Operation Setup Time Overview

Setup time is the portion of the operation spent preparing the resource for performing the operation (such as tooling, proofing, or any other work not proportional to the units produced). The system factors the setup time into the duration of the operation.

Depending on your type of business, resources may always need to be set up. Or, they may need to be set up only when changing from working on one type of item to another. Likewise, the setup time could be a fixed value or it could vary depending on the type of item.

About Posted Setup Times

In APS and in the Scheduler, when you post setup time against a job with a job transaction, APS and Scheduler consider the posted time and plan or schedule the operation using the adjusted setup hours. For example, if the normal setup time on an operation is 10 hours, and you post setup time of 3 hours against the job/operation, the operation will be planned and/or scheduled using 7 hours.

About Setup Time in APS

APS uses only the Setup hours value specified on the Standards tab on the Operations form, divided by Efficiency (also specified on the operation). This value is intended to be an average setup time. The Scheduler uses a more detailed setup value, which the rest of this help topic describes.

Defining the Setup Resource Group

On the operation, in the Setup Resource Group field, define a resource group from which to allocate the resource to be set up. The Scheduler will use the resource allocated from this group to determine the setup time based on the criteria you define (described later in this help topic). If you leave the Setup Resource Group field blank, the operation incurs no setup time.

NOTE: The Scheduler loads the calculated setup time onto all resources allocated to the operation. For example, if the operation allocates three resources, one of which is the setup resource, and the calculated setup time is 1 hour, all three resources are loaded with 1 hour of setup time.

Defining When to Apply Setup Time

To specify the situations in which the operation requires the resource to be set up, select the appropriate Setup Rule on the operation record:

Always: this operation always needs the resource to be set up, regardless of the previous item the resource was working on.
Basis: this operation needs the resource to be set up only when the previous operation using the resource was working on a different item or setup group (group of related items).
(User-defined rules 3-39): you can write custom setup rules to determine when the resource should be set up. See Writing a Custom Scheduler Rule for more information.

When the Setup Rule field is set to Basis, select the appropriate Setup Basis on the operation record:

Item: apply the setup time when the previous operation using the resource was working on a different item.
Setup Group: apply the setup time when the previous operation was working on an item that is a member of a different Setup Group than the item this operation is working on. You define setup groups on the Setup Groups form. For example, you might group all red bike frames in a "RED" setup group and blue bike frames in a "BLUE" group. The setup time could be based on the time needed to set up the resource from painting red frames to painting blue frames.

NOTE: Each operation can have only one setup basis, but you may define many setup basis configurations. For example, the bike assembly operation could have a setup basis of "Type of Handle Bar," and the bike frame operation could have a "Color" basis.

Defining the Amount of Setup Time

You can define a fixed setup time or use a calculated value. You can select the Setup Time Rule on the operation record to represent either situation.

Fixed: apply the value from the Setup Hrs field on the operation, divided by Efficiency.
Setup Matrix: look up a value from a table that defines setup time based on changing the resource's setup from working on one type of item to working on another. The value the system applies from the setup matrix is NOT divided by Efficiency. See Creating a Setup Matrix for more information.

Example

See Setup Time Example for an example of the possible combinations of setup rules and setup time rules.