Modeling Container Types
Goals
Understand the relationship between Container Type and Container.
Understand design considerations and best practices for modeling Containers.
Know how to create new Container Types.
Key Terms
Term | Definition |
Container | A physical location that stores Entities, Items, and/or other Containers. Containers are instances, or occurrences, of Container Types. |
Container Type | Defines the attributes of a Container, including its content, dimensions, and custom fields. |
Terminology Relationship Diagram
What does a Container look like for an End User?
Containers are created in L7 Location. Once created, additional Containers, Entities and/or Items can be stored in a location, depending on the configuration of the Container Type.
When an End User selects a Container, they see:
What is stored at the highest level of the Container (Container View tab).
The Container’s metadata (Data tab).
Production data associated with the Container (Process Data tab).
The Container hierarchy of the Container (Tree tab).
The files the Container is associated with (Attachments tab).
The Container’s history (History tab).
How to Model Containers
Containers are created in L7 Location, but Containers cannot be used for storage in L7 MES.
Note
In L7 MES, Kits are modeled as Containers, and represent a logical grouping of Items.
When to create a new Container Type:
If you have a location (including kits) that you wish to register and track as part of a business process.
If two (2) Containers have different dimensions.
If two (2) Containers have different custom fields.
If two (2) Containers store different types of resources.
Design Considerations:
What does this type of Container look like?
What does this type of Container need to store?
How many elements can be stored in each location?
Is there any data that needs to be attributed to this type of Container?
How will this data be collected?
How to create new Container Types
Go to: L7|Master → Container Types → + New Container Type
Contains – by default, Entities is selected. Use the multi-select dropdown to add/remove Entities, Containers, and Items. At least one resource must be selected.
Elements per location – the number of Entities, Containers, and/or Items that can be stored per location (e.g., shelf, rack, slot). Each location can store one or more (unlimited) resources.
Note
Kits typically contain an unlimited number of Items.
How to add dimensions to Container Types
Go to: L7|Master → Container Types → select the Container Type → Dimensions tab → + Add Dimension
Name – how you want to reference the dimension (e.g., shelf, row, column).
N. of elements – the number of occurrences the dimension will have.
Label Type – choose between text or numbers.
Note
L7|ESP formally supports two (2) dimensions in the user interface. The first dimension is displayed as rows and the second dimension is displayed as columns.
If N. of elements ≥ 10, it is best practice to format single digits with leading zeros (e.g., 01, 02, 03), as sorting methods will put A10 ahead of A1, A2, A3, etc.
Kits typically have one (1) dimension with one (1) element, which represents a box.
How to add custom fields to Container Types
Go to: L7|Master → Container Types → select the Container Type → Fields tab → + Add Custom Field
This process is the same as adding custom fields to Entity Types.
Warning
Grouping is currently broken for Container Type fields.
How to add storage restrictions to Container Types
Go to: L7|Master → Container Types → select the Container Type → Entities/Items tab
Depending on what the Container Type can contain (Entities, Containers, and/or Items), tables for each resource will be displayed to restrict the resources that can be added to this type of Container.
If Items are selected, an additional option to Specify Item Quantities will appear in the details panel on the left side of the screen.
Note
Item quantities can only be specified if more than one element can be stored per location.
Min and max serve as soft limits for the Item quantity that can be transferred to this type of Container. Users are warned of invalid transfer quantities, but they are not prohibited.
Note
If the Container Type can store multiple elements per location, the same Item can be transferred multiple times to the same Container.
Quantity limits apply to each transfer, not the sum of all transfers.
How to manage versions
Any changes you make to a Container Type will be saved as a separate version with the option to migrate existing Containers of the same type. Otherwise, the saved changes will only apply to newly created Containers.
Warning
Changes to what the Container Type contains, elements per location, and dimensions cannot be migrated to existing Containers.
Naming considerations
Take consideration when labeling Container Type dimensions in L7|Master and naming Containers in L7 Location, as these names will appear in the BOM tab and BOM report.
Transferring an Item to a Kit with a specified quantity creates a coalesced resource in L7 Inventory, which can then be tracked and consumed in L7 MES.
The name of this coalesced resource is a combination of the Item, Kit, and its position (dimension label) in the Container. It is referred to as the “Material Description” in the BOM tab and BOM report.
“Kit” is the name of the Container.
Configuring Container "Status" options
When creating a new Container in the Location app, you can optionally assign a status. By default the status options include available, alarm, needs calibration, offline, needs maintenance, reserved, and unavailable. These status options can be applied to any Container, regardless of its Type.
You can configure new status options from the Configuration app.
Navigate to Configuration app
Switch to "Code" view
Add or remove status options to the
container_statusescode block
