Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk Scheduler Users Guide - Manual (Page 71)

6 • U SING F ACTORY T ALK S CHEDULER
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and save the fcs file, these changes will automatically be used when you recall an
application using the fcs file.
Develop the shift or time patterns
Shift or time patterns constrain the availability of resources over time. These constraints
include off-shift, vacation, holidays, preventive maintenance, breakdowns, etc.—times
where resources are unavailable. For normal resources such as machines, it can also
include efficiencies that may vary during the available times. For example, a work center
may perform at a lower efficiency during the third shift or at the end of a shift. These
patterns also include the number (or capacity) available for adjustable pooled resources.
The BizBikes tutorial system is already configured with the two-shift five-days-a-week
time pattern described in Chapter 3. To view these time patterns, you should select the
View > Time Pattern menu option. This will display the Time Pattern window shown
below.
There are three different editors available for developing time patterns. All three editors
can be accessed using the Database > Time Pattern menu options. The Time Pattern
Editor is used to develop the basic time or shift patterns. The Exception Editor is used to
overlay exceptions (holidays, preventive maintenance, breakdowns, etc.) on previously
developed time patterns. The Composite Editor is used to associate a developed time
pattern with a specific resource. Information on how to use these editors is given in
Appendix D.
Develop a schedule
At this point, we’ll develop a schedule for our tutorial system using one of FactoryTalk
Scheduler’s many scheduling options. To create our first schedule, let’s use the Sequence
> Forward > Release Date menu option (one of the automatic scheduling rules included
in FactoryTalk Scheduler). Selecting this option removes all of the operations from the