From the Object and Relationships menu, you can view or create a Factory tree, as well as define the Op Tags. It is where you can create the structure that represents the plant of the manufacturing process. From there you can lay out how you want to collect the data as well as where you can set up all the information for collecting data.

Move the cursor to the left-hand side of the screen to open the Admin Menu Tab. From there, select Objects and Relationships to open the Factory window.

Once the Factory window is open, select the Plant Object and another window will reveal to the right. From that window, you have access to the Edit Select-Object and Add New Child Tabs. The Edit Select Tab is for Adding, Delete, or Editing the object selected. The Add New Child tab, adds a new object below the current object selected. If you selected a Plant level object, clicking the Add New Child Object will add an Area level object.

The PLC and System tabs can expand to show other sub-tabs to choose from. The PLC tab has Channels and Devices. The System tab contains the sub-tabs for System Configuration, Audit, and Application Logs.

Building a Factory Tree

From the Envision Admin Browser, you can select a recent project if it is listed below.
To start a new Factory Tree project, select the Factory button above the selection window. This will open an Add Plant Window. From there, input the name that you would like to represent your company or plant. After the name is inputted, click the Save button to create your new Factory.
After the Plant Object is saved, this next screen will appear. The Plant object is in the Factory window. To the right of the Factory Window is the Editing window. Here you can use the Edit Select-Object tab to edit the Name, Description, and control where it is displayed (such as Visibility).

There is also a tab for Add New Child Object. This will add the levels below the Plant, down to the Group objects. In this tab, you name the (Area) Object and its description. You can use the Description area to add pertinent information about the object if needed.

When the Name and Description are filled out, you now can save by clicking the Save button. This will add the (Area) object under the (Plant) Object.

After clicking Save, this window will appears showing the new AREA Forward at the next level below the Plant Object (AMTTest1). This step can be repeated to all levels down to the Asset and Group Level objects.

In the Asset level, the editing window, with the "Edit Selected Object" tab to the right now reveals the PLC Device edit box. At the Asset level, you are required to assign a PLC Device to that Object. Click on the pull-down to reveal the choices of PLC Devices available to use.

Definition of Asset, Group, and OP objects

Assets

Assets are used to define a repeatable set of motions/activities (Groups) that have defined Start and End signals. Each occurrence is referred to as a "cycle" and is represented by a bar in the Cycle View history window. The number of Assets for a specific Station is completely dependent on the process and how the product transfers in and out of the station. For analysis and report features the following objects should be defined as unique Assets:

Overall Station Asset

This shows how the individual sub-Assets contained in the Station performed in relation to each other. This Asset can also have other Groups for individual motions that are independent of the sub-Assets such as the transfer of parts into and out of the station and tooling motions that are part of the overall Station sequence. In addition, this Asset might also have groups that represent an overview of other sub-assets that perform work during this Assets cycle. Examples include an operator group, robot groups, and a summary sub-asset.

Operator Asset

Each Station that requires a physical operator to enter a light screen protected area to perform some activity for every cycle is considered a unique Asset. If 2 operators share the same light screen area they will share the Asset. They can have separate groups for their Operator PB (Push Button) if they each have their own PB. If there is no light screen for each cycle an operator must acknowledge that they have performed some prescribed activity by pressing a PB for a cycle to continue, then a separate Asset will be required for that operator ONLY if there is a clearly defined signal that can be used to Start the Asset (example: Part in Pos - Rdy For Oper).

Robot Asset

Each robot will be a separate Asset. This is recommended not only because robots have considerable detail themselves and could cause an Overall Station Asset to become cluttered, but Robots may have processes that run outside of the Overall Station Asset's cycle. (e.g. Tip Dress, Cap Change, Magazine Fill)

Summary Asset

A summary asset can be used in situations where there is a high-density Overall Station Asset or when there is a tool change that can have considerable sequence changes. This asset is generally used to combine large tooling fixtures into smaller summary groups in the overall asset but maintains the level of detail desired in a separate sub-asset. Some examples could include changeable framing gates, fixtures mounted on tool-trays, or even high unit count fixtures mounted on pallet transfer systems.

Asset States

Asset States are used to flag important periods in a cycle and can also be used for reporting purposes.
Auto – Used to indicate when the machine is currently in automatic production mode. This state can be concurrently active with other machine states.
Faulted - Used to denote there is an active machine fault, and the cycle will not be used to calculate averages for reporting purposes. This state can be concurrently active with other machine states.
Blocked – Used to indicate when an Asset has reached a point of work complete, but cannot progress further due to a downstream blockage. This state can be concurrently active with other machine states.
Starved – Used to indicate when an Asset is ready to receive and start the next cycle, but an upstream condition is preventing advancement. This state can be concurrently active with other machine states.
Non-Production – Used to indicate Planned Downtime. While this state can be active concurrently with other states, it is recommended to the sole active state for reporting and tracking purposes.

Additional notes

All Part Present sensors should be monitored. Quite often it is a part present that causes a cycle to go over. We need to show this situation as clearly as possible. The Envision PLC drivers have the ability to track the pattern of a part present going on and off during a cycle if it is desired to monitor this activity. This may come in very handy when trying to monitor operator part-load efficiency.
All operator light screens need to be monitored. The Envision PLC software driver has the ability to capture the on and off status of light screen interruption as long as the appropriate signal from the light screen is wired to an input.

Special Case Cycles

There are situations when a cycle can have an abnormal process; this can be in the form of an alternate path—when the Asset uses a limited number of different groups or Ops while retaining the original CycleTime—or an outside influence that causes an expected change in performance. For the cases involving an alternate path, it is suggested to distinguish these cycles by using a different Model. If the alternate path is minor, or the use of a distinct MODEL is not preferred, it is also possible to have a GROUP with two Ops to denote the path options; to do this correctly, when one path is taken, the OP designating the unused path must be recorded with a zero-duration timestamp otherwise a purple, missing data record will be generated. When there is the possibility for an outside influence, the usage of STATE identifiers is suggested to be used flagging the cycles to be ignored, or processed separately, for average cycle time calculations.
Possible Special Cases:

Model Changeover with Tool Change—STATE FLAG
Runout—STATE FLAG
Processes with possible alternate paths
- Pull-off & Swap—MODEL
- MH Robot with an alternate Pick/Drop Locations—MODEL/2 OP w/ zero duration
- MH Robot with an alternate Work Pedestal—MODEL/2 OP w/ zero duration

Groups

Assets are a collection of Groups that describe a sequence of events that comprise one complete cycle for the Asset. The first Group for every Asset is called the CYCLE TIME Group and is created automatically when the Asset is created. This Group is used to control the overall Start and Stop of the Asset. All other Groups that are added to describe the sequence for the Asset should have their Start and Stop signals occur between the Start and Stop of the CYCLE TIME Group. In most situations, the CYCLE TIME Group Start signal is the same signal used for the Group Start signal that describes the first step of the sequence. A Group is comprised of a START signal, a STOP signal, and 1 to 16 OP signals. There are also placeholders for a Fault signal and a Blocked signal for each Group which is used in special cases that we will not discuss here.

START signal

The START signal is used to indicate that the step has been initiated. Solenoid valves, robot initiate, operator clear to enter, etc. are examples of common Start signals. The START signal is a retentive signal and goes true upon the first OFF à ON transition. It is not reset until the Group STOP signal goes true. The Envision PLC driver stores the current Timestamp during the scan that the transition is detected.

STOP signal

The STOP signal is used to reset the Group and clear all retentive signals and memory bits in the PLC driver that are associated with that Group. The only Group that MUST have an expression entered for its STOP signal is the CYCLE TIME Group. This STOP signal has special meaning to the Envision application. It turns on the Asset Stop signal inside the PLC driver that indicates to Envision that an Asset has completed a cycle and that all the data captured by the application since the Start of the Asset can be processed and stored as historical data. All Groups other than the CYCLE TIME Group have the option of leaving the STOP signal blank. The Deploy function that generates the PLC driver logic is designed to automatically use the Asset Stop signal to fill in any Group STOP signal that is left blank. It is strongly recommended to leave Group STOP signals blank IF the Group is expected to occur only once per cycle. This ensures that all Groups get reset at the end of a cycle.
There are a couple of exceptions touched upon earlier where it may be desirable to capture multiple occurrences of a Group during one cycle of an Asset such as monitoring how many times an operator moves in and out of a light screen and the gaps between each occurrence. For this scenario, it is necessary to enter an expression for the STOP signal to reset the Group before the cycle ends.

OP signals

The OP signals are the expected results (inputs) for the Group. They should be edited to describe the specific input they represent. There can be 1 OP signal or up to as many as 16 OP signals for anyone Group. The START signal is used to represent the beginning of a sequence step. When all the OP signals for a Group have activated, this indicates that the sequence step is complete. Like the START signal, OP signals are retentive and go true upon the first OFF à ON transition for each OP independently AFTER the START signal has gone true. OP signals are ignored until the Group has been Started. They are not reset until the Group STOP signal goes true. A Group is considered as Running once the START signal goes true up until all the OP signals for the Group have gone true. The Group will not be able to START again until the Group STOP signal has gone true.

Examples:

Overall Station Asset
- Pallet Transfer Stations
  - CycleTime
  - Transfer In
  - Tooling to Clear to Lower Position (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Read RFID
  - Lifter Lower
  - Part Presents
  - Tooling to Work Position (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Robots Work
  - Tooling to Clear to Raise Position (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Lifter Raise
  - Transfer Out
- Tooling Fixture Stations
  - CycleTime
  - Tooling Reset to Clear to Load (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Operator/Robot Load Parts
  - Tooling to Work Position (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Robots Work
  - Tooling to Clear to Unload Position (One group per pneumatic valve/Summary sub-asset Group)
  - Operator/Robot Unload Parts
  - Operator Asset
    - CycleTime
    - Break LightScreen
    - Load Parts (An OP for each Part Present)
    - Press PB
  - Robot Asset
    - Carried Application
      - CycleTime
      - Go to Pounce
      - Individual work completes (e.g. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd weld complete)
      - Move Clear of Fixture
      - Move Home
      - Tip Dress/Cap Change/Magazine Fill

Material Handling Application

CycleTime
Go to Pounce
Go to Pick
Part Presents
EOAT (One group per pneumatic valve)
Move clear of Pick
Individual work completes (e.g. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd weld complete)
Go to Drop
EOAT (One group per pneumatic valve)
Move Clear of Drop
Move Home

Adding a Group and OPs

Below the Asset is the Group levels objects. Under the groups are the OPS, also referred to as Operations. To add another Group object:
Click on the Asset and the Editing window will open.
Click on the Add New Child Object (Group) A20.
Input "Move to Pounce" in the name field.
Click the Save button when finished.

The A20 Asset should update to know to have the Move to Pounce Group object. The OP "OP1" needs to be renamed to reflect the process properly.

Select the OP1 OP, then select the "Edit Selected Object" tab located on the right side of the page. Delete OP1 from the name field and replace it with "At Pounce". Click Save.

REMEMBER to Double-check to be sure that you now have a properly labeled project from the Asset to the OP.

START signal

START is used to indicate that the step has been initiated. Solenoid valves, robot initiate, operator clear to enter, etc. are examples of common Start signals. The START signal is a retentive signal and goes true upon the first OFF à ON transition. It is not reset until the Group STOP signal goes true. The Envision PLC driver stores the current Timestamp during the scan that the transition is detected.

STOP signal

STOP is used to reset the Group and clear all retentive signals and memory bits in the PLC driver that are associated with that Group. The only Group that MUST have an expression entered for its STOP signal is the CYCLE TIME Group. This STOP signal has special meaning to the Envision application. It turns on the Asset Stop signal inside the PLC driver that indicates to Envision that an Asset has completed a cycle and that all the data captured by the application since the Start of the Asset can be processed and stored as historical data. All Groups other than the CYCLE TIME Group have the option of leaving the STOP signal blank. The Deploy function that generates the PLC driver logic is designed to automatically use the Asset Stop signal to fill in any Group STOP signal that is left blank. It is strongly recommended to leave Group STOP signals blank IF the Group is expected to occur only once per cycle. This ensures that all Groups get reset at the end of a cycle.
There are a few exceptions discussed earlier where it may be desirable to capture multiple occurrences of a Group during one cycle of an Asset such as monitoring how many times an operator moves in and out of a light screen and the gaps between each occurrence. For this scenario, it is necessary to enter an expression for the STOP signal in order for the Group to reset before the cycle ends.

OP signals

OP signals are the expected results (inputs) for the Group. They should be edited to describe the specific input they represent. There can be 1 OP signal or up to as many as 16 OP signals for a single Group. The START signal is used to represent the beginning of a sequence step. When all the OP signals for a Group have gone true this indicates that the sequence step is complete. Similar to the START signal, OP signals are retentive and go true upon the first OFF à ON transition for each OP independently AFTER the START signal has gone true. OP signals are ignored until the Group has been Started. They are not reset until the Group STOP signal goes true. A Group is considered as Running once the START signal goes true up until all the OP signals for the Group have gone true. The Group will not be able to START again until the Group STOP signal has gone true.