How To Use Layout Optimization

Tip: This topic describes how you can use the Layout Optimization feature, from the standard and simplest usage to the more complicated scenarios that include several components and alternative setups.

Once you confirm the layout to use, iQuote associates the components that the Optimizer combined into the same layout and copies the defined layout into the Association component. If you use more than one layout, iQuote assigns an Association component for each layout.

Next, iQuote calculates the estimate’s engineering to define the production process. If you expand the association component by clicking Association Layout, the system specifies the Layout Mode as Layout Optimization to indicate that Layout Optimization feature sent the layout in use, and that the layout is fixed. Therefore, you cannot change the value in the Format field from the Association screen.

 

Standard Use

To use the Layout Optimization, make sure you already set up your Estimate or Job with all the products and component specifications, complete the following procedure:

1. Do one of the following from the iQuote desktop:

• Navigate to Sales > iQuote > Estimate. The Estimate screen opens.
• Navigate to Planning > Planner > Job. The Job screen opens.

1. 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.
2. Click Layout Optimization. The Layout Optimization window opens.
3. Select the products to simulate from the Filters table.
4. If applicable, in the Group field, enter separate numbers for each additional group you want to create.

Note: Each group must include at least one associated product.

1. If applicable, select the Fix Laydown Format check box, then do all of the following.

• Click New to add as many formats as you want to use to simulate.
• Enter the layout size(s) that you want the Layout Optimization to calculate.

Note: Enter one size per line.

1. Click Calculate Optimization. The system calculates all the possible layout options.

Note: You do not need to calculate the estimate’s engineering before calculating the layout optimization.

1. In the Groups table, select the layout option you want to use in your Estimate or Job.

Tip: Select at least one layout option for each group.

1. Review the Optimization Summary table for the details of the layouts you selected, and click Confirm.

Once you Confirm the layout that you selected, the Layout Optimization window will close, and you will be back to the Estimate or Job screen. The system will create a new Association component to correlate the components that the Optimizer put together on the same layout.

 

Use Layout Optimization On Products With Versions

Important: Before you use the Layout Optimization on a product with more than one version, you must consider all of the following:

● The system calculates all versions as only one component.
●  You cannot select specific versions of the component to calculate on the Layout Optimization. Instead, you must simulate the whole component.
● Even if the screen displays only one component on the Filters table, the system simulates all versions individually. This way, you can select the best version combination (e.g., version 1 and 4 should be on the same layout, while 2 and 3 should be on another).

To use the Layout Optimization, be sure you set up your Estimate all the versions’ details of the products and components specifications.

1. Do one of the following from the iQuote desktop:

• Navigate to Sales > iQuote > Estimate. The Estimate screen opens.
• Navigate to Planning > Planner > Job. The Job screen opens.

1. 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.
2. Click Layout Optimization. The Layout Optimization window opens.

1. Select the products to simulate from the Filters table.

Note: Even if the product includes more than one version, the system displays it as a single component on the table, and the Quantity column includes all the versions’ quantities summed.

1. If applicable, in the Group field, enter separate numbers for each additional group you want to create.

Note: Each group must include at least one associated product.

1. If applicable, select the Fix Laydown Format check box, then do all of the following.

• Click New to add as many formats as you want to use to simulate.
• Enter the layout size(s) that you want the Layout Optimization to calculate.

Note: Enter one size per line.

1. Click Calculate Optimization. The system calculates all the possible layout options.

Note: You do not need to calculate the estimate’s engineering before calculating the layout optimization.

1. In the Groups table, select the layout option you want to use in your Estimate or Job. Select at least one option for each group.

Note: The Optimizer can assign all versions to the same layout or separate them into different ones. Select the option you deem most logical.

1. Review the Layout Details table to for the details of the layout that you selected.

Tip: The system differentiates the versions in the Component Name column.

1. Review the Optimization Summary table for the details of the layouts you selected, and click Confirm.

Once you Confirm the layout that you selected, the Layout Optimization window will close, and you will be back to the Estimate or Job screen. The system will create a new Association component to correlate the components that the Optimizer put together on the same layout.

 

Use Layout Optimization With More Than One Component

You can select more than one component from your estimate or job and combine them using Layout Optimization. This feature works best for the following scenarios:

• There is more than one component on the same layout.
• There is a layout for each component or for each version of the component (generating more than one Association component afterwards.)
• Versions of different components are on the same layout.

For example, consider a situation with a product that includes four versions, and the Optimizer suggested combining versions 2 and 3 on one layout and versions 1 and 4 on another. In this case, the system created two Associations related to the same component.

In a different example, assume there is a "Leaf" product with 4 versions, and a "Leaf 1" product with 2 versions. The Optimizer suggests adding all product versions to the same layout (six versions in total), and the system creates only one association for both products.

 

Use Layout Optimization With Signature Format

The signature format is a type of product that requires more work, since your machines probably cannot process signatures that include a lot of pages at once. iQuote engineering can work with this kind of limitation. The system can automatically break books down according to your machine’s limitations, or calculate the format/size of the book cover depending on the number of pages, but only outside of the Layout Optimization feature.

Therefore, the Optimizer cannot process products that use the signature format – such as books and magazines – unless you adjust the layout you want to use beforehand.

To adjust the layout for use with the Layout Optimization feature, do all of the following:

1. Do one of the following from the iQuote desktop:

• Navigate to Sales > iQuote > Estimate. The Estimate screen opens.
• Navigate to Planning > Planner > Job. The Job screen opens.

1. 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.

1. Do either of the following to adjust the layout of the components that use Signature Format:

• Manually define the layout as follows:

• Click the component and select Edit Layout.
• In the Folding Scheme area, locate and select the scheme that you want to use, based on your machine's capacity.
• Navigate back to the Edit Layout screen and enter the size of the cover.
• Select the Fix Scheme check box and click Confirm.
• Change the number of pages directly on the component’s Signature Format characteristic, according to the folding scheme that you selected.
• Duplicate the component as many times as you need in order to get the total number of pages. For example, if the signature includes 32 pages in total but your machine can work with books of up to only 16 pages. You must edit the component layout, select a folding scheme for 16 pages, change the component’s page number from 32 to 16, then duplicate the component one time.

• Calculate the engineering beforehand by doing all of the following:

• After creating the product(s) and the component(s), calculate the Estimate or Job engineering.
• With the engineering calculated, select the component and click Edit Layout.
• Select the Fix Scheme check box and click Confirm.
• Change the number of pages directly on the component’s Signature Format characteristic, according to the suggested engineering on the Folding Scheme.
• Duplicate the component as many times as needed to reach the total number of pages.

1. Click Layout Optimization. The Layout Optimization window opens.
2. Select the products to simulate from the Filters table.
3. If applicable, in the Group field, enter separate numbers for each additional group you want to create.

Note: Each group must include at least one associated product.

1. If applicable, select the Fix Laydown Format check box, then do all of the following.

• Click New to add as many formats as you want to use to simulate.
• Enter the layout size(s) that you want the Layout Optimization to calculate.

Note: Enter one size per line.

Click Calculate Optimization. The system calculates all the possible layout options.

Note: You do not need to calculate the estimate’s engineering before calculating the layout optimization.

1. In the Groups table, select the layout option you want to use in your Estimate or Job. Select at least one option for each group.
2. Review the Optimization Summary table to verify the details of the layouts that you selected, then click Confirm.

Once you Confirm the layout that you selected, the Layout Optimization window will close, and you will be back to the Estimate or Job screen. The system will create a new Association component to correlate the components that the Optimizer put together on the same layout.