Product Flows

Specify the name of the flow.

It must be a meaningful name since you will refer to it in the Custom Constraints and Linear Ranges tables.

When creating constraints, the measurement unit specified in the Product Unit column of this table will be overridden by the Unit specified in the Products table.

Defines the source of the products that the flow constraints will be defined for (DC, Factory, Supplier and groups containing them).

The cell contains a drop-down list with the available facilities.

Defines if the specified throughput level (Min Throughput, Max Throughput) is applied to each defined source (Enabled) or to the aggregated number of sources (Disabled). By default each source is considered.

Disabling the expand button has the following effect.

E.g. We specify a group of 4 sources. The Min Throughput value is set to 1000 items. If the Expand Sources is enabled, the specified throughput of 1000 items is provided by every source, which brings us to the total of 1000 * 4 = 4000 items. If the Expand Sources is disabled, the specified throughput stands for the total capability of all 4 sources, i.e., 1000 / 4.

Destination

Defines the destination for the products that the flow constraints will be defined for (DC, Factory, Customer and groups containing them)

The cell contains a list of facilities.

Expand Destinations

Defines if the specified throughput level (Min Throughput, Max Throughput) is applied to each defined destination (Enabled) or to the aggregated number of destinations (Disabled). By default each destination is considered.

Disabling the expand button has the following effect.

E.g. We specify a group of 15 destinations. The Min Throughput value is set to 100 items. If the Expand Destinations is enabled, the specified throughput of 100 items will refer to each destination, totaling 100 * 15 = 1500 items. If the Expand Destinations is disabled, the specified throughput stands for the total capability of all 15 destinations, i.e., 100 / 15.

Vehicle Types

The vehicle type (previously defined vehicles in the Vehicle Types table) used for shipping products. Click to open a drop-down list with all the available vehicle types. You may select multiple vehicle types.

If set, products will be shipped with the specified vehicle type only. Make sure to set the selected vehicle type(s) for the corresponding Paths as well.

Defines the product or a group of products that the flow constraints will be defined for.

Expand Products

Defines if the specified product flow (Min Throughput, Max Throughput) is applied to each defined product (Enabled) or to the aggregated number of products (Disabled). By default each product is considered.

Disabling the expand button has the following effect.

E.g. A source offers 2 types of products. The Min Throughput value is set to 1000 items. If the Expand Products is enabled, the specified 1000 items will refer to each type of a product, totaling 2000 items, otherwise it will refer to the sum of all products.

Min Throughput

Sets the minimum flow throughput that the specified source (or a group of sources) can offer. By default the throughput is set to 0 and is considered to be infinite.

If the Down Penalty is set to 0, this will be a hard constraint.

Max Throughput

Sets the maximum flow throughput that the specified source (or a group of sources) can offer. By default the throughput is set to 0 and is considered to be infinite.

If the Up Penalty is set to 0, this will be a hard constraint.

Fixed

Fixed Value

Product Unit

Specify the unit (of weight or volume), in which the values from the following columns are measured: Min Throughput, Max Throughput, Fixed Value.

The list of available units comprises the units defined in both the Manage units dialog and the Units table.

Down Penalty

Defines the penalty to be paid per each product unit (measured in the units that are defined in the Product Unit column) for dropping the throughput level below the specified Min Throughput level.

The penalty is calculated as: specified down penalty * sum of the lacking products.

If the penalty is set to 0, the specified Min Throughput will be considered as a hard constraint, i.e., it cannot be violated. For more information refer here.

Defines the penalty to be paid per each product unit (measured in the units that are defined in the Product Unit column) for exceeding the specified Max Throughput level.

The penalty is calculated as: specified up penalty * sum of the excessive products.

If the penalty is set to 0, the specified Max Throughput will be considered as a hard constraint, i.e., it cannot be violated. For more information refer here.

The type of currency in which the Down Penalty and the Up Penalty is expressed.

Distance Limit

The Distance measurement units.

The list of available units comprises the units defined in the Manage units dialog.

Time Limit

Sets the delivery time limit. If it takes more time to deliver a product to the customer, than it is expected (time limit is violated), the customer will not be serviced, the orders placed by the customer will be still received, but they will be lost (unless there is alternative sourcing for it).

The measurement unit that the Time Limit is measured in.

The list of available units comprises the units defined in the Manage units dialog.

Defines the period of time (from the previously defined in the Periods table).

The cell contains a list of periods.

Expand Periods

Defines if the specified throughput level (Min Throughput, Max Throughput) is applied to each defined period (Enabled) or to the whole period that the group of periods forms (Disabled). By default the whole period is considered.

Disabling the expand button has the following effect.

E.g. We specify a group of 4 periods. The Max Throughput value is set to 1000 items. If the Expand Periods is enabled, the specified throughput of 1000 items is the limit for each period of the group, which brings us to the total of 1000 * 4 = 4000 items. If the Expand Periods is disabled, the specified value stands for the total throughput of all 4 sources. Note, that the exact throughput in this case is not allotted to a period, i.e, it is not 1000 / 4 periods.

Inclusion Type

Defines the status of the current facility constraint.

• Include — if this status is set, the facility constraint will be included into the supply chain configuration.
• Exclude — if set, the facility constraint 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 stays editable.