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The
Flow Planner takes the work out of diagramming material flow
through manufacturing facilities and calculating the
distance, time and cost of these moves.
Working
within AutoCAD, the Flow Planner automatically generates
material flow diagrams and calculates material handling
travel distances, time and cost. With variable-width flow
lines color-coded by product, part or material handling
method, users quickly see how layouts should be arranged and
where excessive material handling should be eliminated from
the manufacturing process. The ultimate result is a better
factory layout faster!
Flow Analysis Techniques
Tugger Analysis Techniques
View the chart below and select the name of the function of
interest for more information. You can also contact us to
order your copy of Flow Planner, use Paypal to purchase the
Basic version, or download a trial version for FREE!
NOTE:
The Add-On version of the Flow Planner requires AutoCAD 2002
or higher and will
NOT run on
top of AutoCAD LT. However the Stand-Alone version of the
Flow Planner application
INCLUDES
the 2D authoring capabilities of AutoCAD 2006 and therefore
does not require an existing AutoCAD license.
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Eliminate Wasteful Moves
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The Flow
Planner is a factory wide product flow analysis tool that
combines simple text file routings with an AutoCAD facility
layout drawing to create product, part and material handling
flow diagrams for quick, easy, and accurate documentation
and evaluation. Flow paths can be diagrammed using Euclidian
(point-to-point) flow lines or they can be automatically
routed throughout the aisles.
Flow
Planner can aggregate flow paths by product, part, material
handling method or combination of two and display the
result. The program will also calculate aisle congestion and
color-code material handling intensity levels so you can see
the high traffic areas in the facility. |
Aisle based flow shows material
handling traffic. |
The Flow Planner allows the user to
save a plethora of output to report, MS Excel, and
drawing files. All data within the program can be input
or exported via cut, copy, and pasting to and from the
program. Full versions will enjoy unlimited routing and
location input abilities. Along with the full version
comes product updates, phone and email support,
training, and an available AutoCAD engine to substitute
if a full version of AutoCAD is not at the customer's
disposal.
AutoCAD Engine: For users who do
not have their own copy of AutoCAD 2002 or higher,
Proplanner offers a version of the program with a build
in AutoCAD 2005 Engine for a small additional fee. The
engine itself supports all 2D authoring tools with only
a few peripheral functionalities disabled.
Interface Combines Layout with Routings
Creating
material flow routings can be done in just a few minutes.
The Flow Planner reads routings from simple text files
created within Microsoft Excel, or from within the built-in
routing editor. The routing file contains data for
production quantities, parts per container, from and to
locations, as well as information on material handling
devices.
Within
Excel or the Flow Planner users can quickly create and
modify the routing information to "see" and "evaluate" the
impacts of routing changes on the flow diagram. |
Create routings quickly within FPC
or import larger
sets of flow information from
Excel. |
Via Location Support: Via locations are
off-line storage locations in the plant where material
is sent from the receiving docks and then dispatched to
the workplace. Often material moves to the Via location
in bulk quantities and then is dispatched to the
workplace in smaller lots. The FPC application lets
users specify Via locations and then select if they are
to be included, or ignored, in the analysis. This makes
the evaluation of the material handling costs, and aisle
congestion issues, of off-line storage; quick and easy
to do.
Spreadsheet Interface: The most effective
utility to the ease of the calculation is the
spreadsheet like interface where information can be
copied or imported directly from Excel or any
pre-existing spreadsheet. Every list of information
within the Flow Planner can also be copied out to Excel
for further evaluation and customization.
Output Presentation: When the analysis is
complete, output is examined with the use of the reports
and outputs defined below as well as visually.
Automatically generated direction arrows, thickness
representing frequency, and an aggregate specific legend
make taking a picture of the drawing a useful piece of
any final reports. Any viewer can see where most traffic
is taking place as well as what product or part is
adding to the congestion.
Flow Results
The Flow
Planner generates a path file that summarizes data about
routings, travel distances, material handling cost and more.
Utilization:
The
program will also display utilization graphs. These graphs
present the percent of travel time versus material handling
device loading and unloading times. Users can see these
graphs by product, part, material handling device, or other
method. These diagrams help improve the evaluation,
understanding, and communication of the plant-wide product
flows for managers and line personnel throughout the
organization. |
Evaluate method efficiency and
utilization in easy
to read bar charts. |
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Flow Planner Reports:
The simple flow path report organizes
all time, distance, frequency, cost, and total
information into one comprehensive report that can
be seen in Internet Explorer and saved for future
reference. Additionally it
can be exported directly to Excel and maintain it's
formatting to be further scrutinized numerically.
This step can be achieved by simply right clicking
and choosing "Export to Excel". |
View all path information layed out in
this easy-to-read pre-formatted report that exports directly
to Excel. |
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Material Handling Reports: These reports
outline the utilization percentage, travel, load/unload
times, and availability of each material handling device
or type.
This report can also be exported
directly to Excel and maintain it's formatting to be
further scrutinized numerically. This step can be
achieved by simply right clicking and choosing "Export
to Excel". |
All Material Handling Device information
can be shown in this report that exports directly to Excel. |
Aisle Congestion Diagram: This view within the
AutoCAD drawing highlights the movements between every
node on aisle paths around the plant. Observing how many
trips are made over these paths identifies areas of
highest traffic which are then displayed by different
colored lines. The user can easily see that the
dangerous areas need controlled. To be more specific
than using percentages, the user can also identify exact
numeric values to assign specific line colors to. this
can point out, for example, any part of an aisle network
with travel exceeding 10 trips instead of finding the
top 5%.
Advanced Flow Analysis
There
are many advanced flow utilities in the Flow Planner to help
users improve flow analyses.
Calculation Methods:
The FPC
application allows users to aggregate (combine) their flow
lines and output reports according to several different
aggregation methods. For example, if the user wishes to
aggregate by container type, then AutoCAD-based flow lines
are color coded by container type (i.e. pallets in red,
boxes in blue, tubs in green, etc.) and the frequencies of
movement between any two locations are combined to represent
the total frequency of flow between those locations for that
container type and then the flow path line width will be
increased accordingly. The FPC application supports
aggregation by Product name, Part name, Parts in Products,
Containers, From-To locations, From-To groups, Material
Handling Method Class, and Material Handling Method
Instance. |
Monitor lift safety in this ergonomics bar
chart |
Groups: For example, users can group together individual
locations. This allows them to analyze flow between
workcells or departments.
Filter:
Users can
select flow lines and flow result statistics by selecting
specific aggregate names, From Locations/Groups, AND/OR To
Locations/Groups. With the Flow Path Filter it is quick and
easy to see and quantify the impacts of moving docks,
storage locations and work centers.
Processing and Load/Unload times: Users can also define
material handling processes using set times or process codes
from a predetermined work measurement system such as MTM or
Modapts. This can be taken to another level by defining
load/unload times by each individual route if the times
differ from the established standard.
Aisle Path Assignment:
The aisle paths defined within the Flow Planner can be
either bi-directional or one way aisles. They can also set
up to be one or two way dependant on which transportation
method is used. This is done by assigning different methods
to different aisle path layers in the drawing.
Query Path tool:
Users can select one
or multiple flow paths from the drawing and get a
complete listing of path From and To locations,
distances, costs and material handling methods (show an
example screenshot). This listing of path flow
statistics can then be easily copied to other
applications, such as MS Excel.
Tugger Add-on: For plants where tuggers and
carts are used to deliver different amounts of different
parts to multiple locations, this additional module will
calculate the product mix percentage for each trip and
then generate the proper Flow Planner routing lines and
frequencies. Output for this module includes the
standard utilization charts and reports plus tugger
specific time and volume utilization charting.
Features
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Analyze an unlimited number of flow paths and material
handling methods
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Include user-defined pick-up and set-down times linked
to material handling methods, container types or
locations
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Determine the utilization of parts
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Diagram flow paths with unique colors per primary field,
secondary field or material handling method
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Set path segment thickness according to flow intensity
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Import and export using simple text files
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Filter flow paths by product, part, material handling
device or combination of two.
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Automatically create variable-sized arrows at the ends
and optionally at path vertices
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Automatically create straight-line flow paths,
aisle-based flow paths and manually create user-defined
paths
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Aggregate flows from different primary and secondary
sort fields to evaluate "total flow" and congestion
along routes and aisles
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Automatically import and export activity locations
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Automatically label flow paths with segment and total
distances
Benefits
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Optimization of
workpath setup within the facility adds to the
safety and cuts time and damage costs.
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Euclidian (point-to-point) path generation can be
automatically generated through given aisles. This
ability makes path generation much easier than the
manual method. -
Flow paths can be separated and sorted by a number
of fields, making diagnostics and evaluations much
more understandable and effective, by reducing
clutter.
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Automatically
generates flow reports and diagrams that are easy to
understand.
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By combining with
routings, material flow studies are done in a
fraction of the time it takes to do by hand.
Also see the
Workplace Planner...
Also see the
Layout Planner...
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