Issue
You have so many reorder modes. What does each one mean ?
General
Over the years, we probably have implemented the most reorder types out there in the market. A reorder happens when a product is marked bad (red) on a line for different reasons: a reader did not read or the product did not match, the product did not arrive to a sync-point in the window, etc. Now, what do you do with a product gone bad ?
Reorder Modes
No Reorder: do not reorder bad products, just take it sequentially as they come in the file.
Reorder: this was the first, done for newspaper production. They reorder between delivery trucks.
Fast Reorder: the most used, schedule a bad product for reorder as soon as possible (normally after 6 products because the controller has a FIFO of 6). You can put this “R” marked product through a reorder gate by selecting to open the gate.
Reorder File: put a bad product in a reorder file (called filename.remake). The operator will remake every now and then as he chooses.
Reorder Group: this came when a customer wanted only good and in sequence products on the final conveyor, that is, all the products after the bad product will also be ejected, and the controller will remake all of them. This needs a very well set machine, otherwise there are too many reorders.
Reorder after Batch: this came with products that need to be put in a box. The controller will reorder the bad products between batches so that the person packing them in boxes in the conveyor has to deal with them only once. This needs a feeder with batching capability, either serially or with signals. You can input the delay time between batches and between reorders.
Reorder after Stop: this came with machines that had no gate, the customer wants the controller to stop (Stop Signal) the machine after the reorder was produced. The operator puts the remade product back in the box and restarts the machine by pressing the green button.
Reorder Mark: this came with a customer that just wanted an “R” in the file for the products that were marked as bad.
Reorder after Number: to produce as fast as possible, a customer wanted to deal with reorders every 2,000 or 5,000 products, a rack of products for them. According to productivity measurements, one can produce 15 to 20% more per shift in this mode because the feeder and the packer is not bothered with reorders much.
Reorder after String: to produce as fast as possible, a customer wanted to deal with reorders depending on a string in the data file, same as “Reorder after Number” but the reorders come with a marker in the file.