The ideal implementation approach follows on from the minimal implementation approach example we discussed previously. The difference in this example is that other data tags are subscribed: There is a variable tag VarTag1 for the SFC number and a second variable tag VarTag2 for the start and stop activity.
In this implementation approach, the operator still starts the SFC in the Production Operator Dashboard (POD). In addition, a production process is triggered that writes the SFC number from SAP Digital Manufacturing to VarTag1 and writes "Start" into the VarTag2. The Retrieve Resources API is called to identify the resource and its asset, and to determine where the data should be written to. Then, the data is written by a flexible indicator Write action block. When the information is received by the machine, the machine starts to run. When the machine finishes a part, "Stop" is written to the VarTag2, which will then be synced to SAP Digital Manufacturing and will trigger another production process by subscription. The second production process will read the SFC number from VarTag 1 and call the SFC Complete API to complete the SFC.
This enables a clear determination of the activity cycle, because start and stop are triggered when they happen. Compared to the minimal implementation approach, the ideal implementation approach can determine the exact time when a part was started or stopped. This is automatically traced in SAP Digital Manufacturing for each SFC and is 100% accurate.
Due to the use of flexible indicators, this is easily scalable to be used for additional machines.
