How to Model a Step That Needs Two Tools in EDGEBIC

A routing step in EDGEBIC by User Solutions takes exactly one tool, so an operation that genuinely needs two items at once is modeled as a single combined tool record whose quantity is set by whichever item you own fewest of. Name it for the pair, point the step at it, and the scheduler treats the set as one scarce object, which is exactly how the floor treats it.

This is the same modeling trick used when an operation needs two certifications held by one person: you create the combination as a single skill rather than trying to attach two. The rules for requiring a tool on a routing step otherwise apply unchanged.

Before You Start

Step 1: Decide Whether to Combine at All

Combine only when the two items travel as a set and both are genuinely scarce.

If the fixture is scarce and you own a dozen gauges, you do not need a combined record. Require the fixture and leave the gauges out of the model, because an item that never causes waiting is not a scheduling constraint. Adding it buys nothing and costs maintenance forever.

If the two items are only ever used together and both run out, a combined record is the right answer.

Step 2: Create the Combined Tool

Open the Daily Hours tab, select the Tools inner tab, and click ➕ New Tool.

Fill in the editor so the record is unambiguous to a planner reading a failure message six weeks from now:

• TOOL NAME should name both items, for example a fixture and gauge set written out in full.
• CODE (asset tag) can carry both tags.
• NOTES is the right place to spell out exactly what is in the set and which machines it fits, since EDGEBIC does not model tool-to-machine compatibility anywhere else.

Click 💾 Save Tool.

Step 3: Set the Quantity from the Scarcer Item

QUANTITY on a combined record is the smaller of the two counts, always.

Three fixtures and one gauge gives a quantity of 1. You can only run one operation needing both, because there is one gauge. Entering 3 tells the scheduler three such operations can run at once, which the gauge makes impossible, and the plan will be wrong in exactly the way the tool constraint exists to prevent.

Four fixtures and two gauges gives a quantity of 2.

Step 4: Record the Union of Both Absences

Downtime on a combined record blocks the set. If either item is away, the set is unavailable, so record a downtime range for each item's absence on the combined record.

The gauge going out for calibration for a week is a week of downtime on the set, even though the fixtures are sitting on the bench. That is correct: without the gauge, the operation cannot run. Ranges may not overlap, so if both items happen to be away in overlapping periods, merge them into one range covering both. The mechanics are in how to record tool downtime.

Step 5: Point the Steps at It

Set Required tool: on each step that mounts the set, in the BOR grid's Basic Information section, or Required Tool on the node in the BOR Designer. Then reschedule.

The Limit Worth Knowing

A combined record creates a second pool that refers to some of the same physical objects, and the two pools do not know about each other.

If the gauge is also required on its own by other steps, you now have a gauge pool and a set pool. An operation using the set and an operation using the gauge alone can both be scheduled in the same window, because neither pool sees the other's booking. The physical gauge is over-booked and nothing in the plan says so.

Two honest ways out:

1. Model only the item that binds. If the gauge is the scarce one, require the gauge on all the operations, both the set ones and the standalone ones, and leave the plentiful fixture unmodeled. One pool, one truth.
2. Combine only genuinely inseparable sets. If the two items are kitted together and never used apart, no standalone pool exists and the gap cannot open.

How to Check It Worked

The combined tool appears in the list with its quantity. The steps show it in their Required tool: picker. After a reschedule, two operations needing the set should not both be planned into a window where the quantity is 1.

Common Mistakes

• Setting the quantity from the plentiful item. The scarcer item governs, always.
• Combining two abundant items. If neither ever causes waiting, neither belongs in the model.
• Recording downtime for only one item. The set is unavailable when either item is away.
• Combining an item that is also required standalone. Two pools, one object, silent over-booking.
• Naming the record vaguely. Failure messages quote the name, so a name that identifies the physical set saves a trip to the crib.

Next Steps

If the operation turns out to hold each item for a different part of its duration, split it into two routing steps instead, using how to add a step to an existing routing. To understand why the booking is whole-step regardless, see why a tool is held for setup and run alike.

Every task in this library is indexed on the EDGEBIC how-to hub. To model your own tooling kits against a real backlog, book a walkthrough of EDGEBIC.