What is global shipping?

Global shipping is similar to global packout except that this feature allows you to generate and export a hard-coded shipping report during a packout operation. These reports contain customer-specific information and are highly configurable/customizable.

Example

A manufacturer has a customer requirement to supply shipping reports consisting of specific data from genealogy. The report will be used by customers to track serial numbers and revisions in a shipment, book parts into an ERP system such as SAP, and meet traceability requirements set by directives within their organization.

How does it work?

Global shipping allows production operators to scan single UIDs, batches (a complete batch or a range of barcodes from a batch), or work orders to generate a custom shipping report. Global operations are not tied to the production of an assembly and can be executed at any time from the Global Operations area of the Production client application.

Global shipping makes use of the existing FactoryLogix shipping order infrastructure. Process engineers can set up multiple global shipping operations in the NPI client application. Each operation contains the required configuration options for a specific customer or assembly. In Production, the different operations are identified by production operators by their names and descriptions (similar to global packout).

As part of the global shipping configuration, NPI engineers configure a printed label template for global shipping and an alarm reaction template to be used to generate the report automatically in the Analytics client application.

1 - Create a shipping operation and configure assemblies

In NPI, engineers create a global shipping operation, then select one or more assemblies to be shipped using the global shipping operation configuration selections. Each line item in the shipping list can have a distinct revision mode, quantity to be shipped, and validation type.

Log into the NPI client application.
Select Templates and Standards > Global Operations, then select the Shipping tab.
(Optional) To search for an existing global shipping operation, use the Search For Global Shipping Operationbutton (the binoculars), enter the shipping operation name in the Search field, then select the Search For Global Shipping Operationbutton again.
Select the Add Global Shipment Operationbutton next to Global Shipping on the left side of the window to display more options for adding a new global shipping operation.
Enter a Name for the global shipping operation.
(Optional) Enter a Description for the global shipping operation.
Use the Customer drop-down to select a customer for this shipping operation.
Select the desired Label Template to be used for shipping.
Select the desired Report Template to be used to create the global shipping report.
Select the Save button to save the information for this global shipping operation.

Now you're ready to create a shipping list by adding shipping items.
On the right side of the window next to Shipping List, select the Add Shipping Items button.
In the Shipping List Searcher dialog, use the Search option to search for and select inventory items to be shipped.
Select the desired items for shipping, then select OK.

The items you selected are displayed in the shipping list on the right side of the window.
Use the Revision Mode drop-down to specify the revision mode of the selected items to use: Use Latest, Use Any, Use Specific, Use Specific or Newer, Use Specific or Older.
Enter a Quantity to be packed in the box in the Quantity field.
Select the Has No Unresolved Defects check box to check for the presence of any unresolved (open) defects associated with the items being packed.

Note

In Production, when global packout is being performed and the Has No Unresolved Defects validation check fails, the operator will see an error message.

Select the Has No Unresolved Symptoms check box to check for the presence of any unresolved (open) symptoms associated with the items being packed.

Note

In Production, when global packout is being performed and the Has No Unresolved Symptoms validation check fails, the operator will see an error message.

Select the No Failed Status check box to check for items with a Failed status.
Under Process Validation, select Completed All Operations from the drop-down to ensure that all process operations were completed in Production. (If you selectNo Validation, process operations in Production are not validated.)

Tip

If you have multiple, similar process definitions that can all make use of the same global shipping operation, you can create a process flow template containing the global shipping operation (that is, rather than selecting the same global shipping operation for individual assemblies. When the template is applied to a new process flow, the global shipping settings are applied automatically.

To save your selections for this global shipping configuration, select the Save button in the lower-right corner of the window.

In Production, when the operator gets to the Shipping operation in the process, the global shipping settings are applied automatically.

2 - Configure a shipment label template

Configure a label template from a selection of available shipment label templates in NPI > Templates and Standards > Printed Label Templates. (The global shipping operation uses a Shipment label type.

See Create or duplicate printed label templates for more information.

3 - Create an alarm reaction template

Create an alarm reaction template consisting of the Shipping data source with a report. The report must contain at least one value. Make sure the template can be accessed by everyone. Output needs to be configured to export results to a file (*.csv, for example).

See Alarm triggers, reactions, and alarm reaction templates for details about creating and using alarm reaction templates.

4 - Select the global shipping operation

In Production, the operator selects the desired global shipping operation from the list. (The Activity Work Area of the operation displays the shipping list to the operator.)

When you create a new shipment, the system generates a shipment identifier using the label template setting. If a shipment identifier is scanned or entered into the input field, the system loads an existing shipment (if available) or creates a new one using the identifier.

5 - Add barcodes to the shipping list

In Production, the operator adds barcodes to the shipping list by scanning them or by entering the following information manually:

Production unit barcode
Alias barcode
Work order
Batch
Date and time filters

Operators can use a barcode Search dialog (similar to the one used in the Change Product gadget) to identify the desired barcodes, then add them to the shipping list. (The Search dialog includes a date filter and a time filter.)

After the operator adds one or more items to the shipping list, they are validated according to the validation options configured when you created the global shipping operation. A shipment is created and updated immediately for each item that was added and passed validation. The operator is notified of any invalid items and those items are not processed.

6 - (Optional) Add free text to the shipping report

The operator can enter free text to be included in the final shipping report. (Free text applies to the entire report—not for individual items in the shipping list.)

A list of unfinished shipments known to the system are displayed in a dialog. The operator can search for an unfinished shipment by entering the shipment identifier or the customer name. The search results grid displays the shipment identifier, the customer, the date and time of last modification and creation of the shipment, and the operator who last worked on the shipment.

7 - Finish the barcode collection and generate the shipping report

After the barcode collection is completed, the Production operator selects the Finish button. A message is displayed, indicating that proceeding will finalize the shipment and create the report (this action cannot be undone). The message also displays the current quantity of the shipment.

When the operator confirms the prompt, the shipping report is generated in FactoryLogix Analytics and the alarm reaction template is executed. The shipment is marked completed in the database to prevent future processing in a shipment operation. (Completed shipments are visible to reprint a label or re-query the generation of a report, but no new items can be added.)

Exported data can include files that were collected during production and a report generated by a single Analytics data source or several joined data sources. The combination of shipping data sources returns the following data or a subset, as defined by the report:

Shipment identifier
Free text stored for the shipment
Product serial number
Date shipped (for example, the date the shipping operation is executed)
Date finished/completed (for example, the date and time of production completion)
Assembly name and revision
Assembly description
Sub-assembly product serial number
Sub-assembly assembly name and revision
Sub-assembly description
Any parametric data recorded to the unit in a collection activity in Production

The shipping data source extracts the required data fields; other data sources can be joined as required. The free text that the operator entered for a shipment (if it exists) is included in the shipping data source’s output. The resulting DataMiner workbook is configured as a template which is added to a DataMiner alarm reaction.

The alarm reaction’s access restrictions must allow access to everyone. You can select an appropriate output type to create the report as designed in the template. Available output types for reports include XML, CSV, HTML, Text, and Excel. The alarm reaction is added to an alarm reaction template. (See Alarm triggers, reactions, and alarm reaction templates for more information.)

You can email the generated shipping report files to a group of users and store the reports in a specified location.