Operations

An operation represents an activity: these consume and produce material, take time and also require capacity.

An operation consumes and produces material, modeled through flows.

An operation requires capacity, modeled through loads.

Different operation types exist:

Operation_fixed_time:

Models an operation with a duration that is independent of the quantity. A good example is a transport or a procurement operation.
Operation_time_per:

Models an operation where the duration increases linear with the quantity. A good example is a manufacturing operation where the duration is determined by the production rate of a machine.
Operation_alternate:

Models a choice between different operations.

FrePPLe automatically builds an alternate operation if the same item-location can be replenished in multiple ways: eg multiple operations to produce an item, multiple vendors for an item, multiple source locations for a distribution order, a choice between making the item or purchasing it, etc… Explicitly adding alternate operations in your model is no longer required.
Operation_split:

This operation type plans the demand proportionally over a number of sub-operations, using some pre-defined percentages.
Operation_routing:

Models a sequence a number of step sub-operations, to be executed sequentially.

Field	Type	Description
name	non-empty string	Unique name of the operation. This is the key field and a required attribute.
item	item	Reference to the item being produced. We will try to determine the item as the producing records from the operation-material records: if an operation has only a single operation-material with a positive quantity then we use its item as the item of the operation. Only in exceptional modeling situations should you worry about setting this field yourself. Eg when an operation produces multiple items.
location	location	Location of the operation. The working hours and holidays for the operation are calculated as the intersection of: the availability calendar of the operation. the availability calendar of the operation’s location. the availability calendar of all resources loaded by the operation. the availability calendar of the location of all resources loaded by the operation. Default is null.
available	calendar	A calendar specifying the working hours for the operation. The working hours and holidays for the operation are calculated as the intersection of: the availability calendar of the operation. the availability calendar of the operation’s location. the availability calendar of all resources loaded by the operation. the availability calendar of the location of all resources loaded by the operation. Default is null.
effective_start	dateTime	Date when the operation becomes valid. The value of this field is only used when the item field is populated on the operation. Only then is the operation registered as a replenishment method for the item at this location.
effective_end	dateTime	Date after which the operation becomes invalid. The value of this field is only used when the item field is populated on the operation. Only then is the operation registered as a replenishment method for the item at this location.
priority	integer	Priority of this operation to produce the specified item. This is useful when there are multiple operations producing the same item-location, or the same item-location can also be replenished with purchase orders and/or distribution orders. The value of this field is only used when the item field is populated on the operation. Only then is the operation registered as a replenishment method for the item at this location. When the priority is 0, the operation is not automatically used during planning. Only a planner can manually create manufacturing orders on it.
description	string	Free format description.
category	string	Free format category.
subcategory	string	Free format subcategory.
fence	duration	Time window from the current date of the plan during which all manufacturing orders are expected to be frozen/released. The duration refers to available time (i.e. respecting the working hours and holiday calendars mentioned above). When the ‘FENCE’ constraint is enabled in the solver, it won’t create any new operation plans in this time fence. Only the externally supplied and locked manufacturing orders will then exist in this time window. By default the fence is 0, we can plan operations to be started immediately.
batchwindow	duration	The solver algorithm will scan for opportunities to create batches within this time window before and after the requirement date. By default the batching windows is 0, which disables this feature.
size_minimum	positive double	A minimum quantity for manufacturing orders. A request for a lower, non-zero quantity will be rounded up. This field also influences the alternate choices when multiple operations are available to produce an item. The planning algorithm will try to plan on those alternates where the requirement is between the size_minimum and size_maximum. The default value is 1.
size_minimum_calendar	calendar	A calendar to define the minimum size of manufacturing orders when this value varies over time. The end date of the manufacturing orders determines which date we use as lookup in the calendar. If both the size_minimum and size_minimum_calendar are specified, we use the highest value.
size_multiple	positive double	A multiple quantity for manufacturing orders.
size_maximum	positive double	The maximum quantity for manufacturing orders. Note that this value limits the size of individual manufacturing orders. The solver can create multiple manufacturing orders of this maximum size, so this value does NOT constrain the total planned quantity on the operation. The field is useful to break big manufacturing orders in smaller ones. This field also influences the alternate choices when multiple operations are available to produce an item. The planning algorithm will try to plan on those alternates where the requirement is between the size_minimum and size_maximum.
cost	double	The cost of executing this operation, per unit of the operation_plan. Depending on what the operation models, this represents transportation costs, manufacturing costs, procurement costs, delivery costs, etc… The raw material cost and the resource usage cost are added to this cost and should not be included in this value. The default value is 0.
posttime	duration	A post-operation time, used as a buffer for uncertain capacity or operation duration. The solver will try to respect this time as a soft constraint. Ie when required to meet demand on time the post-operation time can be violated. Resources are not loaded during the post-operation time. This field is used to model time-based safety stock targets, aka days of inventory. It is then set for the producing operation of a certain buffer. If you want to model a safety stock quantity, you can use the minimum or minimum_calendar fields on the buffer.

Operation_fixed_time

Models an operation with a fixed duration regardless of the quantity. E.g. a transport operation.

This is the default operation type.

Field	Type	Description
duration	duration	Duration of the operation. The default value is 0.

Operation_time_per

Models an operation where the duration changes linear with the quantity. E.g. a production operation.

The total duration of the operation plan is the sum of:

A fixed DURATION.
A variable duration, computed as the manufacturing order quantity multiplied by a DURATION_PER.

Field	Type	Description
duration	duration	Fixed component of the duration of the manufacturing order. The default value is 0.
duration_per	duration	Variable component of the duration of the manufacturing order. The default value is 0.

Operation_alternate

Models a choice between different operations. It has a list of alternate sub-operations listed, each with a priority.

Operation minimum, multiple and maximum size constraints of each individual alternate sub-operation are respected. The ones on the operation_alternate operation itself are ignored.

Field

Type

Description

search

string

Defines the order of preference among the alternate loads.

The valid choices are:

PRIORITY

Select the alternate with the lowest priority number.

This is the default.
MINCOST

Select the alternate which gives the lowest cost.

The cost includes the cost of all upstream operations, resources and materials.
MINPENALTY

Select the alternate which gives the lowest penalty.

The penalty includes the penalty of all penalties incurred in the upstream plan.
MINCOSTPENALTY

Select the alternate which gives the lowest sum of the cost and penalty.

The sum is computed for the complete upstream path.

suboperations

List of suboperation

List of alternate sub-operations.

See Suboperations

Operation_split

This operation type plans the demand proportionally over a number of operations. It has a list of alternate sub-operations listed, each with a percentage.

The percentages are treated as a hard constraint by the solver. This means that if one of the alternates can’t deliver the requested quantity, the complete split operation is considered as infeasible. (If we’ld treat it as a soft constraint, we would distribute the infeasible quantity among the other alternates).

Minimum, multiple and maximum size constraints on the sub-operations are respected. This means that we can end up with a split that deviates to some extent from the specified percentages.

The percentages don’t need to add up to 100%. We use the relative ratio’s of the sub-operations.

Field	Type	Description
suboperations	List of suboperation	List of sub-operations to divide the plan across. See Suboperations

Operation_routing

Models a sequence a number of ‘step’ sub-operations, to be executed sequentially.

Field	Type	Description
suboperations	List of suboperation	List of sub-operations to execute in sequence. See Suboperations
hard_posttime	Boolean	A flag to mark whether the post-operation time of the routing steps should be used as a hard or soft constraint. The default is false, i.e. a soft constraint. Note that this field currently is not defined in the user interface or database. It is only available to customizations working in the planning engine.