Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In this FlexSim Basics video, we're going to discuss the elements that add functionality
to your model: picklists and triggers. Many of the events that take place in models
are associated with object triggers. Triggers allow you to make objects do certain things
based on the current event happening in the model, so a trigger will fire each time a
specific event occurs. For example, the "OnExit" trigger fires each time an item leaves the
current object; you can specify any number of custom behaviors as a reaction to this
event. Every object has a set of triggers relevant to the object's function, which can
be found in the "Triggers" tab on that object's properties window.
Picklists, on the other hand, are pre-defined behaviors that can be quickly selected from
drop-down menus. FlexSim users can use FlexScript to program practically anything into their
model, but the wide array of picklist options make it easy to customize your model in a
code-free environment. There are many picklist options available when creating a trigger,
but picklists can be found outside the "Triggers" tab as well: controlling flow, setting processing
times, and managing the transportation of items to name a few. Just determine how you
want an object to behave, and select the corresponding picklist option.
Let's start a new model and show you how these elements can be found in an object. Click
and drag a processor out from the Library, and drop it into the 3D view. Now double-click
on that processor to open its properties window. You'll see that the Process Time of this object
is set to 10 time units for each item, regardless of item type and with no variability whatsoever.
Luckily, we have picklist options that can make the processing time more dynamic and
better suited for the situation you're modeling. Click on the black arrow on the right side
of the text box to show a drop-down list full of picklist options for Process Time. These
options can automatically change the processing time based on a statistical distribution,
a specific case, and even by the time of day, depending on our needs for this machine.
If you click on the "Triggers" tab now, you can see the many events that we can add triggers
to. For the processor, a trigger can be added when the model is reset, when a message is
received, when an object enters and also when it exits, when the setup has completed, and
when the process has finished. First determine on which event you would like something to
happen, and then click the green plus sign to add a trigger to that event. Let's say
the process changes the color of the item to blue. Click to add a trigger to the "OnProcessFinish"
event, and select "Set Color" from the list of picklist options. This picklist has the
capability to change colors based on a specific case, but for now we just want the item to
turn blue, so select "colorblue(item)" as the default option. Now each time the processor
finishes processing an item, the trigger will fire, and the item's color will be changed
to blue. Triggers and picklist options will play a
major part of any successful simulation model, and are featured in most of the tutorials
beyond this basic series, so make sure you understand what they are and how to find them.
Thank you for watching. For more information on FlexSim products or to view more tips and
tricks for successful modeling, please visit www.flexsim.com.