Hi guys,
We’ve recently installed and commissioned a new Roto-mouding machine which increases our in-house capability. As per normal practice the Epicor set up of this new resource is overlooked until the last minute 
. Can anyone recommend a suitable and not too confusing way of setting up Rotational Moulding Machines in E10? Specifically I’m looking for advice on Method of Manufacture structure, scheduling and Resource Groups.
Our machine has 4 x Arms.
Also, if there’s some software already out there to assist users within the plastics industries and integrates with Epicor, we’d be open to that too. No need to reinvent the wheel if there’s already a tried and tested solution out there.
Appreciate any assistance.
Regards,
Rob
There are a lot a variables in your question, but:
Is this similar to another resource you already had (even if it is faster/better)?
If so you can duplicate the previous resource and add it to the existing resource group.
As far a scheduling, it would depend if you schedule resources or not.
As far as integrating goes, it would depend on what you need Epicor to do so that your machine knows what to do.
Hi Jason, thanks for your reply. This is a totally new capability for us therefore we’ve got no current comparison to our existing structure.
Moving from our current single job for a single part, sometimes with a single operation to a multiple arm, multiple mould system is going to be a challenge. Small batch runs, multiple cavity moulds and different product variations set up at any single time will also add to the complexity.
I’m not looking for definitive solutions, I’m after some general advice and whether or not there’s existing compatible software out there that is tailored to the plastics industries.
We just got ourselves a new machine 6 axle arm. We created a new Resource group for it, and a new resource for the machine. And it is just another resource to add in the MOM, that is it.
We are in the plastics business as well, we customized Epicor quite a bit for our satisfaction. What do you mean by other software to assist users ?
Pierre
There’s no software out there that I’m aware of that would make thing easier.
How you structure things is going to depend as much on your MoM as your BoM. Epicor has functionality to do co-parts. Would let you run one job to do the multiples your looking for, but has shortcomings. When you scrap you scrap all co-parts, and it’s dependent on every part having an identical BoM.
We ended up dealing with it by having a unique job for each part we’re running and then using a capability to define the tool that’s running. That lets you group the jobs together so all parts are running at the same time.
There are some other customizations dealing with cost rates to keep the accountants happy but generally it’s core.
Not going to pretend it’s the best setup but it does let us accomplish what we need to. How far you decided to go is going to depend a lot on what you have setup for production management and how you track a lot of things.
It sounds to me like you “simply” need to modify your Routings (Method Of Manufacture aka MOM) to include the new resource group. Once you do this, and have proper operation times, the system will schedule the machine for you.
Since this machine is probably a “finite resource” you could potentially tell the system this, and as long as your Operation time is correct, the system will schedule the jobs for you. Just make sure to have enough Setup time included on the routing to account for mold cleanup.
I think I’ve read Rob’s query a bit differently. Rob, are you referring to the fact that the numbers of pieces per hour / time per piece will constantly change? You could have 4 arms with 1 part on each arm, or a mould on each arm that produces 20 parts each, etc?
The difficultly then would be how to configure the resource - it’s not easy to map that as pieces/hr, or hours/piece.
Thanks for the replies guys.
We could have all four arms running at once. Each arm could have anything from a single cavity mould or several cavities depending on the size of the finished part we’re making.
If anyone has experience of similar scenarios and if you could share your experiences, it would be great.
Hi Pierre,
I’d like to think that somewhere along the way, someone in the plastics game would’ve used Epicor and tailored it to suit the type of scenarios that I envisage with our new machine.
If not, then maybe there’s other software out there tailored towards the plastics industry that’s compatible with Epicor.
What kind of customizations did you do with your system?
Regards,
Rob