Line Verification#

The Line Verification feature addresses the need for systematic verification activities while a Material is being processed. These verifications are particularly relevant in high-sensitivity production environments, where any changes in conditions, such as operator shifts, can impact product quality.

Overview#

In this tutorial, we will explore expand the following sections:

• Feature Overview – explaining how Line Verification works
• Scenario – presenting a simplified example to understand the logic
• Configuration – showing a step-by-step guide to trigger verifications on in-process Materials, after shift breaks and shift changes
• Execution – triggering in-process Material verification using the feature
• Final Notes – pointing out some additional insights and considerations

Feature Overview#

This feature is event-based and is triggered after a Material is tracked, ensuring that critical verification occurs while the Material is in-process.

The feature is implemented within the Maintenance Management module and is driven by a Maintenance Plan assigned dynamically through a context resolution of the Smart Table MaterialInProcessVerificationContext, creating a Maintenance Plan Instance when a Material is tracked in. This plan outlines the specific verification activities required for each Material during processing. In this tutorial, we will explore the time based activities, triggered on shift change events.

Once a Material is tracked in, a Maintenance Plan Instance is created and remains active throughout the time the Material is in-process, until it is tracked out. During this window, there is the need to execute verification activities, such as inspecting equipment, recalibrating scales, and checking environmental conditions (for example, temperature or humidity).

Scenario#

To assess how this industry and production requirement is addressed by Critical Manufacturing MES, let's consider a simplified model:

• Shift Definition: 6 shifts covering 24 hours.
• Facility: General Facility
• Area: Area 1
• Flow and Step: General Flow with Step 1
• Products: Product A
• Resources: Resource 1
• Service: Service A, required by Step 1 and Provided by Resource 1
• Role

Suppose that the process at Step 1 requires the operator with the Process Verification Role to monitor the temperature and humidity of the environment whenever a Material is in-process, at two specific moments: when the next shift employees return from their mid-shift break, and after a shift change. There is a scheduled and automatically triggered verification requested for the material that was left in-process.

Additionally, during shift changes, the new operators are required to:

• Confirm that all necessary durables are in the correct position
• Acknowledge the materials that are currently in line for processing at Step 1.

Configuration#

Basic entities like Facility, Area, Services, Products, Parameters, Resources and Roles won’t be detailed.

There are some entities whose configurations require closer attention:

• Calendar and Shift Definition
• Step
• Data Collection and Checklist
• Maintenance Plan

Calendar and Shift Definition#

This scenario assumes the existence of a Calendar with a Shift Definition that includes six shifts, covering the full 24-hour day.

Keep in mind the correct sequence when setting this up:

• First, create the Calendar.
• Then, define the Shift Definition.
• Finally, associate the Shift Definition with the Calendar.

The following images display the general configuration settings of the Calendar and Shift Definition:

Step#

For a Step to support in-process verification, the property Enable In-Process Verification must be set to true under the Settings section in the details of the Step.

The following images display the general configuration of the Step.

Data Collection and Checklist#

The Data Collection consists of gathering a sample and recording two key Parameters: Temperature and Humidity.

The following image displays the general configuration of the Data Collection.

The Checklist is scoped under Maintenance Management and incorporates the Data Collection. Since the requirements differ for each scenario, there are two distinct Checklists.

The Shift Break Checklist includes two items, each corresponding to the collection of one Parameter: temperature and humidity.

The following images display the configuration of the Shift Break Checklist.

The Shift Change Checklist contains four items:

• The first two are the same as in the shift break case, capturing Temperature and Humidity data.
• The remaining two require the operator to verify:
  • That Durables are in the correct position.
  • The status and acknowledgment of Work In Progress materials queued at the step.

The following images display the configuration of the Shift Change Checklist.

Maintenance Plan#

For this scenario, we will define a single Maintenance Plan of scope In-Process Verification. The associated maintenance activities must use a time based schedule type, allowing us to leverage the "On Shift Change" time due scale to implement the intended logic.

The following image displays the configuration of the Maintenance Plan.

Maintenance Activities Overview:

The following image displays the configuration of the Shift Break Verification maintenance activity.

The following image displays the configuration of the Shift Change Verification maintenance activity.

To connect all elements of the configuration, the system uses the Smart Table MaterialInProcessVerificationContext. In this table, it is defined:

• The Step (which must have In-Process Verification enabled)
• Optional context variables to refine applicability
• The corresponding Maintenance Plan to be triggered when the Material is tracked-in at that Step

The following table displays the Smart Table configuration.

This is the Master Data file used to create this model.

Execution#

After all configurations are completed, the operation that sets everything in motion is the Track-In of a Material at a Step where in-process verification is enabled.

Once the Material is tracked in, navigating to the Material Maintenance View will display its Maintenance Plan Instances, as illustrated in the image below.

In the example, the Material was tracked in at 04:55 PM.

The next shift begins at 06:00 PM, so two Maintenance Activity Orders are created:

• One with a due date at 06:15 PM PM, for the Shift Change Verification
• Another with a due date at 08:00 PM, for the Shift Break Verification

If the due time arrives and the Material is still in process, the verification must be performed.

If a user attempts to Track-Out the Material without completing the required verification, the system will notify them about the pending In-Process Verification Maintenance Plan Instance.

Refer to the diagram below for a clear, visual timeline of these events.

The operations required to carry out these verifications follow the standard Maintenance Activity Order flow: Begin, Perform, and Complete.

The video below illustrates the execution of this scenario.

Final Considerations#

Keep in mind the following behaviors and consequences related to the In-Process Verification Maintenance Plan Instance:

• Terminate / Abort Material - Terminates the instance and clears the associated property
• Split / Expand Material - Resets the instance in the resulting child materials
• Merge Material - Merge is blocked if any of the Materials involved have an active instance
• Track-In Material - Creates a new Maintenance Plan Instance based on the resolved Maintenance Plan from the In-Process Verification context of the Material; sets the In Process Verification Maintenance Plan Instance accordingly
• Track-Out Material - Validates the Maintenance Activity Orders associated with the instance; if validation passes, terminates the instance and clears the property