How to Set the Applicable Instance Count on a Step in EDGEBIC

To set the applicable instance count on a step in EDGEBIC by User Solutions, open the routing in the Designer, select the work-center node, and set Applicable Instances in the Properties panel. The control caps how many of the work center's machine instances this particular step may use. Total Instances, shown alongside it, is how many the machine actually has. Setting Applicable Instances below the total holds this operation to fewer units even when the machine could offer more, which is useful when one step must stay on part of a multi-unit work center while the rest stay free for other work.

This recipe covers one specific task at the step level. To change how many physical units a work center has, see how to change the number of machines in a work center. For how instance capacity feeds the schedule, read how EDGEBIC calculates work center capacity and EDGEBIC work centers explained.

Before You Start

• The routing open in the Designer, with the work-center step you want to cap identified.
• The work center's real instance count, since Applicable Instances can never exceed Total Instances.
• A clear reason to cap the step below the machine's total, such as reserving units for other jobs or confining a job to a single unit.

Step by Step

1. Open the BOR tab and switch to Designer mode.
2. Select the work-center node for the step you want to limit.
3. In the Properties panel, find the Total Instances and Applicable Instances fields.
4. Confirm Total Instances matches the machine's real unit count (this reflects the work center).
5. Set Applicable Instances to how many units this step may use, for example 1 to hold it to a single unit, up to the total.
6. Click Update to save the routing.
7. Run Generate Schedule so the cap takes effect.

What Changes When You Save

On the next scheduling run, the step is allowed to draw on at most the number of instances you set. If you cap it at one, the operation books a single unit even when the machine has several, leaving the other units free for other steps and jobs. If you set it higher, the scheduler may spread the operation across that many units, subject to the machine's load-balancing behavior and any one-per-day rule on the work center. The cap never exceeds the work center's real instance count, so raising Applicable Instances above the total has no effect beyond the total. A blank or zero value is treated as one, because a step must be able to run on at least one unit.

How to Check It Worked

Open the Job View after scheduling and look at how the step is distributed across the machine's units. A step capped at one instance should occupy a single unit for its whole duration. A step allowed more instances may show the work spread across several units in the same window, shortening the wall-clock time. If the step used more units than you intended, confirm Applicable Instances is set on that step and did not revert to a default.

Common Mistakes

• Confusing the two fields. Total Instances is the machine's real unit count; Applicable Instances is this step's cap. Editing the wrong one either changes the machine everywhere or does nothing.
• Setting the cap above the total. Applicable Instances cannot exceed Total Instances. A higher value is clamped to the machine's real count.
• Leaving it at zero. A zero or blank value auto-corrects to one so the step can schedule. If you want more parallelism, set the number explicitly.
• Expecting a step cap to change the machine. This is a step-level limit. Other steps and jobs routed to the same machine still see all of its units.

Related Reading

• How to set a one-job-per-day work center for the dedicated-instance rule that interacts with instance counts.
• How to build a routing step by step for the wider routing workflow.
• EDGEBIC and the EDGEBIC how-to hub for the full recipe index.

The applicable instance count is a targeted lever: it lets one operation use as much or as little of a multi-unit machine as the job actually needs, without changing the machine for everyone else who routes through it.