Armstrong Plywood Survival Guide

Every machine type has a ms_VBB_*MachineType* table and a ms_VBB_*MachineType*_Breakdown table. (Ex/ ms_VBB_Gradeline, ms_VBB_Gradeline_GradeBreakdown) The VBB Tables are summarized to runs, and the grade breakdown tables are summarized to grades and runs. The sheets/MSF in the GradeBreakdown table should always add up to the sheets/MSF for the corresponding run in the summarized table.

Some machines may also need additional data instead of just Sheets/MSF and grade breakdowns. In this case there is an additional “Extras” table (ex/ ms_VBB_Gradeline_Extras) that will hold these values. Because of the straight primary to foreign key mapping, the extras table should be viewed via a view rather than directly. There is only currently one place where this is needed at Armstrong and this is the ms_VBB_Dryers_View which contains some additional columns for the dryers.

Composers - Data received automatically via PLC - 2 composers on the composer schedule. Rarely is there problems with these, they just track some basic numbers like sheets and recovery %

Layups - Data received automatically via PLC - 2 layups ASL and RLL these are pretty straight forward, generally just tracking sheets and volume from each machine.

Press - Data received automatically via PLC - This is where things start getting complicated, there are 2 presses at armstrong each on their own schedule. However, each press tracks which production came from which layup line. This data is displayed in overlapping runs. You can determine which press and layup line the data is referring to by looking at the LineID. The number after the decimal in the lineID refers to the layup, 1 refers to ASL and 2 refers to RLL

Press LineIDs 1.1 = Press 1 ASL 1.2 = Press 1 RLL 2.1 = Press 2 ASL 2.2 = Press 2 RLL

Another thing important to note about the press is that the lineID with the highest amount of production (volume) should be considered the “product” that press is currently running.

Gradeline - Data received automatically via PLC - just 1 gradeline tracking sheets/volume/grade info

Sander - Data received automatically via PLC - just 1 line tracking sheets/volume/grade info - It seems quite often they have problems with product mapping on this machine.

Putty Patch - Data entered manually by users via the PLY - Main - Production Input

Dryer 1 - Data entered manually by users via the PLY - Main - Production Input

Dryer 2 - No longer exists at armstrong. Schedule is still there for historical data purposes.

Dryer 3 - Data received automatically via PLC - Even though this machine is automatic they seem to enter data into it manually VERY often (every few shifts or so). There is a very special case on the dryer 3. When the product for a run is a “random” product, the uptime for the run of this product will be 100% for the entire run. This should all be set up and working already via the “IncludeDowntime” flag in the downtime summary table.

Dryer 4 - Data received automatically via PLC - Generally a pretty straight forward dryer, one important thing to note is that doubles are already included in the redry so they should not be included in the grade breakdown. They have their own column in the vbb_Dryers_Extras table instead.

Dryer 5 - Data received automatically via PLC - Similar to Dryer 4 except dryer 5 also has “re run” panels in addition to doubles which are not to be included in the grade breakdown data. Also contains a “Percent fill” number which I believe is only shown on the dryer detail report.

Due to KPI Runs not being ready when it was developed, armstrong still uses it's old target system for product based targets. All the targets are stored in the old ms_Target table. In each of the summarized VBB tables, there is a column for target sheets and target MSF. This shows the target Sheets and target MSF for this particular run and the target is based on the run time, so most likely you won't have to worry about targets too much as all of it has already been programmed into the VBB update procedures, if you need a target you can just take the total production MSF/Total Target MSF.

Most of Armstrong runs really nicely and seamlessly except for a few reports, mostly ones that they wanted to keep from the legacy system that seem to continously have problems.

PLY - Dryer - Detail This report is probably the most problematic report at armstrong. It is very overly complex and it is used extensively and audited at armstrong. I've gotten it to a point where it is pretty good but every once in a while something still comes up with it. This is essentially 4 different reports in 1 (“Totals, Dryer, Grades”, “Product Grades”, “Shift KPIs”, and “Shift Detail”).

Totals, Dryer, Grades and product Grades are both in the “Grade Breakdown” subreport, while Shift KPIs is in the subreports called “Chronological” and “Shift Detail” is in the subreport with the same name. If you have problems with this report, i'd recommend first checking the VBB data tables to see if there is a problem before even looking at the report. If it is a reporting problem then go to the corresponding subreport where the problem is occuring take the query in that subreport and try and figure out where the problem is by running sections of the query related to the problem in it's own query window.

PLY - Main - Production Input This screen is where they manually enter/change production numbers and comments for every single machine on the site. It is very complex, but is created in a fairly uniform way so every machine's subinput is almost exactly the same. Each machine has a product input and a grade breakdown input. The product input allows the users to select or change products of the run. When they select a run the grade breakdown section will show the production data for that run. Production data can only be changed at the grade breakdown level. This ensures the grade breakdown and summarized data is always in sync.

PLY - Main - KPI Plywood Report This report is very complex and not really needed anymore but is still used in some cases. It still uses old data tables from before the VBB project, so sometimes it will not match up with the new reports due to manual entry etc.

There are a ton of tables on armstrong that are either belonging to the sawmill planermill, or are old tables that have not been removed yet, but probably should be.

These are the main tables you should be dealing with when working with Armstrong Plywood:

VBB Tables

• ms_VBB_Composers
• ms_VBB_Dryers
• ms_VBB_Dryers_Extras
• ms_VBB_Dryers_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Gradeline
• ms_VBB_Gradeline_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Layup
• ms_VBB_Layup_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Press
• ms_VBB_Press_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Product_Enable (This enables or disables whether a product is shown in the production input screen)
• ms_VBB_Putty
• ms_VBB_Putty_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Sander
• ms_VBB_Sander_GradeBreakdown
• ms_VBB_Sander_GradeGroups
• ms_VBB_CrewManning
• All Tables starting with KPI

Tables from the Old system that are still used in the new system

• ms_comment
• ms_CommentType
• ms_Ply_DailyShipments
• ms_Ply_Exta (Safety Data)
• ms_target

Views

• std_ShiftInfo
• std_Downtime_Summary

Armstrong sometimes runs production on inactive shifts. In this case the uptime/downtime/total minutes for the shift are all 0, but the production data still counts. The site should already be setup to accomadate this but it is good to know.

All the reports with PLY in front of them are the new plywood reports included in the VBB Project, reports prefixed by OLD nobody should even have access to except steve.