How to design overlapping operations

[BjoernK-0815]

I'm looking for a way to design an overlapping production process. Overlapping because the first step don't have to be finished for the complete manufacturing order to start working in the 2.nd operation.

For example the wood table with 2 steps:

1. grinding
2. painting.

When producing 100 parts and there are enough resources (2 people on 2 workplaces) the second operation can start, when the first part is finished in the first operation. The planing time then reduces from the sum of the 2 steps to a significant smaller time.
In the documentation i found an deprecated feature called transfer_batch but now this workflow should be realised with operation_dependencies and operation_material_offset. I don't really have an idea ho to design such overlapping operations with this tools.

thanks for your feedback

[jdetaeye]

Transfer batching is a deprecated feature that will be removed soon.

The alternatives:

• Operation dependencies let you define a nonlinear relation between steps in your process. Eg step 1 and 2 can run in parallel, and step 3 needs both to be finished before it can start.
  See https://frepple.com/docs/current/model-reference/operation-dependencies.php
  Specific to your example: you can say that grinding and painting can run in parallel. That's accurate enough for planning (apart from the grinding of the first part...).

• The offset field on the operation materials lets you define a time difference from the regular time of material production or consumption. Eg an operation can consume material a few hours before its start to account for weighing or quality checks. Eg an operation can produce material a few hours after its end to account for drying or cooling time.
  See https://frepple.com/docs/current/model-reference/operation-materials.php
  Specific to your example: This is not a fit for your use case.