Jobs Matrix
The Jobs Matrix is an additional way to look at controlling the sequence of work. Most simulation do not need to use it, but in some cases it is a much better way to think about the flow of work - especially when work can be done at many alternative locations or repeats through the same Activities. To understand how the Jobs Matrix fits into the overall scheme for routing work in Simul8 read the page on Alternative Routing Methods first.
The Jobs Matrix is a table of information that controls complex routings and timings.
View the Jobs Matrix from the Data & Rules tab.
If an Activity will feed work out to different destinations depending of the type of work then use the Job Matrix routing out. There is no need to use routing arrows in a simulation when using the Jobs Matrix.
The columns:
Work Type
This is the name of a label on the Work Items. Its content is used to distinguish the types of work.
Job
This is the name of a label on the Work Items, it represents the sequence of steps that are involved in a process. Every time the Work Item is processed by an Activity that uses the Jobs Matrix for timing information, this label is automatically incremented.
Location
This is the name of the Activity that will do the work. Type the name of an Activity, or double click the cell to choose from a list of Activities.
Timing
This is the time the job will take. Enter a number here, or double click the cell to choose the name of a distribution. This time will only be used if the Activity has been set to use the Jobs Matrix for Timing (click the Timing button in the Activity Dialog and Select Jobs Matrix timing).
Change Over
If the Activity is set to use a Change Over Time (and the Activity is set to use the Jobs Matrix for its main work time) then the time in the Change Over cell will be used for the Change Over (or a distribution will be used if a distribution name is in the cell). Set the cell contents to -1 to instruct the Activity to use its own Change Over information.
Example
The graphic below details a Job matrix working on three different kinds of product. This highlights that different work centres can perform different kinds of jobs depending on the Work Type.
Clear Function
Click clear to completely clear the Jobs Matrix sheet.
The examples folder in the Simul8 program files contains several simulations that use the Jobs Matrix.