FactoryWiz Configuration Guide: Efficient Cycle Times Management

8.2 Configuration - Cycle Times

You can upload cycle time and other information into FactoryWiz through the Configuration > Cycle Times option. When a machine registers a new part name (or job / op number, depending on how you have configured the machine), FactoryWiz will look in the table and apply any matching information. For example, you could have the benchmark run time and load time entered in the spreadsheet, and when that part starts running the information will transfer to the active part. You may also populate custom fields from this spreadsheet, the parts per cycle value, or any combination of the above.

To use this feature for looking up a cycle time, the machine (under the machines configuration page, Counting Parts section) must be set to lookup table by part id or lookup table by job & op:

Additionally, under the OEE Calculation section, this option must be un-checked:


If you are just starting out with this option, it is best to download an Export of the Current Configuration which allows you to download an empty CSV (comma separated values) file which contains all of the possible fields that you can import per Cycle Time record. The first row of the CSV file will always be the "header" row, which will have the names of each of the fields that you wish to import (Part ID, Cycle Time represented in Seconds, etc.) It is important NOT to modify the header row!

You do not have to include all of the field columns, you can simply include those field columns that have relevant data. If you have your machine set to load based on the part ID, then the FTPartID column is mandatory. Likewise if you have the machine set to read the spreadsheet based on the Job number column, that column would be mandatory. The rest of the fields are optional - but if you leave them all blank then no data will be loaded. To load a cycle time by looking up a part name, for example, you would need at minimum the FTPartID and FTCycleTime columns.

In your import data file, if a record already exist in RefTimeData where FTPARTID , FTSITE, FTDEPT, and FTCNC (Machine Name) all match, then the old records will be removed and replaced with the new records.
If there are no existing records in the database where all of those fields match, then a new record will be created in the RefTimeData table.

If you select (check the checkbox) for the "Purge old records before import" option, then ALL existing records will be deleted and all data will be replaced with the data from your CSV import file.
So if you wish to update existing data, the best option would be to Download and Export file of Current Configuration, and the update the CSV file with new information, and then upload the CSV, selecting the Purge Old Records option.

When selecting ASCII as encoding type, it will be interpreted as UTF-8 which is "ASCII-compatible" (commonly used, like Save As CSV in Excel)
The ASCII option is the default option. If you are unsure of which option to use, stay with the default ASCII option.
When selecting Unicode, it will be UTF-16 (may be necessary if your import file contains special characters in languages other than en-US , not commonly used)

When the lookup is performed, the match is attempted from most specific to least specific. In this way you could have all machines on the system have the same cycle time by simply having one record with only the FTPartID and FTCycleTime columns. However, if machine in department A have one cycle time and machines in department B have a different cycle time, and one particular machine in department B has yet another cycle time - that could be achieved. Note that if a CNC name, site name, or department name is specified - the match must be EXACT. No additional spaces or any changes from the site or department or cnc name defined in FactoryWiz will work. The search order is:

  1. Matches part name and the specific cnc name (when specific cnc name is used, no site or department need be specified)
  2. Matches part name and site & department name, with cnc name blank
  3. Matches part name and department name, with site and cnc name blank
  4. Matches part name and site name, with department and cnc name blank
  5. Matches part name, with site, department, and cnc blank

FTPartID
FTSite
FTDepartment
FTCnc
FTCycleTime
AB1234


Citizen 12
100
AB1234
Nashville
Swiss A

110
AB1234

Swiss A

115
AB1234

Swiss B

120
AB1234
Memphis


130
AB1234



140

Here are examples of how different machines would read this table:
  1. The machine named Citizen 12 (Nashville site, Swiss A department) would return 100 seconds
  2. The machine named Citizen 11 (Nashville site, Swiss A department) would return 110 seconds
  3. The machine named Citizen 23 (Nashville site, Swiss B department) would return 120 seconds
  4. The machine named Citizen 44 (Memphis site, Swiss D department) would return 130 seconds
  5. The machine named Citizen 45 (Tulsa site, Swiss A department) would return 115 seconds
  6. The machine named Citizen 46 (Tulsa site, Swiss B department) would return 120 seconds
  7. The machine named Citizen 51 (Tulsa site, Swiss C department) would return 140 seconds

Cautionary notes:

  1. If you have different departments maintaining different spreadsheets, do not use the checkbox "Purge old records before import". If this is checked when uploading the spreadsheet for one department, it will purge other departments' records.
  2. Site, Department, and CNC columns - if these values are used at all they must match exactly. If the department is called "Horiz Mill" in FactoryWiz and "Horiz. Mill" in the spreadsheet, there will not be a match when the machine queries the table.
  3. The spreadsheet must be uploaded in CSV format, not XLS or XLSX.
  4. Do not change the column headers. Entire columns may be deleted if unused.
  5. Certain part numbers which are entirely numeric with leading zeros may be difficult to save in CSV in Excel. You can use a single quote before the value to save as text, however once that spreadsheet is next opened Excel will have forgotten that single quote. In those cases you may need to save locally as XLSX and then export as CSV each time you make a revision.

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