Alternate

Syntax samples

ALT

Description

Causes a location to be selected as an alternate destination if it has available capacity and the condition for a preceding routing rule is not met. If the ALTERNATE location is unavailable, the entity waits until it becomes available or until the preceding routing rule is satisfied.

ALTERNATE routings are common to all primary routings, except the Probability and User Condition rules, and should therefore be listed after the last primary routing but before any backup routings.

For example, a high-speed machine might be preferred, but alternatively, a slower machine can be used when the faster machine is unavailable.

Valid In

The rule field of the Routing edit table only. An ALTERNATE routing may be specified after any other type of routing (including other ALTERNATE routings) except for BACKUP, CONTINUE and DEPENDENT routings.

Example

After Shaft completes a 3 minute operation at Drill, it routes to either Lathe1 or Lathe2 if a SEND statement somewhere in the model directs an EntA to be sent to one of those locations. If no SEND request is waiting, an alternate routing will route the entity to Lathe3. If no capacity is available at Lathe3, the entity will wait until capacity becomes available at Lathe3 or a SEND statement that matches the entity and the location in one of the SEND routings executes somewhere in the model.

Process Table

Entity

Location

Operation (min)

Shaft

Drill

WAIT 3

Routing Table

Blk

Output

Destination

Rule

Move Logic

1

Shaft

Lathe1

Send 1

 

Shaft

Lathe2

Send

 

Shaft

Lathe3

ALT

 

See Also

See the other routing rules for exceptions and special cases. Also see Processing.