Filler

A Filler turns bulk into a stream of filled containers. It is one of the three converters where the measured half of the model meets the counted half.

What it needs

A Filler draws from a vessel and emits entities of a named type at a rate, each one in a named container format. Set four things: the vessel it draws from, the Entity type it emits, the fill rate, and the size, which is a container format named in the Definitions panel.

Figure 1. A Filler's settings.

Container formats

Formats are declared once in the Definitions panel, such as 2 oz, Pint and Gallon, so every element that fills or counts a container agrees on its size. Naming the size by its format is the safe answer, because nothing then depends on a number typed twice. See Materials and the Definitions panel.

Changeovers

A filler’s changeover matrix prices the swap from one format to another, so a day that switches sizes carries the cost of every change. From the filled container onward, the work is ordinary discrete flow: the entity can queue, seize a resource and route like any other.