Architect Archive

A number of us (including me) have stated that one of the challenges of being an on-going architect is managing our resource flow and factory runs. I've always wondered if what I was doing in terms of production management was the best idea, and my experiences on "BER14 Harv Day" confirmed that I could be doing a better job.

Background on my business:
- I sell primarily heavy harvesters (typcially just mineral, chemical, and flora) and fusions.
- I also sell a reasonable amount of furniture, typically just the "high-end" stuff (furnishings 3 and above).
- I keep 5-10 small houses, 2-4 mediums, and 1-2 larges, as well as a couple of each type of factory on my vendor more as a convenience to people than a big thrust there.
- Almost all of my sales are from the vendors in my showroom. Sometimes I'll get a custom order (PA Hall, Cantina, harvester that I'm out of stock of), but not usually.
- I sell some furniture on the Bazaar, but mostly for "advertising" purposes.
- I try to use the factory for just about everything I make in any kind of volume. This means heavy harvesters and most furniture.

Here is what I've been doing, using generator turbines as an example. I'd like feedback on different ways of doing this.

1. I decide that I need a batch of generator turbines sometime soon (the current batch is running low). So I assemble the resources, make a schematic, and run off a batch. I *always* label component schematics with the quality (if it matters) and the date. So I'll have a schematic (with 1000 limit) for "GenTurb 0303" or "OMU +100 0316". I don't do this for the furniture.
2. Sometimes I'll just make a full run and exhaust the limiting resource. So if I have XX of reactive gas I'll just run off 350 GenTurb 0303 and then destroy the schematic.
3. Other times (e.g., with OMUs specifically), I'll limit the production run by only putting enough resources in to make some number (e.g., 40) and keep the schematic around.
4. I'll use that batch of generator turbines for schematics for awhile. So I might end up with a BER13 Heavy Flora using the "GenTurb 1217" and a BER13 Heavy Mineral using the "GenTurb 0128". It's also possible that I'll have several items which "share" a genturb run. So perhaps I'll have a schematic for MfgMech 0215 that uses GenTurb 0128 as well as the heavy mineral.
5. I'll also use the generator turbines for "hand built" items (e.g., factories, medium houses).

The problems that I've had with this system have been:
1. If I don't run things all off at once, then I need to earmark the resources and set them aside. Otherwise I'll end up with a situation (which I've had) of going to make another batch from a schematic and realize that I used up one of the resources doing something else, so at that point that schematic is dead.
2. If I "share" components, I may end up with an allocation of them that wasn't to my advantage. Very specifically, on BER14 Day I had a batch of generator turbines that I couldn't run any more of and that I had eaten a bunch of to make power cores with. This left me with a limited number of my latest batch, and I wasn't prepared / insightful enough to immediately start a new batch for the new harvestors. This resulted in my BER14 schematics only being good for a limited number of harvesters.
3. I don't have a good way of mapping schematics back to components or resources. That is, when I go to make some harvesters, I look at the schematic to see what components or resources it uses, and may find out that I'm short of something. (this is a variation of #1/#2).

So, advice from other folks? How do you manage your schematics and factory runs?

In general I've been doing it the same way as Pawlin,

For components I make I have a seperate vendor in my basement which I use for 'personal storage'. When I make a run of say 500 gen turbines I put 20 crates in each bag label the bags with the component name and my ref number for it and put the bags on the vendor, whenever I am going to make something I just pull them off the vendor. Bags are with 20 because that avoids personal inventory space issues when I retrieve them. I leave walls and omus in the factory output hoppers because of storage issues, that way I can transfer them directly from output to input when I need them, or carry them to the factory next door (invaluable when making 50 fusions or hvy mins!). I run 3 factories by the way.

As I make my harvesters I collect all the resources and components into a bag (I do the same when making the components as well) labelled with what I intend to make. I always try to split off the exact amount of resources needed, since in the past i have been caught out using higher than necessary quality thinking I had not enough of the slightly lower stuff, which was sitting in an input hopper in a factory as an excess all the time.

Zen,

I think in general that setting aside resources and subcomponents in bags might help.

So if for example you run off a bunch of generator turbines and then make schematics for a heavy water and a heavy chemical using those turbines, then what you could do is split up the turbines in the right ratio and then set them aside in 2 bags along with the other resources and parts needed to make the deeds. Then you could name the bags "parts for 20 heavy waters " and "parts for 30 heavy chemical" or something.

yeah, same here...3 factories, 3 seperate bags for alotted resources for the current or next run...