When the Visual Production Sequencer starts, you can drag and drop production orders and non-production events. You can also create, edit, and delete non-production events.
Layout of the page
The white column for a resource represents the working-time bracket. The blue columns represent non-working hours. These times are initially set by the Shop Calendar Code on the resource. If the resource has no Shop Calendar Code, the system looks at the resource group. If no value is found there, the system looks at the location code. If that also has no value, the Visual Production Sequencer does not start.
The left part of the page shows the resource code and description, an expand/collapse button, and for each resource the planned production order number, description, and production time in hours. You can reduce the size of this part to provide more space for the actual planning. The content of this part does not shift or resize.
The rows shown are for the month and year code, the day code, and the hours of the day. You can enlarge or reduce this three-layer structure by hovering over the hours row. When the cursor changes to the Column Resize icon, click and drag to the right to enlarge the space between hours (for more detailed planning) or to the left to reduce the space (for a broader overview).
The ribbon
The ribbon consists of several groups.
Sessions group:
Save: saves the changes made in the Visual Sequencer up to that moment.
Pause: exits the Visual Sequencer without saving, but keeps the list of changes. This lets you resume the session with the same data set at a later time.
Stop: exits the session without saving the state. The system checks for unsaved changes and warns you before exiting.
Undo: shows a list of changes made since the start of the session or the last save. Select one or several consecutive actions to undo. Note that only an uninterrupted sequence of actions can be undone, you cannot select individual non-consecutive actions.
Redo: after an action is undone, it is saved to a redo record. This lets you revert an unwanted undo. The redo step can in turn be undone again.
Non-production Event group:
New: creates a new non-production event.
Edit: lets you change a selected non-production event.
Delete: lets you delete a non-production event.
Schedule group contains the Reschedule, Reorder, and Edit buttons. See the sections below for how to use these.
Moving orders
The goal of the Visual Production Sequencer is to drag and drop orders to optimize the planning. Due to the setup described in the previous walkthroughs, different rules apply to production orders and non-production events.
General rules for production orders
You can only move a production order to another resource if that resource is set on the BOM (in the resources tab) and if the location code of the resource matches the location code of the production order.
Moving an order to another allowed resource automatically recalculates the production order duration, visualized by a resize of the bar.
You cannot move a production order so that it starts in non-working time.
Moving a production order so that it moves partially into another shift is governed by the resource setting Cross Shift. The Shift Code value on the production order is not relevant here.
Moving a production order so that it ends in non-working time is governed by two resource settings:
If Allow Overrun is set to yes and the remaining time of the production order in non-working hours is less than the Maximum Overrun (Minutes) setting, the move is allowed.
If Allow Overrun is set to no, or if the remaining time on the production order exceeds the Maximum Overrun (Minutes) limit, the move is not allowed.
If Stop/Resume is set to yes, the order ends at the end of the day and resumes the next day, provided Allow Overrun is set to yes and the Maximum Overrun (Minutes) value bridges the gap between the production time end of day one and the production time start of the next day.
Specific rules for batch orders
Batch orders appear with a thin line between the batch order for the intermediate and the packaging order(s). If the packaging start is planned before the end of the intermediate's production, the line appears as a dotted red line. When this is resolved so that one follows the other, the line changes to a continuous black line. You cannot create a situation where the Visual Sequencer allows a packaging order to start partway through the production order of the intermediate.
If a batch order for the intermediate consists of several batches, this appears as a single bar with a pattern of diagonal stripes.
Selecting a multi-line batch order and then choosing Edit in the ribbon opens a production order details page. This page lets you move one batch (one production order line) to another resource, but not to another date/time on the same resource. The result is that the lines of the same production order split across different resources and appear as separate nodes.
Likewise, selecting several lines across several resources belonging to the same production order and using Edit can merge the lines back to a single node by moving them to the same resource.
Non-production events
Non-production events inform the planner of an action that must be planned but is not a production order. You can set up the code and description of non-production events yourself. Common values include "Product Changeover," "Default Cleaning," and "Allergen Rinse."
Creating non-production events
Create non-production events immediately after selecting a production order. Select a production order bar and then, in the ribbon, in the Non-production Event section, choose New.
If no production order is selected, the non-production event is created on the first hour of the first day visible in the Visual Production Sequencer.
After selecting the correct event code, the system shows the starting time, duration, and ending time. Change these values if necessary. Choose OK to create the non-production event. It then appears in the Visual Production Sequencer.
General rules for non-production events
A non-production event can start and end in non-working hours and can cross shift boundaries freely. The rules that apply to production orders do not apply to non-production events.
However, you cannot move a non-production event to another resource. If an event is on the wrong resource or is no longer valid for a specific resource, select it and delete it using the button in the Non-production Event section of the ribbon.
Rescheduling
When you need to align production orders and non-production events so that no idle time exists between entries, use the Reschedule button.
Select the rows you want to reschedule, making sure they all belong to the same resource, and choose Reschedule in the ribbon. You cannot reschedule across several resources at the same time.
The rescheduling rules are straightforward. The first node (either a production order or a non-production event) is the starting point. The node below it is moved so its starting time equals the ending time of the previous node, and so on. All orders and events (nodes) are therefore sequenced immediately one after the other with no idle time between them.
Reordering
The Reorder function lets you select a number of nodes (production orders and/or non-production events) and reorder them in a specific way.
You can develop the reordering logic in a subscriber codeunit, which is open to each customer or partner to develop. This lets every customer decide if and how they want default reordering to work for their organization.
In the demo database and the default codeunit included in the complete code, the reordering reverses the currently selected lines. This is a basic example of how to code your own reordering logic.
Edit
Select a production order or a series of production orders and choose Edit in the ribbon.
This opens a page with details of the production order lines. Here you can change individual lines, manually change the order in which lines appear in the sequencer, or apply the default ordering logic to the lines shown on the page.
If a production order is a multi-line batch order, the page shows a line for the header with Line No. 0 and all individual lines with their own line number. For regular formula, process, or packaging orders, the page shows only the production order line.
Note that you cannot select more than one multi-line batch order for editing at a time. Because of the additional functionality the Visual Production Sequencer offers for these orders, handle them one at a time.
Editing individual lines
On the lines you can change the date/time of individual orders and the Equipment Code. If the selected line is part of a multi-line batch order, you can only change the date/time on the header (the line with Line No. 0). On all other lines, only the equipment code can be changed.
Change the start or end date or time by changing the values in the New Starting Date-Time and New Ending Date-Time fields.
If an equipment code changes on a line, the system shows a message that the edit page must close and the Visual Sequencer must be updated. This happens only when changing the equipment through the edit page. Dragging an order from one equipment to another makes the same change without showing the message.
Changing the order of lines manually
You can manually change the order in which lines appear in the Visual Sequencer. Select a sortable column (for example, Production Order No., Item No., Quantity, or Priority) and then choose Apply Current Reordering.
After choosing this button, choosing OK to exit the page rebuilds the Visual Production Sequencer to reflect the new ordering.
Note that when a user leaves a session after changing the order of lines, reloading the sequencer undoes these changes. Reordering is a visual change only, nothing changes in D365 BC. The default ordering when starting the Visual Production Sequencer is starting date/time. Run the Reschedule option after a reorder to create a change that can be saved in the system, thereby preserving the newly ordered list.
Applying the default reordering logic
This button runs the same function as the Reorder button on the Visual Production Sequencer page.