estimate. The Estimate screen opens.
- Navigate to Planning > Planner > Job from the iQuote desktop. The Job screen opens.
- On the Estimate or Job screen, locate and select the Estimate or Job record you want to use. The Estimate Detail or Job Detail screen opens.
- On the Estimate Detail or Job Detail page, Click the Product tab, then click Layout Optimization.
The Layout Optimization screen opens, and displays all the Estimate or Job components that have a format, with each component on a separate row in the Filters.
Tip: The Layout Optimization screen also displays the Fix Laydown Format check box and the Optimization Calculation area, which is blank by default.
Review The Filters Table
Since you can print all products that share the same substrate together, iQuote automatically groups together all products that share the same paper. The Groups column in the Filters area displays the products from the same group and includes the same group number. However, you can change a product’s group number manually to assign products to different groups.
For example:
You have ten products: four of them use Coated Gloss 200g/m² and six use Coated Gloss 100g/m². iQuote automatically splits those products into two groups.
You have ten products that use the same paper, but only half include hot stamping. You want to keep the products that include hot stamping separated from the other product. Although iQuote automatically groups all the products together, you can manually split the products into two groups by entering a different number in the Group field.
When two or more products are in the same group, iQuote inserts those products on the same layout to print. However, if the products are in different groups, iQuote never uses the same layout.
Notes
● iQuote retrieves the data for the Components, Substrate, and Quantity fields from the Estimate or Job record. Therefore, you must change the data directly from the estimate or Job.
● You do not need to simulate the layout optimization with all final products. Instead, you can select the ones you want the system to use to analyze the possible combinations.
Use The Fix Laydown Format Button
If you do not want the Layout Optimization feature in iQuote to retrieve a list of possible paper formats automatically, you can select the Fix Laydown Format check box to specify specific sizes for the system to simulate. In this case, iQuote does not validate the formats for your machines, and the Optimizer runs the simulation only for the formats you select.
Note: The format you send must be the total workable size for the machine, including margins.
However, when you use this button, the system returns only one layout option by default. To change that configuration, you must go to the General Settings (navigate to Administration > General Configuration > System > General Settings > Layout Optimization tab) and enter a number between 1 and 10 in the Count Max Scenarios field. This field enables the Metrix system to send back to iQuote up to 10 different layout options that the system calculates for the Fixed Laydown Format, depending on the number that you specify in the field.
Calculate The Optimization
Once you select the products you want to simulate with and defined whether to use a fix laydown format or not, click Calculate Optimization. The system calculates the possible layouts within the timeframe you set in the Layout optimization timeout seconds field on the General Settings screen.
iQuote reviews all production groups to determine which formats your printers and other machines can use, and sends to the Layout Optimization a list of possible sizes, with consideration for the paper formats and the minimum and maximum values of your machines. This list excludes irrelevant formats, such as large formats that do not fit the printers used in the production process (e.g., you cannot use a 1000x1000mm size, if your machine can print only up to 500x500mm).
Note: The Optimizer excludes only the layouts that are not possible based on your printer's capacity; it does not evaluate the capacity of other machines.
The Layout Optimization then uses this list and the product quantity to calculate the possible layouts, and returns the size of the actual printed area. When complete, iQuote displays the layout options in the Optimization Calculation area on the Layout Optimization screen.
Review The Groups Table
The Groups table displays all the possible layouts that the Optimizer calculated. The layouts are shown as tabs - which title updates automatically according to the option that you select on the table - and are split according to the groups you defined in the Filters table. By default, the system orders the layouts from the one with the best cost saving ratio to the one with the worst.
The Cost Saving % field represents how much you save on production costs by using the layout the Optimizer suggested, compared to the costs the Estimate engineering would have calculated otherwise. iQuote derives this percentage by comparing the results of two calculations after receiving the return from the Optimizer:
- The engineering’s Production Cost without the Layout Optimization.
- The cost when using one of the Optimizer’s layout options.
Therefore, you can use the Cost Saving % field to measure and understand how the Layout Optimization helps your production process and how much each of the layouts that the Optimizer suggests reduces your overall costs and even increases your margins.
Note: Not all the layouts that the Optimizer suggests can be produced in a real scenario. Sometimes the size of the suggested layouts does not fit all the necessary machines (other than the printers), or the machines do not have the necessary configurations to make the products.
The system verifies whether iQuote can create an engineering production process to make each layout when the system calculates the values for the Groups table. Then if possible, the system automatically checks the Eng field related to that layout.
Note: iQuote leaves the Cost Saving % field blank if the system is unable to calculate the engineering. The field value is red when the savings is negative, meaning the suggested layout is more expensive.
You can also review the Total Layouts column for how many layouts the system used to associate all the products. Sometimes combining all the products in a single layout is not best option or is not possible. In those cases, the number in the Total Layouts field increases.
After carefully analyzing every option, select the layout(s) in the table you want to use in your Estimate or Job.
Review The Layout Details Table
The Layout Details table displays all the relevant data from the products, based on the composition you selected from the available layout options.
Note iQuote automatically displays the data from the layout for ID 1, but the data displayed will change according to the layout(s) you select from the Groups table.
The Layout Details table displays each layout group that you selected, and splits the information across the following columns:
Size (WxH), which describes the product’s final format in the layout; the printed area. This is the size that iQuote applies to the margins later, according to each machine's settings.
Size (WxH) with margin, which is the original format that iQuote sends to the Layout Optimization. This is the maximum size the machines can use.
The components’ name.
Number Up, that represents the number of times each component appears in the layout.
Tips
● The Total Number Up field displays the total quantity of products per layout, based on the option(s) you select.
● The Layout Image area enables you to check a simulation of how the layout is printed. This image changes according to which layout you select in the Groups area.