What's New

This page summarises the changes of each release of the Palletizing Live System, newest version first.

Unreleased (in preparation)

New features

Manual top-off for pickzone transfers. Pallets built via a pickzone transfer can now be marked for manual top-off, so a partially filled transfer pallet can be completed by hand.
Package types in consecutive layers. The system now detects when the same package type appears in consecutive layers and evaluates it as part of the pattern quality (attribute all_article_dimensions_equal).
Pickzone name in the layer view. The 2D layer visualisation now shows the name of the pickzone a layer is picked from.
Height violation strategy is selectable. When calculating all plans of a database you can now choose how pallet height violations are resolved instead of using a fixed strategy.
Selective data download. Basic master data and pallet reviews can be exported separately, without downloading the complete database.

Improvements

Instant plan calculation now follows exactly the same logic as the regular production calculation, so preview results match the plans that are finally stored.
Master data can now be posted without a matching package id, which removes an unnecessary rejection when importing stacking matrices and patterns.
A default database configuration can be defined, so the connection no longer has to be entered for every command.
3D and 2D visualisation libraries are now delivered with the application itself. The frontend therefore also works on machines without internet access.

New features

Pallet review. Planned pallets can be inspected, compared and commented. You can switch between the suggested pallet and the original pallet, let the system suggest an alternative layer sequence, and delete reviews you no longer need.
Pallet height violation diagnostics. A dedicated view lists pallets that exceed the permitted height, including the data needed to understand the cause.
Statistics menu is back. The statistics area has been reintroduced with the modernised look and feel of the rest of the application; the download buttons have moved to a more accessible position.

Improvements

Considerably faster response times of the application: database access has been optimised and an additional index was added to the layer table.
Master data imports are more robust: article endpoints check that the referenced package exists, and database integrity errors are reported as a clear message instead of a failure.
The dashboard lets you choose between counting multi-orders and counting units per delivery date.
The help pages have been revised and extended (except the statistics pages).

Bug fixes

Starter pallets are no longer allowed to be flagged as manual or manual top-off.
The number of saved pallets now only counts orders whose plans have already been calculated.
The frontend no longer uses the deprecated unload event, which is blocked by current Chrome versions.

New features

New dashboard. A completely new dashboard gives an overview of orders, plan calculation times and pallet quality at a glance, including a filter for multi-orders without a delivery date and a button to calculate all outstanding multi-order plans.
Live view. The live view shows the current pallet flow, marks the current point in time with a red bar, includes the previous day (D-1) and pages through large numbers of pallets instead of showing everything at once.
Database upgrade from the application. Existing databases can be upgraded to a new schema version. Missing columns are filled with their default values and the row counts are verified after the upgrade.
Database administration form. Database downloads and migrations can be triggered from the user interface. Downloads run in the background, so the application stays responsive.
Fail-safe plan calculation. Failed calculation attempts are counted, logged and retried according to a configurable strategy instead of blocking the queue.
Limit for multi-orders. The new option MaximumNumberOfUnitsPerMultiOrder caps the number of units of a multi-order when it is created via the API.
Modernised user interface. Master data, orders, SKU master and the info/contact page have been redesigned with a consistent look and feel and a reorganised menu.

Improvements

Orders can be sorted, and further palletizing plans are loaded on demand.
Log rotation, health checks for database and message broker, and a database monitoring container were added, so long-running installations stay stable.

Bug fixes

Corrected the fill-rate calculation and the "Distribution of Adjusted Pallet Height" chart in the dashboard.
The red "now" bar in the live view uses the server system time.
Fixed the layer pattern editor.

New features

First version of the live view.
Command line tool. Databases can be downloaded from a server via the API, random multi-orders can be uploaded, and complete operating days can be simulated synthetically.

Bug fixes

Several corrections in the live view and in the base URL handling of the frontend.

New features

Pickzone transfer. Units can be transferred between pickzones, which allows orders to be built that cannot be served from a single pickzone.
Alternative patterns. The plan calculation can offer alternative layer patterns.

Bug fixes

All applicable patterns are now included in situations where some were previously skipped.
The demand of a transfer is restricted to the current pickzone, and the solver status is validated before a result is used.

New features

Version display. The version number of the installed system is shown in the footer of the frontend.
Certificate installation help page describing how to install the client certificate.

Improvements

Databases for the Glenview and Goodyear sites were added, and the database migration also works in low-memory environments.
User manuals can be generated from the help pages.