Specification

Once you have made the necessary configurations, you can use the Components association estimates and jobs. The steps to apply the association of components with regular formats are very similar to those for applying association with irregular formats, being different only on the way to arrange components in the assembly. However, for clarity, this document presents each one separately.

 

Creating a Regular Association

Note: Starting from iQuote version 10.1, you can mix components with regular and irregular formats in a Regular Association. If you use version 10.0 or previous, you can only add components with regular format in this type of Association.

In the system’s main menu, click Sales > iQuote > Estimate or enter "estimate" in the Quick Search field.

Click New or select an existing one and click Edit.

On the Product tab, specify the different components as appropriate and click Calculate.

Note: When adding new product components, it is necessary to enter the quantities to be produced for each component in the Qty/ Price tab. Otherwise the system will not be able to calculate the engineering.

Click New association.

Select “Regular association”.

Note: "Regular association" was the name given to the association component in this example. It is recommended to use this same name or a similar one for easy identification, but this is a record that you created.

Click the components that you want to associate and drag them to the Regular association component. In the case of this example, we have chosen to associate the two "Leaf" components (as shown in the image above).

Note: You can only associate components that use the same substrate.

Note: The Association component inherits the same characteristics from the original components when the characteristic is Mandatory, Selected, and Visible for the Association component.

Click the Regular association component to select it, and then click again to access the menu. Select Association Layout. The following screen will open:

There are three Layout Modes that you can use to build your Regular Association: drag and drop, manual layout, and layout optimization.

See below a description of the main buttons and fields on the Association window and, following, how to use each of the available layout modes.

 

Using the Drag and Drop layout mode

The Drag and Drop Layout Mode allows you to build the Regular Association layout in a visual way, by manually placing each component on the layout and editing them according to their sizes and changing their positions and orientation. It is an interesting option to use if you don't know yet the final size of the layout that you want to build; but you can use this mode only with components that have a regular format.

Important: The Drag and Drop layout mode used to be the default and only mode available in iQuote in versions previous to 10.1. Therefore, if your iQuote version is 10.0 or earlier, this is the only Regular Association that you will be able to use.

 

On the Layout Mode field, select the Drag and Drop option.

In the Components table on the right, click on the associated component and drag and drop it to the square area on the left of the screen to position it in the assembly.

If the component has versions, choose in the Version field of the Components table the version that you want to add to the layout. Each version will have its own row in the table and you will need to drag and drop each of them to the area on the left to position it in the assembly.

Note: We introduced the possibility to associate components with versions in the version 10.1 of iQuote. If your iQuote version is 10.0 or earlier, you cannot associate components with versions.

Repeat the procedure with the other associated components, as needed.

Include each component as many times as necessary and drag to position to form the assembly unit.

(optional) Check the Fix margins option to enter the size of the margins. If you do so, the system will update the Format with Margins field accordingly.

(optional) Check the Use Die Cutter (irregular format) to separate the components option to tell the system to use a die cutter to separate the components at the end of the production process.

Once the components are properly positioned, click Confirm.

Back on the estimate screen, click on Calculate. The engineering will plan to print the two leaf components on the same sheet, separating them only during the cutting.

Note: If one of the associated components’ format is edited after the engineering calculation, the system will not update the layout automatically. You must go back to the layout screen and reposition the elements.

 

Using the Manual mode layout mode

The Manual Layout Mode allows you to define the final size of the Association Layout and the number of times that each component will appear on the layout, without the need to actually build the layout on the screen, as you would do when using Drag and Drop.

The main differences between this mode and the Drag and Drop is that you can associate components with regular format, irregular, or both formats using the Manual mode and that iQuote will not validate the size of the component and its Number Up compared to the final size that you inform, making it a less restrictive option. It will assume that the numbers are correct and will calculate the engineering according to the data that you inform.

Note: We introduced the Manual layout mode in the version 10.1 of iQuote. If your iQuote version is 10.0 or earlier, this is not available to you.

 

On the Layout Mode field, select the Manual Layout option.

Once you select the Manual option, the Format field will be editable. Enter the final size of the layout that you want to build.

On the Components table, enter the number of times that each component will appear on the Association layout in the Number Up field.

If the component has versions, choose in the Version field the version that you want to add to the layout. In this case, you will have to inform the number of times that each version of the component will appear on the layout.

Note: We introduced the possibility to associate components with versions in the version 10.1 of iQuote. If your iQuote version is 10.0 or earlier, you cannot associate components with versions.

(optional) Check the Fix margins option to enter the size of the margins. If you do so, the system will update the Format with Margins field accordingly.

(optional) Check the Use Die Cutter (irregular format) to separate the components option to tell the system to use a die cutter to separate the components at the end of the production process.

(optional) Hover your mouse over the Layout Image area and click on Upload File to insert an image representing the layout that you will produce. 

Note: iQuote uses the image only to illustrate the component's layout in the engineering tab of the estimate record. The engineering calculation does not use it.

Once you have filled these information, click on Confirm.

Back on the estimate screen, click on Calculate. The engineering will plan to print the two leaf components on the same sheet, separating them only during the cutting.

Note: If you edit one of the associated components’ format after the engineering calculation, the system will not update the layout automatically. You must go back to the layout screen and reposition the elements.

 

Using the Layout Optimization

The optional Layout Optimization feature further enhances Association functionality by automatically assessing your machinery and raw materials to calculate how the system can combine products with different sizes into a single layout. Thus, you can improve the efficiency of the process by avoiding the empty spaces on paper that would otherwise be cut from the final product as waste.

Although it appears as an option whenever you access the Association window, your iQuote environment must include an active eFlow connection and you must have an additional license to be able to use this feature. Contact your ePS representative for more details on the required license.

Note: Please refer to the Layout Optimization guide in the Online Help for more information on how this feature works.

When you use the Layout Optimization, almost all the options are read-only, but you can still do some adjusts in the margins through the Association window. The system updates the total size accordingly.

 

Click the Regular association component in your estimate or job to select it and then click again to access the menu. Select Association Layout. The Association window opens.

Check the Fix Margins field.

Enter the size of the margins: top, right, bottom, and left.

Click Confirm.

Back on the estimate screen, click on Calculate.

 

Creating an Irregular Association

In the system’s main menu, click Sales > iQuote > Estimate or enter "estimate" in the Quick Search field.

Click New or select an existing one and click Edit.

On the Product tab, specify the different components as appropriate and click Calculate.

Note: When adding new product components, it is necessary to enter the quantities to be produced for each component in the Qty/ Price tab. Otherwise the system will not be able to calculate the engineering.

Click New association.

Select “Irregular Association”.

Note: "Irregular association" was the name given to the association component in this example. It is recommended to use this same name or a similar one for easy identification, but this is a record created by the user.

Click the components to be associated and drag them to the Irregular Association component.

Note: The association can only be done with components printed on the same substrate.

Click the Irregular Association component. The following screen will open. In the case of this example we have chosen to associate two cartons.

In the Irregular Association Format area, complete the Format field (LxA) with the component’s assembly size. The other fields will be automatically filled.

Click Calculate.

Note: If one of the associated components’ format is edited after the engineering calculation, the system will not update the layout automatically. You must go back to the layout screen and reposition the elements.