The outcome of any activity within a process depends on the associated operator set for that activity when the process library was created. The three available associated operators are:
- Default
When an activity is set to the Default associated operator, the activity only affects the items specifically assigned to it. - Union
When an activity is set to the Union associated operator, the activity affects the outputs of preceding activities that have Union associated with them. For instance, if:- Activity1 and Activity2 have the Union associated operator,
- the outcome of Activity1 is a panel, and
- Activity2 is assigned a frame and consists of painting,
Then the outcome of Activity 2 is a painted panel and frame. For more information, see DPM Process and Resource Definition User's Guide: Basic Tasks: Creating a Process Library: Setting the Associated Operator.
- Add Welds
When an activity has an Add Welds operator, it accepts the weld assignments that are the result of another process. For instance, if two users are creating processes for separate production lines, the process for the second line can accept the end result of the process for the first line. The creator of the the second line's process can use the Add Welds operator to receive all the welds used in the first line's process.