Factories

Production facilities are the integral components of every supply chain. This table is used to specify factories that comprise your supply chain. Data for this table can be collected automatically from the results of the GFA experiment or inserted manually for each factory that you create.

To define the involved costs, refer to the Facility expenses table (available in the NO and SIM scenario types).

To specify the type and the quantity of vehicles that a site possesses, refer to the Fleets table (available only in the SIM scenario type).

The factory in the selected record is highlighted on the map.

The product's selling price may be adjusted for the required site.

A site that is supplying a customer is defined by the sourcing policy.

The default values of the Paths and Sourcing tables allow connections to be created instantly on adding a new object to the scenario.
e.g. When you add a new factory to the SIM scenario containing customers, the sourcing policy automatically (dynamically) detects customers that will be supplied by this factory. This set of customers is updated each time this factory is moved or another factory is added. When properly defined, the sourcing is visualized on the map via connections.

Column	Description
Name	Specify the name of the factory. It must be a meaningful name since you will refer to it in the other anyLogistix tables.
Type	Site type. The default site type is “Factory”, but it can be replaced with your own site type. Select the type of the site: Factory — production site, the source of products that supply chain provides customers with. Factory (Yogurt Factory) — custom factory type that is used in the SIM Yogurt Factory example.
Location	Specify the current location of the factory. The cell contains a drop-down list with the available Locations.
Initially Open	Specifies if the facility is initially open. A facility can change its state only once during Simulation and Network Optimization based experiments.
Inclusion Type	Defines the status of the current facility. Include — if set, the facility will be included into the supply chain configuration. Exclude — if set, the facility will be excluded from the supply chain configuration. If selected, the table record will be grayed out to denote the current inclusion type. The table record remains editable. Consider — if set, the facility can be turned off / on during scenario optimization (only during network optimization).
Product Production Priority	This priority can be overridden (will become disabled) by the Inventory Left priority. Defines the priority for producing products (or group of products). This refers to the products that the factory lacks to complete an order. Once the inventory becomes insufficient, the factory places a production order to itself. The specified priority allows to define the order, in which the products (or group of products) are selected for production from the backlog. The default priority of all products is 0. A product may have only 1 priority at a factory. Defining several priorities for the same product within 1 factory will cause an error. This also refers to a product that is in the group. Parameters of the dialog box: For products with the same priority within this dialog box the order is defined by their position in the list. Product — the product, for which the production priority is defined. If a record is added, for which the product is not defined, and the dialog box is closed with the changes saved, the cell value will contain the no product item with the lowest priority value 1. Priority — the production priority of the product. The larger the value, the higher the priority. The lowest possible priority a user can define is 1, which overrides the default priority. In case of a group, the specified priority is assigned to all products within the group. Defining another priority for a product from this group within the same factory will cause an error. As for instance: Product A is defined priority 1. Now we define priority 2 for a group of products that contains Product A. The conflicting priority will cause an error.
Production Orders Priority	Defines the priority for the production orders the factory created for itself to replenish the inventory of the products that are required to produce the customer demanded products: Big first — order with the biggest production volume has the highest priority. FIFO — (First In, First Out) orders are processed in the order, in which they are placed, i.e., the first placed order has the highest priority. Inventory Left — the priority of orders is based on the inventory level of a product. The highest priority has an order with the product that the current production and the inventory lack most. The measurement unit is taken from the Capacity Unit column. Orders within a product group have the FIFO priority. This priority overrides Product Production Priority. LIFO — (Last In, First Out) orders are processed in the inverse order, i.e., the most recently placed order has the highest priority. Small First — order with the smallest production volume has the highest priority.
Priority Exceptions	Defines the conditions that allow a product to ignore the defined priority: No exception — the defined priorities will not be ignored. Free lines and uncommitted materials — [default condition] the defined priority can be ignored if the two following conditions are met: A factory has at least 1 unoccupied line or there is no conflict between orders with different priorities (i.e. an order with lower priority will not occupy a line that an order with higher priority could occupy). The factory inventory has enough products (that will not be requested by other orders) to start production. Free lines — the defined priority can be ignored if a factory has at least 1 unoccupied line or if there is no conflict between orders with different priorities (i.e. an order with lower priority will not occupy a line that a higher priority order could occupy). Uncommitted materials — the defined priority can be ignored if a factory inventory has enough products (that will not be requested by other orders) to start production. Deadlock — this condition is not available in the user interface, but it is automatically applied in case of a deadlock if the following two conditions are met: There is at least one order with higher priority that requires products that this backlog order can produce. The inventory and the current production in total have insufficient amount of the product that this backlog order can produce.
Capacity	The maximum inventory amount (physical capacity of a facility) in the specified Capacity Unit. When inventory is replenished, the replenishment order's quantity will be adjusted automatically to meet the capacity limit of the facility (inventory replenishment parameters are defined in the Inventory table). If capacity is defined for a facility, the inventory replenishment logic is the following: If inventory for a product can be replenished in full quantity, it is performed according to the specified replenishment parameters. If inventory for a product cannot be replenished because of the capacity limit, the record in a special FIFO (First In, First Out) queue is created for this product. Inventory for the records in this queue is checked on each outgoing shipment and is replenished as a first priority. Inventory replenishment under a regular inventory check (as defined in the Inventory table) is performed as a second priority.
Capacity Unit	The measurement units that the Capacity is measured in. The list of available units comprises the units defined in both the Manage units dialog and the Units table.
Priority	Here you define the priority, according to which a factory processes the received orders (reserves products for orders fulfillment): Big first — order with the biggest demanded volume of products has the highest priority. Orders cannot be skipped. ELT — order with the least lead time is the highest priority. Orders cannot be skipped. Equal — [selected by default] all orders have the same priority. All orders are processed one by one in order, in which they are received. This is similar to the FIFO priority type, but in case of the Equal priority type orders can be skipped (e.g. in case of insufficient inventory for this order). FIFO — (First In, First Out) orders are processed in the order, in which they are received, i.e., the first received order has the highest priority. Orders cannot be skipped. These priority types (Big first, ELT, FIFO) are the same priorities that the shipping policy uses to prioritize shipment. So prioritization is done in two steps: When a factory receives an order (defined in this table). Order splitting as Partial delivery is possible on this step, if required. When the shipment is prepared (defined in the Shipping table). Order splitting as Partial shipment is possible on this step, if required. If the inventory is insufficient, inventory replenishment is initiated for the lacking product type(s). Other orders requiring this same type of product (unless it is the Equal reserving priority) are queued until the current order has reserved the demanded amount.
Aggregate Orders by Location	Allows you to accumulate orders for a number of customers located in one location. The option is unchecked by default. e.g. We have 5 customers in the same location. Each customer places an order for 10 items. If the Aggregate Orders by Location toggle button is enabled, the solver will treat those orders as one order for 50 items.
Additional Parameters	Contains parameters of the extended object that is selected in the Type column of this table.
Icon	Here you define an icon that will represent this particular object only. All other objects of this type will keep their current icons. If you convert the current object to the object of the custom type, the current icon will remain. Initially the default icon are set for all distribution center and factory objects respectively (can be changed in Edit icons).

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