Inserting Processes, Resources and Manufacturing Assemblies from Templates    

Templates that have been modeled and saved in Process Engineer can be imported into DPM for further detailing. The use of templates encourages process plan reuse and reduces time spent in planning. It can also serve as a tool to establish rules and best practices in the planning stage.

Inserting a Process and/or Resource from a Template

1. Insert a project from the Manufacturing Hub via Insert > Manufacturing Hub Object > PPR from a Project.

2. Select Insert > Manufacturing Hub Object > Instantiate from Template, or click Instantiate from Template in the Manufacturing Hub Commands toolbar.
   
   The Insert Processes/Resources From A Template dialog box appears:

3. Selecting a template
   All of the templates that are associated with the current master plantypeset are available in the Select a Template drop-down combo box:

   The process/resource tree is displayed based on the template selected. Note that multiple processes, resources and manufacturing assemblies may be selected from the tree. The Properties section at the bottom of the dialog box is updated each time a process or resource is selected. Columns shown in the Properties section correspond to attributes configured as Display in Browser in Process Engineer.

4. Selecting a planning state
   This drop-down combo box allows you to select a specific planning state to filter the processes, resources, and manufacturing assemblies shown.

5. Searching for a process, resource or manufacturing assembly
   The Search button can be used to locate processes, resources and manufacturing assemblies in the database. The PPR Search dialog box works identically to that described for the Manufacturing Hub Search command. User attributes defined in Process Engineer for the selected plantype can also be used as search criteria.

   After a process or resource has been selected from the Search Results, the PPR Search dialog box is closed and the selected item is highlighted in the tree, as shown below.

   

   Select Show Only Searched Object to view the selected object without any siblings, as shown below:

   

   You can also select and position a resource with compass when Insert Processes/Resources From A Template dialog box is open. After launching the command Instantiate from Template in the Manufacturing Hub Commands toolbar, you can choose to insert an object from template or you can minimize the Insert Processes/Resources From A Template dialog box and select a resource to position. Once you select a resource, the compass will be attached to it and a Confirm Position dialog box will be shown to confirm the position of resource.

   
   
   You can move the resource with compass and then click Close button in Confirm Position dialog box to go back to the initial state.
   In the initial state you get the following message if the Insert Processes/Resources From A Template dialog box is in maximized state.
   

   
   The message will change to the following if you simply minimizes the Insert Processes/Resources From A Template dialog box in this state.

   
   When you select the resource and the compass is attached as shown in above image then the following prompt message appears.
   

   
   Also, just after inserting a resource, the compass is attached to it and the above Confirm Position dialog box is shown.

6. Selecting a Parent
   See Instantiate from Template command behavior below.

7. Previewing resources
   Enable the Show Preview check box to display a selected resource in the preview window. (Note that the previewgraphic attribute must be set in Process Engineer to utilize this functionality.)

   When multiple resources are selected, the first selected resource is shown in the preview.

8. Copying Related Resources
   When selecting both processes and resources, Copy Related Resources can be enabled to copy the resources associated to any selected processes.
   
   After the desired process node is selected, the resource tree can be expanded to highlight the related resources by selecting Update Resource Tree.  

9. Quantity of Objects 
   Specify the number of times the selected processes is inserted under the resource.
   It is enabled when you select a process object from the template for a selected resource parent.

Instantiate from Template command behavior

When selecting only Process(es)

Selecting a parent process

Upon selecting one or more processes, click Select Parent to select a valid parent process in the DPM PPR tree to insert the process(es) under. If the selected process is valid (in accordance with the plantypeset definition), the process(es) will be inserted under the selected parent. If a parent process is selected that does not have the add child access right and write lock, it cannot be selected as a parent. 

When selecting only Resource(s)

Selecting a parent resource

Upon selecting one or more resources, click Select Parent to select a valid parent process in the DPM PPR tree to insert the resources under. If the selected resource is valid (in accordance with the plantypeset definition), the resource(s) will be inserted under the selected parent. If a parent resource is selected that does not have the add child access right and write lock, it cannot be selected as a parent.

Insert Activity under Resource without Behavior

If the parent of the selected resource cannot have behavior then it search branch till it finds one which can have behavior, creates behavior under it and inserts the activity. If no such parent is found then a warning message is displayed.
While creating behavior under the resource (or one of its parent), that resource should have proper lock so that it can be saved back to the Manufacturing Hub. In case a resource is not found with proper lock then insertion is not possible.

Positioning inserted resources

To position the inserted resources in the DPM 3D window, either select a location in the 3D space or type an absolute location in the power input box for each resource inserted. Alternatively, all resources can be placed at the origin of the parent by checking the Place at Parent Origin check box. If this check box is enabled before the resource positioning is initiated, all inserted resources will be placed by default at the origin of the selected parent. However, if the positioning of some resources is performed manually (i.e., the Place at Parent Origin option is disabled), and then the Place at Parent Origin option is enabled, then all remaining resources that have not yet been positioned are automatically positioned at the parent origin.

Note that the dialog can be closed only after the inserted resources have been positioned.

When selecting both Process(es) and Resource(s)

The Copy Related Resources option must be enabled to copy the resources associated to any selected process(es).

Selecting a parent process and resource

Upon selecting one or more processes, click Select Parent to select a valid parent process in the DPM PPR tree to insert the process(es) under. If the selected process is valid (in accordance with the plantypeset definition), the process(es) will be inserted under the selected parent. If a parent process is selected that does not have the add child access right and write lock, it cannot be selected as a parent. 

After selecting a parent process, the user is prompted to select a valid parent resource in the DPM PPR tree to insert the resource(s) under. If the selected resource is valid (in accordance with the plantypeset definition), the resource(s) will be inserted under the selected parent. If a parent resource is selected that does not have the add child access right and write lock, it cannot be selected as a parent.

Positioning inserted resources

To position the inserted resources in the DPM 3D window, either select a location in the 3D space or type an absolute location in the power input box for each resource inserted. Alternatively, all resources can be placed at the origin of the parent by checking the Place at Parent Origin check box. In this case, the relations between the process(es) and the resource(s) are also copied and loaded in DPM.

Note that the dialog can be closed only after the inserted resources have been positioned.

When selecting one or more Manufacturing Assemblies

When the Manufacturing Assembly root node is expanded in the template browser and an AST Manufacturing Assembly node is selected, the Apply button becomes activated. A parent node can be selected in the DPM Spec Tree. When the Apply button is clicked, the selected Manufacturing Assembly node is copied under the selected parent. If a parent is not selected before Apply is clicked, the selected Manufacturing Assembly is copied directly under the Applications > Manufacturing Products node of the PPR tree in the current DPM session.

When selecting multiple manufacturing assemblies to insert, any duplicate selections (e.g., assemblies that are already children of one or more other selected assemblies) are automatically resolved, and only one instance of the selected object is inserted in the current DPM session.