Force Manual Entry to End a Specific Downtime

This example will show how to setup the Cycle Start expression to not execute if one or more downtime codes are active.

The first step will be to define the specific equipment downtime statuses which is done on the Manage tab, Equipment Status, Planned Downtime Statuses form or the Unplanned Downtime Statuses form.

In this example we will setup the Cycle Start expression on a Fanuc Focas controller to not place the machine in cycle if the current status is a unplanned downtime of Tooling.

The next step will be connecting to the DataXchange Service which is done from the DataXchange tab and the Connect button.  For general information on the DataXchange Service refer to the DataXchange Service and DataXchange Interface help pages.

Once connected to the DX Service the expression can be created.

On the DataXchange tab press the Expression button and then Create Expressions to bring up the Expression Builder.  Press the Add button to create the new expression.

Select the desired Expression Group to help organize the expression.  If a group is not desired then select None.  If a new group is desired then select Expression Groups from the Modify button on the ribbon bar.  Provide the desired expression name and the optional expression summary. Click in the Expression window to enable the buttons in the ribbon bar and use the PCS Database and Focus variables to create the expression as shown below, or type directly in the Expression window.

The expression will ensure that the current status in the PCS database is not already in cycle, that the Focas machine is reporting it is in cycle, and the in the PCS database the status in not in unplanned downtime of 402, which was setup to represent a downtime of tooling.

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