hsbMake | Define Batches and Stacks in drawing

Batches and stacks can be used in hsbmake to segment a project for e.g. production, truck loading or assembly. In this article is shown how batches and stacks can be defined in the drawing.

HSB_G-ProjectGrouping

The tsl HSB_G-ProjectGrouping can group elements e.g. into batches and stacks. The group type and group name have to be specified in the settings. An element cannot be assigned to more than one Batch, but it can be assigned to a Batch and a Stack. So only one assignment per group type.

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An element can be assigned to only one batch

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Batches

To define batches in the drawing the tsl HSB_G-ProjectGrouping needs to be used.

Group type

The group type for batches is 'Batch'. The tsl also supports custom group types. E.g. SalesOrder, Apartment.

Group name

The group name is the name which will be assigned to the group. There is no check done for existing groups. Assigning an existing group name to another set of elements will extend the group with these elements. 

When the group type is set, and the group name is defined, you can select elements in the drawing to assign to the group.

Stacks

Stacks are also defined in the drawing. There are a couple of options to create stacks, using the HSB_G-ProjectGrouping tsl or the StackCreator tsl.

Group type

The tsl HSB_G-ProjectGrouping can also be used to create Stacks. The name of the stack has to be specified for each stack.

Stack creator

Another option for creating stacks is the tsl StackCreator. The stack creator automatically numbers the stacks. The stack creator also creates a tsl to sequence the stacks. This is the StackSequencer.

When using the tsl StackCreator you can simply select elements and your selecting sequense will be the sequence used for the StackSequencer to visualize.

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Stack Sequencer

The StackSequencer tsl has to be inserted manually if the stacks are defined by the HSB_G-ProjectGrouping tsl. Inserting the StackSequencer tsl will analyze the entire model and create a sequencer tsl per stack.

Visualizing the sequence
The StackSequencer shows the name of the stack and the sequence of the items in the stack.

The first item in the stack has a little circle with the name of the stack. This is also the start point of the arrows following the sequence of the items.  

The StackSequencer tsl can be used to manage the stack. Its main task, as the name suggests, is sequencing. The options for managing the stack are available in the context menu of the StackSequencer under the rightmouse click.

Add/ Remove elements
Add elements and Remove elements can be used to change the content of the stack. 

Resequence elements
Re-sequence elements allows the user to change the sequence of the items inside the stack. After selecting this option the user gets prompted to select the elements in the right sequence. If not all elements in the stack are selected it starts the sequence with the selected elements and adds the elements which are not selected in their original sequence. 

Resequence stacks
The option Re-sequence stacks allows the user to sequence the stacks. The user gets prompted to select the stacks in the right sequence.  The sequence of the stacks is shown in HSB_I-ShowGroupingInformation. 

HSB_I-ShowGroupingInformation 

The tsl HSB_I-ShowGroupingInformation will be auto refreshed by the tsls HSB_G-ProjectGrouping, StackCreator and StackSequencer. It shows the name and sequence of the groups. It also shows the content of the group in the defined sequence. 

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NOTE: The sequence of the items in the batch are not defined in the drawing. This is handled in the settings of hsbmake.

The sequence of the items in the batch is dictated by the sequence of the stacks and the sequence of the items inside the stacks. 

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