Dual Stage Thawing
The Dual Stage Thawing process can be used for materials, that are thawed in two steps. The process starts when the material is put from the deep freeze cabinet to the production freezer. After the material has stayed in the production freezer long enough (first thawing stage), the material can be moved to the thawing position (second thawing stage). After the thawing has finished, the material can be set up to a machine and be used in production for a certain time which is controlled by parameters. After exceeding the time for which the material can be used in production, the material is blocked.
Dual Stage Thawing modifies the expiration date of the material to the date when the material is expected to expire due to the Production Freezer Expiry Time (while in the production freezer) or the Thawing Time / Good For Manufacturing Time (after it has been moved to the thawing position).
While the material is thawing up (both stages), the use of this material in production is prevented by blocking the material with the BlockingReason NotReleasedForManufacturing.
The start state for the Dual Stage Thawing process is In Production Freezer.
Standard Case Timeline
The following image shows the standard flow over time of a Dual Stage Thawing Process when the Production Freezer Expiry Time and the Production Freezer Time and also Thawing Time + Good For Manufacturing Time is lower than the time until the material would expire due to its normal Expiration Date.
Used States
| State name | Description | Start State | End State |
|---|---|---|---|
In Production Freezer |
The material has been moved to the production freezer. From here it can be either moved back to a deep freezer or it will automatically transition to the state In Production Freezer Not Repackable after the Repack Delay has passed. |
X |
|
In Production Freezer Not Repackable |
The material is currently pre-thawing in the production freezer and cannot be moved back to the deep freezer anymore. |
||
Ready For Thawing |
Pre-thawing in the production freezer has finished and the material can be moved to the thawing position. |
||
In Thawing Position |
The material has been moved to the thawing position. From here it can be either moved back to the production freezer or it will automatically transition to the state Thawing after the Repack Delay has passed. |
||
In Freezer |
The material has been moved back to the deep freezer from the production freezer. No monitoring activities are performed. |
X |
|
Thawing |
The material is currently thawing and cannot be moved back to the production freezer anymore. |
||
Ready For Manufacturing |
Thawing has finished and the material can be used in production. |
||
In Production |
The material has been setup to a machine. |
||
Expired |
The Good For Manufacturing Time has been exceeded and the material is considered expired and has been blocked. |
X |
Process Flow
In Production Freezer
The expiration date of the material is set to the current date + Production Freezer Expiry Time if that is lower than the current expiration date. A new NotReleasedForManufacturing Block is created for the material, if it does not have one already. The material is setup to the location of the production freezer with the StationInfo set to the scanned position (SetupStatus: SetupOrConfirm). The material remains in this state until the Repack Delay has passed or the material is moved back to the deep freezer.
In Production Freezer Not Repackable
The material is pre-thawing in the production freezer and cannot be moved back to the deep freezer anymore. The material remains in this state until the Production Freezer Time (since moving the material to the production freezer) has passed or the state is manually skipped.
Ready For Thawing
The material has finished the pre-thawing process in the production freezer. It can now be moved to the thawing position. The expiration date of the material is set to the date which was calculated based on the Production Freezer Expiry Time when first entering the production freezer. A new NotReleasedForManufacturing Block is created for the material, if it does not have one already. The material is setup to the location of the production freezer with the StationInfo set to the scanned position (SetupStatus: SetupOrConfirm).
In Thawing Position
The expiration date of the material is set to the current date + Thawing Time + Good For Manufacturing Time if that is lower than the current Expiration Date. A new NotReleasedForManufacturing Block is created for the material, if it does not have one already. The material is setup to the Location of the thawing position with the StationInfo set to the scanned position (SetupStatus: SetupOrConfirm). The material remains in this state until the Repack Delay has passed or the material is moved back to the production freezer or it expires.
In Freezer
The expiration date of the material is reset to its original value from before entering the state In Production Freezer. The material is setup to the location of the deep freezer with the StationInfo set to the scanned position (SetupStatus: SetupOrConfirm).
Thawing
The material is thawing and cannot be moved back to the production freezer anymore. The material remains in this state until the Thawing Time (since moving the material to the thawing position) has passed.
Ready For Manufacturing
The expiration date of the material is set to the current date + Good For Manufacturing Time if that is lower than the current Expiration Date. Any existing NotReleasedForManufacturing Blocks on the material are removed.
In Production
The material has been setup to a machine. The material can decay faster or slower depending on the Decay Factor.
Example:
| Decay Factor | Original remaining time | Effective remaining time adjusted for decay |
|---|---|---|
1 |
60 min |
60 min |
1.5 |
60 min |
40 min |
0.5 |
60 min |
120 min |
The expiration date of the material is set to the current date + remaining Good For Manufacturing Time (which has not already passed in state Ready For Manufacturing) divided by the Decay Factor, if that point in time is before the original Expiration Date of the material.
When entering this state, the location of the monitoring entry will be set to the current location of the material and the position of the monitoring entry will be set to the station info of the material, to represent the location where the material has actually been set up for production.
Moving the material back to the deep freezer from the production freezer
When the material is in the state In Production Freezer, it can be moved back to the deep freezer as long as the Repack Delay has not passed and the material has not entered the state In Production Freezer Not Repackable. To move the material back to the deep freezer, scan the material and the location of the deep freezer. For the scan of a location, a Monitoring Location Definition for the location of the deep freezer with Target State In Freezer must be configured.
If the user has MaterialManagement Expert or MaterialManagement Administrator role, the user can trigger this transition from the web user interface in the Monitoring Details Page using the Fire Event.
Moving the material back to the production freezer from the thawing position
When the material is in the state In Thawing Position, it can be moved back to the production freezer as long as the Repack Delay has not passed and the material has not entered the state Thawing. To move the material back to the production freezer, scan the material and the location of the production freezer. For the scan of a location, a Monitoring Location Definition for the location of the production freezer with Target State In Production Freezer must be configured. The material will then be moved back to the State Ready For Thawing.
If the user has MaterialManagement Expert or MaterialManagement Administrator role, the user can trigger this transition from the web user interface in the Monitoring Details Page using the Fire Event.
Entering the state In Production
It is recommended to have the state transition to In Production be performed via DDL whenever the material is set up to a machine. If this is not possible for some reason, it can also be triggered manually by scanning a location. For the scan of a location, a Monitoring Location Definition with target state In Production must be configured and the configured location must be scanned for the material to transition from the state Ready For Manufacturing to In Production.
In Dual Stage Thawing, a material that has been setup and set In Production at one location and is afterwards moved to another location, can be scanned again at the second location with state In Production to update the location in the Material Monitoring Entry. The same is true for setting the material up multiple times to In Production via DDL or manually with Fire Event.
If the user has MaterialManagement Expert or MaterialManagement Administrator role, the user can trigger this transition from the web user interface in the Monitoring Details Page using the Fire Event.
Parameters
| Parameter | Possible Values | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Repack Delay |
Any time span |
Mandatory |
Sets the time within that the material can be returned to the deep freezer and to the production freezer. |
Production Freezer Time |
Any time span |
Mandatory |
Sets the time how long the material needs to stay in the production freezer before it can be moved to the thawing position. |
Production Freezer Expiry Time |
Any time span |
Mandatory |
Sets the time how long the material can stay in the production freezer before it expires. |
Thawing Time |
Any time span |
Mandatory |
The location. Sets the time how long the material needs to thaw. |
Good For Manufacturing Time |
Any time span |
Mandatory |
Sets the time how long the material can be used in the production. |
Decay Factor |
0.000001 - 1000000 |
Mandatory |
Sets a factor how fast the material decays when setup. |
| For the value of the Decay Factor, a value of 1.0 means normal decay. The value 1.1 means a 10% faster decay process. |