Material Flow

The Product is the item being manufactured. You can nest products within each other. These are represented hierarchically in the Material Flow Browser.

1. On the Factory tab, in the Material Flow panel, click Product. The Material Flow Browser displays the Product tab and a new product entry.
2. Optionally, change the name of the Product by slow-clicking in the product name text. Enter your product name.
3. With the product browser node selected, on the Factory tab > Tools panel, click Palettes and then select Properties from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, right-click the product node and select Properties. The Factory Object Properties palette displays the product property.
4. Continue to add any products to be manufactured in the factory.

To nest a product within another product, do the following:

1. In the Material Flow Browser, on the Product tab, right-click an existing product node and select Add.
2. Specify a name for the product either during this process or when convenient. A default name is provided.

A product routing displays the flow of the manufacturing process for the given product through the factory. The end product of a routing is a Job node with a list of assorted stations used to manufacture the product. The order of the stations should properly define the flow of the product through manufacturing. If stations are selected out of order, it is possible to reorder them.

1. On the Factory tab, in the Material Flow panel, click Routing. The Material Flow Browser changes to the Products tab and you are prompted to select a product.

2. Select the product to be routed. Next, you are prompted to select the stations used in manufacturing the product.

3. Select the stations used to manufacture the product. You can select them in their process sequence or independent of their process sequence.

4. If needed, rearrange route browser nodes using drag and drop.

You can import Station, Product, and Routing definitions formatted in the template format. Importing data provides a means of creating a large number of stations, products, and operations very quickly.

Two file formats are supported, Excel (.XLS, .XLSX) and XML. To define a file for import using Excel, you can start from a new file using the Factory.xlt template or open an exported file and modify as needed. You must use Excel 2003 or a newer version.

To define a new file to import:

1. Start Excel.
2. Click the File tab and select New.
3. In the Available Templates section, click My Templates
4. Select the Factory.xlt template and click OK. The new file displays with the Station, Product, and Routings worksheets.
5. Add the information on the three worksheets in the spreadsheet file.
   NoteComplete as much information as you have available. You can complete the remainder in the dataset. If you supply a station base point and a rectangle a station is built to match that information. Always use the Factory template when creating new files.
6. Save the file.

To import the file into AutoCAD Factory Design Utilities:

1. On the Factory tab, in the Material Flow panel, click the down arrow to expose the drop-down menu and select Import Data .
2. Navigate to the file and select it. Click Open.

Based on the definitions in the file being imported, your DWG factory layout is ready for you to work in.

Export factory layout data as an XML file

You can export your factory layout data via an XML file. You can then convert the XML file to other formats such as HTML or Excel spreadsheet as necessary.

To export a DWG factory layout data to XML:

1. With a DWG factory layout open, on the Factory tab, in the Material Flow panel, click the down arrow to expose the drop-down menu and select Export Data.
   NoteThe station asset tag serves as a unique identifier and is required for export. If the tag is unassigned or not unique, a message alerts you to the condition and gives you the option to automatically assign a unique tag. Alternatively, cancel the export and assign tags manually.
2. In the Export Data dialog box, specify the file name.
3. Click Save.