Excited to share that this release has a key feature that would make booking slots more flexible. Though we have templates to define the default slot duration for a facility, one fixed slot duration and slot suggestions (unless required duration is specified in transport order) may not work for all transport orders with different material characteristics.
We have introduced advanced slot calculation settings (aka flex slot duration) which allows warehouse admin to configure slot duration based on material characteristics (Goods & Packaging) of a transport order. This is possible using advanced slot calculation settings present in a facility. Inside this settings, warehouse also can configure 'clearing time' to block some time after booking to clear the staging area for upcoming transports.
These settings will be applied when you create bookings in slot booking as well as for bookings created in external system(unplanned orders).
Advanced slot calculation Settings
You can configure rules in this section so that Flo (our wizard) will be able to pick a slot duration and provide appropriate slot suggestions.
Go to 'settings' in slot booking. Click on one of the facilities inside a location. Go to 'Advanced Slot Calculation' tab available in facility settings.
We can add rules as below by clicking on '+Add Calculation' page and providing the necessary information as requested in the form.
Note: The rules are applied only if facility contains flex sections.
Add Calculation Form
A combination of label, shipping unit (handling unit) and part code (handling unit code) values can be provided with corresponding (un)loading time and clearing time in the form.
Label - The label that would be applied on a material order that will be (un)loaded at a slot booking location. Label drop down shows applicable labels of a facility.
Shipping unit - This drop down shows list of shipping units supported in external system(control tower) as well as new shipping units added by the user in slotbooking settings.
Part Code - Part code is a free text field. If you are creating shipments in slot booking, the part code provided in Goods & Packaging section should exactly match with part code mentioned in the rule.
If you use slot booking along with external system, the part code should exactly match with the part code/handling unit code field provided in material order of transport.Note: Below is screenshot of shipping units in material order in TMS.
(Un)load time - Based on the combination of label, shipping unit, part code provided, define loading/unloading time that would be required.
If 'Not Applicable' is selected, slot duration will be shown as defined in template.
Loading/Unloading time can be defined per shipping unit, or a fixed time based on combination specified.
e.g., A material order with 'Foil' label may take 120 minutes of fixed time to unload from truck using forklift. This might be your usual activity and you know a fixed quantity could come in every time.
In certain combination, you may know a range until X quantity that would take Y amount of (un)loading time. You can define these using between rules and add incremental ranges using +add rule.
Clearing time - Additional time that would be blocked by the warehouse post the actual slot duration to clear the staging area for next truck.
If 'Not Applicable' is selected, no clearing time will be considered.
Clearing time can be defined per shipping unit or a fixed time.
e.g. A material with 'Foil' can take 10 minutes for one quantity to be cleared after the truck leaves.
In certain combination, you may know a range until X quantity that would take Y amount of clearing time. You can define these using between rules and add incremental ranges using +add rule.
Slot calculation configuration rules
At least one field among label, shipping unit and part code should be provided to create a rule.
The rule which is more specific with having values in 3 fields, will take matching precedence over others in the order of label, shipping unit and part code.
If label, shipping unit and part code of material order matches with an existing rule, respective (un)load time and clearing time will be considered.
If a match is found for label and shipping unit combination (with empty(any) part code), this calculation will be applied for matched order with any part code.
If a match is found for a label (with empty(any) shipping unit, empty(any) part code), the calculation will be applied for all shipping unit and part code combinations of material order with the label.
Label must be explicitly stated in the rule (Empty label signifies no label attached to the rule).
e.g. If a rule has shipping unit and part code defined but no label specified, then this calculation will not be applied on material order which has label attached.
If there are multiple shipping units, the total slot duration and clearing slot duration will be arrived by adding the respective times for each shipping unit row.
Sample Illustration
Below rule has been configured in Slot Booking in a facility with a label, part code and corresponding booking time and clearing time (both are fixed time).
A transport order created in external system has a matching label (INDLABEL) and part code (Box_123) that matches with above rule defined in slot booking.
( or) If you use only slot booking to create shipments and added an item to goods and packaging table as below:
Since (un)load slot duration is 45 minutes, slot suggestions of 45 minutes are shown as below.
A gap of 15 minutes is blocked between slots shown below, and this represents the clearing slot that is blocked for warehouse in the background.
After a booking is made, the booking slot and clearing slot is visible in schedule view as below (clearing slot is indicated with broom icon and greyed out).
Key things to be noted here
Advanced slot calculation rules will not be applied if slot duration is explicitly provided in transport order either in external system or slot booking. Suggestions will be shown with this duration.
If there is no matching rule defined in Slot Booking for a label, shipping unit and part code combination specified in a transport order, default slot suggestions will be shown.
If a transport order has multiple material orders which are relevant to slot booking location, advanced slot calculation rules will be applied only if all the material orders have matching rules configured in one or more of slot booking facilities.
A rule can be modified or deleted. The slot suggestions will be shown considering the most recent rule applicable while booking a slot.
The minimum slot suggestions that will be shown for booking is 5 minutes. If advanced slot calculations are configured to arrive at slot duration of less than 5 minutes, slot suggestions will not be shown. Please edit the rules in such cases.
Slots with both slot duration and clearing time can be rescheduled or cancelled together. The clearing slot cannot be cancelled individually with any privileges.