How to Connect Two Steps in the Routing Designer in EDGEBIC

To connect two steps in the routing Designer in EDGEBIC by User Solutions you turn on the Draw Connector toggle, click the upstream node, and drag onto the downstream node. The arrow you draw is the next-in-sequence link. It is the same value the grid stores in the Next In Sequence column, and it is what the scheduler follows from step to step.

The Designer is the visual face of the routing, and connecting nodes is the visual equivalent of relinking the chain. For the full canvas, see a tour of the graphical routing Designer. This post is one task: making one arrow, correctly.

Before You Start

• Both nodes need to exist on the canvas. Drag them from the Toolbox first if they are not there: machines from the Work Centers group, components from the Products group.
• Know which node is upstream. The arrow runs from the step that happens first to the step that happens next, and drawing it backward reverses the dependency.
• Know whether the second node is the last operation. If it is, the arrow after it goes to the end product node, not to another step.

Drawing the Connector

1. Open the BOR tab, select the routing, and click Designer on the toolbar next to Data Grid. You may briefly see Loading diagram... while the canvas builds.
2. Click the Draw Connector toggle on the toolbar. Its tooltip reads Toggle connector drawing mode - click and drag between nodes to connect them, and the toggle shows as pressed while the mode is on.
3. Click the upstream node and drag onto the downstream node. A rubber-band arrow follows the drag, and it lands as a solid connector between the two.
4. Continue the chain. Connect the downstream node onward to the next step, or to the end product node if it is now last. Every branch must eventually reach the end product node, which has arrows in and none out.
5. Leave the connector type as Normal (Sequential). To confirm or change it, right-click the connector: the Connector Type submenu offers Normal (Sequential), Parallel (Dashed) and True Alternative, plus Delete Connector. Routing links stay Normal.
6. Click Update to save. In the standard-routing Designer this writes the product's standard routing, the same as Update Standard BOR in the grid.

The connector you draw is a next-in-sequence link and nothing more, which is worth stating plainly because the canvas offers richer-looking arrows. A Normal (Sequential) connector says "then do this," and that is the only kind a routing order needs. The other two types on the right-click Connector Type menu, Parallel (Dashed) and True Alternative, exist to attach extra machines to a step, not to sequence operations. If the menu will not offer them for a given arrow, that is EDGEBIC telling you the target is not a valid destination for a parallel or alternate, which is exactly the case for an ordinary routing link. Leave routing arrows solid and Normal.

There is a companion tool on the toolbar that is easy to confuse with a connector: Add annotation +. That drops a free-floating sticky note on the canvas, which is documentation only and carries no routing meaning. A note is not a link, and the scheduler ignores it. If you meant to connect two steps and ended up with a floating note, you reached for the annotation button instead of the Draw Connector toggle.

What Changes When You Save

The connector carries routing meaning and nothing about time, so the header totals do not move when you draw one. What moves is the order of the bars on the next scheduling run: the downstream step now waits for the upstream one, plus any queue, streaming or transit configured on the upstream step.

How to Check It Worked

Follow the arrows with your eye from the first node to the end product node. The path should be continuous, every node should sit on it, and every branch should arrive at the end product. A node with no arrow into it is unreachable.

Switch to Data Grid mode and confirm the upstream step's Next In Sequence now names the downstream step. The two views are one routing, so a link drawn on the canvas must be visible in the grid. No row should show the ⚠ marker in the WC/Product Name column, which is the grid's flag for a missing or broken link.

Then schedule a test order and read the Job View Gantt. The downstream bar should start after the upstream bar. If it starts alongside or before, either the arrow runs the wrong way or a special connector type crept in.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting to turn on Draw Connector. With the toggle off, dragging a node just moves it. The mode has to be on before the drag becomes an arrow.

Drawing the arrow backward. The dependency runs from the tail of the arrow to the head. An arrow from assembly to milling tells the scheduler milling waits for assembly, which is the reverse of what you meant.

Using a special connector type for a routing link. Parallel (Dashed) and True Alternative configure extra machines, not routing order. A routing link built with one of them will not behave as a plain sequence. Keep routing links Normal (Sequential), and model parallels and alternates on the step: see how to make two operations run in parallel and how to add an alternate work center to a step.

Never reaching the end product. The chain must terminate at the end product node. A last step that points at nothing leaves the routing unterminated, and the save reports it.

Closing the Designer without saving. The Update button turns red and bold while there are unsaved changes. Closing the canvas discards them.

Next Steps

If a connector points the wrong way, reordering routing steps covers deleting and redrawing links in both views. For the components that feed a step, see adding a sub-assembly to a routing. When one step needs to fork into parallel paths and rejoin later, how to model a branching routing covers the multi-select links that build the split and the merge. The full task library is at the EDGEBIC how-to hub, and the platform overview is at EDGEBIC.