How to Add a Machine to a Pool in EDGEBIC

To add a machine to a pool in EDGEBIC by User Solutions, open the group in the Work Center Groups manager and add the machine with the member picker. The control lives on the WorkCenter tab, under Work Center Groups. A work center group is a named pool of interchangeable machines that a routing step can target instead of a single machine, and the scheduler picks the best member on every run. Once you add a member and save, every routing step bound to that pool considers the new machine on the next scheduling run, with no routing edits required. Add a fourth mill to a milling pool and every milling routing immediately has a fourth option.

This is one specific task. For what pools are and why EDGEBIC models them as a separate entity, read EDGEBIC work center groups explained, and to build a pool from scratch see how to create a work center group.

Before You Start

• An existing work center group open in the Work Center Groups manager.
• The machine you want to add, already set up as a work center with its own shifts.
• The machine's relative speed for this class of work, expressed as an efficiency factor against the routing step's base hours. Leave it at 1.0 if it matches the pool's other machines.

Step by Step

1. Open the WorkCenter tab and go to Work Center Groups.
2. Open the group you want to extend.
3. Use the member picker to add the machine to the group.
4. Set the member's Efficiency Factor. Use 1.0 for the same speed, a value below 1.0 for a faster machine, above 1.0 for a slower one.
5. Optionally set a Setup Time Override for this member if it sets up in a different time than the routing step assumes. Leave it blank to inherit the step's setup.
6. Set the member's Priority for tie-breaking, and mark it active.
7. Save.
8. Run Generate Schedule or a reschedule.

What Changes When You Save

Adding a member is a master data edit, so nothing moves until you reschedule. On the next run, EDGEBIC explodes each pool-bound step into its member machines and lets the resolver compare them against current capacity. The new member joins that comparison. Its effective run hours are the step's base hours times its efficiency factor, always computed from the base, so the factor never compounds across reschedules. Setup comes from the member's override if set, otherwise from the routing step, and is never scaled by the factor. Operations that have not started can now land on the new member; operations already running keep their machine.

How to Check It Worked

Run the schedule, then open the Job View or Gantt and look for a not-started pool-bound operation that now resolves to the new machine. To confirm the member is being considered even when it does not win, read the scheduling session log and search for the group explosion line, which lists every candidate with its effective hours. If the new member appears there, the pool is offering it correctly and the resolver simply preferred a faster or earlier machine on this run.

Common Mistakes

• Expecting the Gantt to change without rescheduling. Adding a member is master data. It takes effect on the next scheduling run, not the moment you save.
• Deleting a member that is only temporarily down. For a retrofit or maintenance, deactivate the membership instead. Deactivation drops it from candidate lists on the next run and keeps the factor and setup override you tuned.
• Setting the factor to change setup. The efficiency factor scales run hours only. A machine that runs fast but sets up slowly needs a factor below 1.0 and a separate setup override, not one number doing both jobs.
• Assuming the new member will win. With the default strategy, the resolver picks whichever member finishes earliest given current load, so a busy fast machine can lose to an idle slower one. That capacity awareness is the point of a pool.

Where to Go Next

Once the pool has the right members, decide how EDGEBIC chooses among them. Read how to set a pool selection strategy, and if you also run parallel machines, see combining parallel work centers and machine pools. The full platform is at EDGEBIC, with more recipes in the EDGEBIC How-To Library.