Routing and Control Objects (RCO)

About this task

A Routing Control Object monitors one or more areas of the Production Tracking Model and makes routing decisions for that area based on logic modules or custom Basic Control Engine (BCE) logic and actions configured by the user.

The RCO system allows production routing decisions to be made automatically via logic configured in a graphical user interface.

  • RCO: Components
  • RCO: Process
  • RCO: Optional Configurations

RCO: Components

RCO consists of two components.

Procedure

  1. RCO Configuration in the TrackerCfg_UI and
  2. RCO Runtime Environment (RCOUI).

    Multiple routing control objects can be configured to manage different areas of the manufacturing environment.

    RCO: Process

  3. The routing control object (RCO) monitors triggers that are either manually initiated via RCO_UI or predefined sequences of CIMPLICITY points.
  4. When it finds that a trigger has been set, the RCO executes a routing logic module to determine what decisions, if any, to make based upon that new information.
  5. RCO executes:
    1. The decision-specific output logic module associated with the selected decision.
    2. A common output module (if one has been configured) for the control site.
  6. The output logic modules are used to communicate the RCO's decision to a PLC on the factory floor.

    RCO: Optional Configurations

    Optional configurations include:

  7. The RCO can also be configured to wait for a ready point to hold a predefined value before executing any logic.
  8. Once all logic has been executed, the site can also be configured to set a Done point.

    The Done point informs the PLC that all signals for this decision have been sent, and to wait for a verification point to be set by the PLC acknowledging completion, before returning to trigger detection.