Basic Building Blocks:
The top building block, everything is eventually linked to it.
Departments get created based on how a company wants to classify its work.
For example, if a company has different production plants, each one can be a different department.
Or, if a company has a few distinctly different production workflows, they can be set up as different departments.
Alternatively, departments may signify how the work originated (like in a demo PrintVis company).
Cost Center is a central part of PrintVis.
It can be a machine, a function, a workplace or a person with a fixed hour rate.
All calculations, planning, job costing and production statistics are all linked to a Cost Center.
Multiple Cost Centers are linked to a Department.
A Cost Center can only be linked to 1 department and 1 Capacity Unit.
A lot of production scheduling-related settings are done here.
Any Cost Center we want to schedule needs to be connected to a Capacity Unit.
For easier task management during scheduling and statistics gathering, capacity Units are assembled into Capacity Groups.
Capacity Statistics page displays the planned / available capacity for each scheduled Capacity Unit in the plant. This is a great tool to use if one wants to see a plant load.
Production Plan page is a default PrintVis tool for production scheduling.
It presents a series of filtered lists that show various job information.
Opening Hour profiles are set to display “from” and “to” time.
For example, if we have a folder that is used form 6 am until 8 pm, we create an Opening Hour profile that has 6 am as “from” time and 8 pm as “to” time
We assign opening hour profiles to calendars via “Opening Hours Setup” page.
Calendars: there is usually 1 calendar per department. However, we can have unique calendars set t o a specific capacity group or even a capacity unit.
For example, if the whole bindery operates from 6 am until 8 pm, but a diecutter is open only from 8am until 4pm, we assign a unique calendar to diecutter.
Configurations describe how a Cost Center functions and how we want to calculate it.
There should be at least 1 “Base” configuration linked to a Cost Center.
If a Cost Center has multiple “modes” of operation, they can be reflected either as additional Base configurations or as “Surcharges”.
Surcharges add something to the Base configuration calculations and / or affect them in some way.
Example: Base Saddlestitcher speed is 6,000 books / hour. We know that adding an inline trimmer will slow it down by 15%.
So, we create an “Inline trimmer” configuration, add an extra Makeready time and add the slowdown factor of 15% which will affect the Base configuration.
Scrap, hourly rates, equipment specs – all get added at the Configuration level.
Calculation Unit - linked to a Cost Center and Configuration.
When we are looking at the calculation lines on the Estimating page of PrintVis Case, we are actually looking at the Calculation Units.
This is where it all hits the fan.
NOTE: when we create a new Calculation Unit, it copies all operation lines from a linked Configuration.
But from that point, we can change the calculation formulas, add Items and add operation lines form other Configurations.
So, a Calculation Unit, although linked to a specific Cost Center, does not necessarily have the same exact calculations as that Cost Center.
To quickly add more than 1 Calculation Unit at a time into a PrintVis Case, Calculation Units get assembled into Lists of Units.
As soon as we add a press-related “List of Units” in PrintVis Case on the Job Card page, every single linked calculation will be brought in automatically.
For example, a typical “Offset Press” List of Units may have some basic pre-press functions, CTP, press and paper calculations. However, there is no limit as to how many units we can combine.
We can add a “prepress” cutting for example: this will allow for an automatic “parent sheet subcut” calculation.
Finishing operations have their own “Finishing” lists of units, which can also be selected on the Job Card page.
Multiple Calculation Units are assembled into Planning Units.
At some point (usually when we switch into PLANNING milestone), all calculations on the Estimating page get converted into Planning Units and appear on the “Planning” page, this allowing us to do production scheduling.
Usually a “Do not create if 0 time” setting is enabled on the Planning Unit. This will make sure that any operation that did not calculate on the Estimating page will not appear on the Planning page.
Production stages that do not calculate automatically. We assign specific start and stop time manually and mark them as “completed” manually.
Example of a milestone: a date when we are supposed to send out proofs to a customer.
By assigning a correct sequence number to a milestone by ensure that PrintVis will place it in the right production sequence in the Planning window.
Each Product Group Order Type may get a unique set of Milestones.
Meet the whole family: