PulseNet BUNDLE STORAGE MODULE. Softrol Systems, Inc Northpoint Parkway SE Acworth, GA (770)

Transcription

1 PulseNet BUNDLE STORAGE MODULE Softrol Systems, Inc Northpoint Parkway SE Acworth, GA (770)

2 LIMITED WARRANTY The enclosed compact disk and this manual are warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. Should you discover a defect (such as an unreadable CD or a missing manual page), Softrol Systems will gladly replace the defective item free of charge. Softrol Systems makes no other warranties of any kind with regard to this manual or the programs on the enclosed diskette. This includes, but is not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and any damages arising from the use of this product, whether consequential or incidental. Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so these exclusions may not apply to you. You may also have other legal rights which vary from state to state. LICENSE AGREEMENT You are hereby granted a single-user license by Softrol Systems to run the enclosed programs on only one (1) computer at a time and to make a single backup copy of the software for archival purposes. Contact Softrol Systems for information on network licenses. The program or the manual may not be distributed or duplicated by any means without the express written permission of Softrol Systems, Inc. SSI Part # MANUAL-PBSM PulseNet Bundle Storage Module User's Manual Entire contents Softrol Systems, Inc. PulseNet Bundle Storage Module was written by Brent Keith, Taylor Walker, David Tallent, and Softrol Systems, Inc. PulseNet TM Copyright Softrol Systems, Inc. MicroPulse TM Copyright Softrol Systems, Inc. Adobe Acrobat Reader Copyright Adobe Systems, Inc. IBM and VGA are trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER LISTING INTRODUCTION 5 INSTALLATION 7 SETTING UP BUNDLE STORAGE 11 USING BUNDLE STORAGE 15 3

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5 INTRODUCTION CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS MANUAL Certain words are emphasized to convey a special meaning. In general, they are: italics - used to stress a word's importance. bold - indicates a standard term used in PulseNet. "any words" - parentheses indicate verbiage on the screen, or something you should type. [Enter] - square brackets refer to keys on your keyboard. OVERVIEW The PulseNet Bundle Storage Module (PBSM) is an application program which allows an IBM or compatible personal computer to communicate with the Softrol Bundle Storage System. This communication is accomplished via a database connection, and no ArcNet communications are required. This allows the installation of the program on any PC in the plant that is hooked into the same EtherNet network. The PulseNet Bundle Storage Module enables: Viewing of the bundles as they exit the ironers and folders and travel through the system in real-time. This display is made up of two views, the main conveyors and the storage area. Managing the Item Number properties. This includes the addition, editing, and deleting of items, as well as setting their displayed color and name, destinations, and stack count. Viewing of the current item each piece of equipment is handling, including the associated PIMS data being produced. If no PIMS data is present, the workspot will display the reason, such as No Work or Maintenance. Finally, a tally is displayed at the top of the window which shows how many of each item is present in that part of the system. There is even more to PulseNet, and all it's features are contained in this manual. We at Softrol recommend you read it in it's entirety before using PulseNet, so that you may take full advantage of it's power and many time-saving features. 5

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7 INSTALLATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS An IBM or 100% compatible PC with a Pentium GHz or higher processor. Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported). A minimum of 1 Gigabytes of system RAM (4 Gig recommended). WSXGA+ monitor capable of 1680 x 1050, or better. One available EtherNet port. Approximately 4 Megabytes of free hard disk space (see NOTE below). NOTE If you will be installing the program on the same computer where the SQL Server database resides, you will need much more hard disk space to accommodate the database itself, and allow for future growth in database size. Softrol recommends a 500 Gigabyte or larger drive. FILES NEEDED FOR INSTALLATION Two files are needed to install PBSM. They are the main setup for all PulseNet programs, and the setup for the specific program itself. The main setup installs support files needed by all PulseNet programs, and of course the program s own setup installs the PBSM program. The main setup file is named Setup.exe, and the program setup is named Pbsm32.exe. They may be downloaded from Softrol in two ways. To use the PulseNet Support site, use your Internet browser, and type the following into the address bar: Once there, click on the PulseNet Updates link. This will show a listing of all available PulseNet downloads. Below the folders displayed at the top of the page, the first file link is named PulseNet Setup. Click on this file and use your browser s method of downloading. For example, Microsoft s Internet Explorer will ask you 7

8 whether you wish to run or save the file. It is best to save the file. Be sure to save the file to a location you can easily locate later. After the download is complete, scroll down in the PulseNet Support site s PulseNet Updates page and you will see the PulseNet Bundle Storage Module link. Click on it and download the file as you did for the main setup, placing it in the same location on your computer. If using Google Chrome, as another example, clicking the file may ask you whether to run or download the file, or it may download it automatically. If asked, you should choose Download, and the file will be downloaded to the location you have set up in Chrome, usually the Downloads folder for the current user. Another method of getting the files is straight from our FTP site. You may use either a browser for this, or my preference, Windows Explorer. Using Windows Explorer, type the following into its address bar: ftp://ftp2.softrol.com/pub/pulsenet. You will see, in a more primitive, non-graphical manner, the same files. You will want to download Setup.exe and Pbsm32.exe. There are several ways to do this, my favorite being to drag-and-drop each file onto the Downloads folder displayed in the left-hand side of Windows Explorer. INSTALLING THE PROGRAM Once the files are on your PC, you should run the Setup.exe file first. Using Windows Explorer, locate where you saved the two files. Double-click on Setup.exe to run the main setup. After an introductory window, you will see this one: Uncheck these options BE SURE TO UNCHECK ALL OPTIONS EXCEPT THE TOP ONE, SYSTEM FILES. If you don t have the Adobe Reader installed, you may do so later for free by going to Adobe s web site. A PDF file reader such as Adobe is necessary to read this User s Manual. The remainder of the main setup is easy. Just click Next, OK, or whatever to breeze through the rest of the installation. When done, the setup will want you to reboot your computer. Let it do so, then when the PC is back up, you will be ready to install the Bundle 8

9 Storage program itself. Now you are ready to install the PulseNet Bundle Storage Module program itself. Just doubleclick on the Pbsm32.exe file to start the installation. Like the last part of the main setup, you may click Next, OK, or whatever is displayed to continue, to quickly install the program. At the end you will be asked if you want a desktop shortcut installed, and you should answer Yes. This will place a shortcut on your desktop. Whenever you wish to run the program, double-click on this shortcut to start the program. EASY SETUP OF A REMOTE PROGRAM A remote program is one that allows all program functions, but is not the main copy that resides on one of the two computers on the plant floor. One computer at the end of the Storage Area (racks) houses the SQL Server database, and also stores injections. This is the main or master program. The other computer at the end of the storage racks is a remote copy. Remote copies can be installed on any PC in the plant that is connected to the same EtherNet network as the master computer. This is handy for managers and other plant personnel to view what is happening on the plant floor without actually being there. The items being processed, which ironers and folders are currently producing goods, and other data may be readily seen from any office. To set up a remote computer, install the program as previously described in this chapter. Then, all that is needed is to retrieve a site backup, with remote settings already in place. Such a file exists on the Softrol FTP site at: ftp://ftp2.softrol.com/pub/pulsenet/demodata. The file name is PBSM_REMOTE.ZIP. Download this file in the same manner you downloaded the others. Site Management button The site backup contains all the data and settings the remote program needs to run. To retrieve it, start the PBSM program. Then click the Site Management button. This will bring up the dialog pictured below: Retrieve button 9

10 Click on the Retrieve tab, then on the yellow Retrieve button. The standard Windows dialog for locating a file will pop up. Use it to locate and select the site backup file, then click Open to retrieve the backup. During retrieval, the program will ask you Keep existing database? and Keep existing port configuration?. Answer No to both these questions. Your program is now ready to run. The next chapter will explain program setup in detail, as well as program operation. 10

11 SETTING UP BUNDLE STORAGE OVERVIEW Setup of the PBSM program is easy, as there are only two main setup dialogs to contend with. These dialogs are System Defaults and Item Configuration. System Defaults sets a few basic parameters the program needs to run, and Item Configuration defines the items being processed in the plant, and their attributes. SYSTEM DEFAULTS This dialog sets a few basic settings for the program, and is pictured below. 11

12 The Database section should always look exactly like the picture. In particular, the blue Jet (MS Access) option should NEVER be chosen. It is tempting to do so if the SQL Server PC is turned off or otherwise off-line. While changing to the Jet database will allow the program to run, data will be stored in a different database. Having data in two different databases will make it impossible to get accurate reporting, as some data will be in one place, and some data will be in another place. The Miscellaneous section, for one thing, sets the language the program will use. ENG is used for English, ESP for Español (Spanish), and FRA is for Français (French). Bold Font makes all the text in the program bold (preferred by most), and Metric System doesn t really apply to this particular PulseNet program. The Auto-Start option is used to automatically start the real-time polling of the system upon program startup. Most users prefer this option to be checked. ITEM CONFIGURATION This is where the items the system processes are defined. Not only does it set technical data about each item, but it also defines how they appear on the screen. For each item, the Name, Short Name, Color, Destination #1, Destination #2, Stack Count, and Process Number can be assigned. Clicking the Add button presents this dialog: 12

13 From here, all the pertinent data may be entered. To set the color of the item on the display, click the rainbow button at the bottom. The chosen color will display in the box beside the rainbow. Note that if you try to add an item that already exists, the computer will beep, and no action will be taken. When this item is added and selected in the data grid, its color will be displayed in a box under the Delete button. This is because when the item is selected, the whole row, including the item s color, will be highlighted with another color (usually blue), obscuring the item s actual color. The Edit button is for editing an item already in the database. To edit an item, select it in the data grid so the row is highlighted, and click the Edit button. It presents a dialog almost identical to the Add dialog, and is self-explanatory. The Delete button will delete whatever item is currently selected and highlighted in the data grid. 13

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15 USING BUNDLE STORAGE The main components of the program not discussed previously are show below. Start Stop Page tabs Totals area Minimize window Exit The Start and Stop buttons control the timer that polls the system for any changes, such as where the items are located. The page tabs allow the user to switch back and forth from the Discharge Lane view to the Storage Lane and Flow Racks view. The Minimize button minimized the program s window down into Windows Task Bar. And lastly, the Exit button exits the program. It is a good idea to click Stop, wait a second, then click the Exit button when leaving the program, to insure total shutdown. 15

16 A closeup of a workspot is shown below, PIMS data Placeholder Injection point The PIMS data shows what data is associated with a particular workspot. The Placeholder merely displays what item the piece of machinery is currently set up to process. Lastly, the Injection point show a bundle exiting the equipment, just before it is injected onto the main conveyor. 16