Add a zone to a process flow

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In FlexSim, a zone is a shared asset that allows you to track items and add restrictions or criteria to the movement of items

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within a specific group of activities.

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To illustrate how a zone operates, first, build a simple flow.

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In this example, in a blank ProcessFlow, add an Inter-Arrival Source, two Delay activities connected to an activity block, and a Sink.

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Use connectors to connect the Source to the Delay block, and then the Delay block to the Sink.

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When you Reset and Run the model, tokens are generated and move through the flow.

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This could represent parts entering a factory, where they undergo processing, and then leave the factory.

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Next, under Shared Assets, add a Zone to the flow.

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Notice that Shared Assets are marked by an orange color, whereas the activities are light blue.

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Zones can help you to track items that enter a specific set of activities.

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First, indicate where the zone begins and ends.

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Back in the Library Shared Assets, there are two activities that you can pair with a Zone:

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Enter Zone and Exit Zone.

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In this example, add Enter Zone above the first Delay activity and Exit Zone below the second.

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Select each Delay and use the corresponding Sampler to sample the Zone.

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This tells the Zone where it begins and ends.

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Reset, Run, and Step the model forward.

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Stop the model to see that there are three items in the Zone, and then continue stepping the model forward.

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Since there are no restrictions or criteria to limit the number of tokens in the Zone,

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all tokens entering the flow automatically move into the Zone.

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The simplest way to control the token flow is to select the Zone, and then, in Properties, select Use Max Content.

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Here, set the maximum number of tokens that you want in the Zone at one time, such as 5.

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Reset, Run, and Step the model forward.

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Now, once five tokens are in the Zone, additional tokens wait at the Enter Zone activity.

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You can also see that the Zone tracks the number of tokens waiting for and in the Zone, denoted by the colored circles.

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Here, the three red tokens are unable to enter the Zone, while five green tokens are in the Zone.

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Now that you have a zone in your flow, you can add a dashboard to analyze the zone and display custom statistics.