Configurations
Note: This section was written for contexts where the iQuote system has already been preconfigured and it’s necessary only to add the functions specific for this particular scenario. If the system is not set or there are doubts about its records or functions refer to the iQuote user guides, the Online Help or reach out to our support team.
Access
The user is required to have the following access options enabled to be able to add a specification characteristic type:
EPS > SALES > RECORDS > IQUOTE > ENGINEERING > PRODUCTION GROUP
Enable all accesses under Production group and Edit production group.
For some management roles it’s necessary to also have permission to select a plant in the engineering diagram screen, even when overruling restrictions made in the plant record (see more about it in Multi plant in the engineering). In order to have this permission enable the following access option.
EPS > SALES > IQUOTE > ESTIMATE > ESTIMATE EDITION > ALLOW TO SELECT PLANTS THAT ARE NOT LINKED WITH THE PRODUCT LINE BY DEFAULT
See below the step-by-step description of each of these settings.
Plant records
Plant records are not a new feature in the system. But some enhancements had been made to this record in order to make engineering calculations more complete.
In the system’s main menu, click Planning > Records > Planner > Plant record or enter "Plant record" in the Quick Search field.
Click New to create a plant record or open an existing one.
Fill in the fields as follows:
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Field |
Description |
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Code |
Enter an identification code for this plant. |
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External Ref. |
Enter the external reference respective to this plant. |
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Plant name |
Define a name that easily identifies this plant. |
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Company |
Select the company this plant belongs to. |
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Active |
Check this parameter to make this plant available for use by the engineering. |
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GMT ref. hour |
Time offset from GMT. Used only for systems integrated with M3 Planner. |
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Plant ref. initial hour |
Time at which the plant starts to work. Used only for systems integrated with M3 Planner. |
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Engineering color |
Select a color for identifying this plant in the engineering diagram. |
Distance between plants tab
When multiple plants are created, iQuote automatically include them under Distance between plants tab.
In this grid users can define both distance and a time factors between two plants. The values defined here are may be selected as Dynamic multipliers in the respective production group, providing for the system to take in consideration the costs of transportation between plants when calculating the estimates. Read more in Add functionality to the production group.
Using these fields is optional.
Product line simulation
Under Product line simulation tab, the user can define specific product lines that can be produced in this plant.
Selecting items in this window works as a restriction for the plant record, since it prevents the engineering to use this plant for any unchecked product lines. If no product lines are selected the system considers all product lines can be produced in this plant.
Note: User profiles that have the “Allow to select plants that are not linked with the product line by default” access control enabled can overrule this selection directly in the engineering diagram. Read more about it in Plants button: fixing the engineering to a plant.
Add functionality to the production group
In the system’s main menu, click Sales > Records > iQuote > Engineering > Production Group or enter "Production Group" in the Quick Search field.
Click New to create a production group.
Fill in the fields as follows:
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Field |
Description |
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Code |
Type in an identification code. This field is mandatory. |
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Description |
Fill in with the production group’s name to facilitate identification. This field is mandatory. |
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Production group type |
Select Machinery, Manual or Outsourced, depending on how your components are transported between plants. This field is mandatory. |
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Unit of measurement |
Select the appropriate unit of measurement. This field is mandatory. |
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Cost account |
Select a cost account to allocate the costs related to this Production Group. |
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Template |
Check this option for using this production group as a template. |
Click Confirm.
On the Functionalities tab, click New.
Complete the fields on this screen as described below:
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Field |
Description |
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Functionality |
Functionality that, when linked to the printing group, will determine the group’s functions its respective restrictions. Enter functionality 1089 – Plant change adapter. |
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Description |
Functionality’s name within the production group. Fill in with the functionality’s name to facilitate identification. |
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Input |
Select the engineering components to be considered as functionality input. |
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Output |
Select the engineering components that will be considered as functionality output. |
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INPUT AND OUTPUT COMPONENTS |
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The decision about what components should be added in the Plant Change Adapter production group depends on each company’s needs. For defining the ideal set of components for your company’s workflow, reach out for your ePS implementation representative. Nevertheless, here we have some useful general guidelines: Every component selected as an input component must be also selected as an output component, and vice versa. The 1089 – Plant change adapter functionality do not transform component, but only moves them between plants. So the same items that go in the functionality’s production group must go out of it. It’s not recommended to add several components. Behind scenes, iQuote calculates every possible combinations of the available resources. So adding too many components to a plant change production group, it’s not helpful and can make the engineering calculation much slower. It’s recommended to add substrate components and components under processing. Those are components that could be processed in one plant up to a point and, then, moved to be completed in another plant. For example: paper roll, sheet, irregular/carton format, kit/grouper among others. Contact you ePS representative and ask for support for configuring this production group The selection of components might define restrictions to the engineering. |
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Example 1 If a user adds sheets to the Plant change functionality, but do not add paper rolls the system understands products that fall into a webfed workflow cannot be moved between plants during production. |
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Example 2 Plate setting is a secondary activity that happens always prior to printing. If the plate component is added to the plant change functionality (as well as the substrates and components under process) the system will allow the plate to be imaged in one plant and transported to another plant where it will be used for printing. This may work well for some companies, but it’s not a common choice for several workflows. Not including the plate in the plant change functionality guarantees the plate setting will necessarily take place in the same plant as the printing activity. |
Click Confirm.
Under Plant change adapter select the possible movements between plants.
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EXAMPLES |
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Let’s consider a company that has four different plants. Here are some possible combinations that could work depending on the plants location and the company’s workflow: From Plant A to Plants B, C and D
Components can be sent from plant A to all other plants, but cannot receive anything. This means plant A can never be the last plant in a multiple plant engineering process.
From plants A, B and C to plants A, B and C.
Components can be sent: |
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In this case plant D is isolated from the other ones. Any product processed in the plant D must have all of its components produced in plant D itself.
From plants A and B to plants A and B; and from plants C and D to plants C and D. In some cases, for example, a company may have a couple plants in one country and others in another country. To avoid unwanted international shipping, the user can enter the 1089 – Plant change functionality twice in the plant change adapter production group, and restrict the plants change accordingly.
In this example, the first entry in the production group has been set like this:
And the second entry had the plants C and D selected instead:
This guarantees the engineering may simulate moving components between plants A and B or between C and D. But never going from A or B to C, or D, neither the other way around. |
When selected, the Generic characteristic option allows the user to choose if this functionality should suppress a generic characteristic and/ or create a generic characteristic.
Note: All the tabs and filters work the same as they do for any other production group and, therefore, are not mandatory. Nevertheless, notice these configurations can be quite useful depending on the company’s workflow.
Setting up cost information
Note: For the purposes of this document, we describe the creation of two entries and their minimum data under the Costs tab. This way, plant change cost values are considered in the estimate price calculation.
Talk to your ePS representative and check what configuration is best for you environment.
Follow these steps to configure the production group costs, so the engineering can include them in the price calculation:
In the production group, under the tab Costs, select a Cost account to aggregate the plan change costs.
Note: Create a “plant change” cost account in Sales > Records > iQuote > Costing.
Click New under Cost item definition.
In Description, type in a name for easy identification. In this example we used “Distance”.
Create a new line under Cost items and fill in the fields in the grid as follows:
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Field |
Description |
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Transformation cost type |
Select the appropriate cost type, from the options previously created in the Transformation cost type record. |
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Calculation type |
Select the appropriate calculation type from the following options: Total time Only setup time Only production time Activity quantity Activity quantity + waste Fixed |
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Qty. un |
Select the best type of unit for calculating the quantities for this production group. |
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Multiplication factor |
This field can be used to add a modifier to the values set in this production group cost. |
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Dynamic multiplier |
This drop-down menu displays several factors in the system that could work as dynamic multiplier. For the Plant change adapter production group, select either the distance or the time factors, defined in the Plant records, under Distance between plants. |
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Active |
Check this option in order to this cost to be available for engineering and price calculation. |
You can add as many costs as necessary. For this example, we created a cost line for distance and another one for time:
When finished, click Save and close.
Note: The cost itself has to be included in the respective cost table (transformation or outsourcing, depending on the selected Production group type).
Creating a plant filter in a production group
When a production group is not linked to any specific plant, iQuote simulates it in all available plants. This is very useful when you have the same machine, for example, in all of your plants, so you can create only one production group for all of them.
But different plants may have different resources or restrictions for a production group. For these cases a Plant filter option has been created. Use the plants filter to link resources and restrictions to specific plants, as necessary.
First, let’s see how to create this filter. Then, we’ll show two examples of possible uses.
In the system’s main menu, click Sales > Records > iQuote > Engineering > Production Group or enter "Production Group" in the Quick Search field.
Select the appropriate production group and click Advanced settings.
Go to the Filter tab and click New.
Enter a name for the filter in Description, for example “Plant”.
Under Filter options click New.
In Description, enter a name that identify the specific plant for this filter option.
Under Conditions for filter selection, click New.
Double click the Filter box.
Open the drop down menu under Field and select “plant”:
Adjust the Condition, as necessary:
Under Value, click the search icon and choose a plant.
Click OK and OK again for saving this filter condition.
Repeat the steps from 1 to 12 for adding other filter options.
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EXAMPLES |
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Assigning resources to a plant For this example, we created a plant filter in the Die cutting production group. Then, we used it in Others > Planning to specify the Die assemble resource available only in plant A.
To create a similar configuration, follow these steps: Under the Filters tab, create a plant filter. Go to the Others tab. Go to Planning tab and click New. Use the search menu in Resource to select the resource to be restricted. Under Filters, click New. In the grid, under the Filter column, select Plants (previously created). In the grid, under the Filter option column, select the specific plant. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for making this resource available for other plants. Save the changes in the production group. |
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Restricting output components according to the plant In the following example we, again, used the Die cutting production group. This time we added a plant filter to the output component 1013 – Sheet (irregular/ carton), in the functionality 1033 – Stripper (die cutting). Notice the condition selected in this example is “not equal to” and the filter option was Plant C. This means the system cannot simulate components with irregular format going out of the stripper machine in plant C. In all the other plants the simulation works as usual.
To create a similar configuration, follow these steps: Under Functionalities tab, click to select the appropriate functionality. Click Output. In the new window click to select the output component in which you want to create the restriction. Double click the Filter to open the filter creation dialog box. Open the drop down menu under Field and select “plant”: Adjust the Condition, as necessary. Under Value, click the search icon and choose a plant. Click OK. Repeat steps 4 to 9 for creating filters for other output components, if needed. Click Ok. Save the changes in the production group. |
