How to Model a Branching Routing in EDGEBIC

To model a branching routing in EDGEBIC by User Solutions, use the next-in-sequence links to fork one step into several and to merge several back into one. The control is the same next-in-sequence picker you use for a linear routing, except it is multi-select: tick more than one successor to split a step into parallel paths, and point two steps at the same successor to merge them. The scheduler follows these links, not the sequence numbers, so the links define the fork-and-merge shape. Every branch must eventually reach the end product, which is how the engine knows the routing is complete.

This recipe covers one specific task: a routing with parallel paths. For the linear case, start with how to build a routing step by step. For the visual approach, read EDGEBIC graphical BOR designer tour and how to connect two steps in the routing designer.

Before You Start

• The routing open, with the steps that make up each branch already added.
• A clear picture of the shape: which step forks, which steps run in parallel, and where they merge back together.
• An understanding that a merge step waits for the latest of its feeding branches, which is correct for an assembly that needs both parts ready.

Step by Step

1. Open the BOR tab and select the routing.
2. Add every step you need across all branches (for example, the cut step, two parallel machining steps, and the assembly step).
3. On the step that forks, open its Next In Sequence picker and tick both successor steps. This splits the path into two branches.
4. On each parallel step, open its next-in-sequence picker and select the merge step, so both branches point at the same downstream step.
5. On the merge step, set its next-in-sequence to the following step, and on the last step click End Item so the chain reaches the end product.
6. Alternatively, build the same shape in the Designer by drawing connectors: one node to two, then two nodes to one.
7. Click Update Standard BOR, then run Generate Schedule.

What Changes When You Save

On the next scheduling run, the engine walks the links rather than the sequence numbers. It schedules each branch independently up to a merge. At a merge, the downstream step's earliest start is bounded by the latest of the feeding branches, so the join waits for the slowest path. This is exactly the behavior an assembly needs: it cannot start until every part it consumes is ready. The parallel branches can run at the same time on their own machines, subject to each machine's capacity, so a branching routing can finish sooner than the same steps laid out in a single line. On the Gantt, the parallel branches appear side by side and the merge step lines up after the later branch.

How to Check It Worked

Open the Job View after scheduling and confirm the shape matches your intent: the parallel branches should overlap in time, and the merge step should start only after the later branch completes. Open the Designer to see the fork and merge as connectors, which makes a missing or dangling link obvious. If a branch scheduled oddly, confirm every step on it has a valid next-in-sequence link and that the branch reaches the end product; a warning marker on a step flags a broken link.

Common Mistakes

• Relying on sequence numbers. Execution follows the next-in-sequence links. Numbering the steps neatly does not create a branch; the links do.
• A branch that never reaches the product. Every path must arrive at the end product. A branch that dead-ends schedules unpredictably and may be flagged with a warning.
• Forgetting the merge waits for the slowest branch. A join starts after the later feeding branch, not the first. If assembly starts too late, check which branch is the long pole.
• Building it blind in the grid. For anything beyond a simple fork, the Designer shows the shape at a glance and makes a broken connector easy to spot.

Related Reading

• How to add a sub-assembly to a routing for a component that has its own routing feeding into a step.
• How to make two operations run in parallel for running one operation on several machines at once.
• EDGEBIC and the EDGEBIC how-to hub for the full recipe set.

A branching routing lets the schedule mirror how the shop floor actually works: parts that can be made in parallel are made in parallel, and the step that brings them together waits only as long as the slowest branch, not the sum of them.