Select a slot type from available slot types to assign products in a warehouse

[chandiaz]

I am a newbie have enjoyed my initial work using Knime and need help/ideas from experienced users to develop a slot selection model.

I have a product table with ProductCode, UnitWidth, UnitDepth, UnitHeight, AvgDailyOrderCube.

I also have a second table that contains Rank, SlotName, SlotWidth, SlotDepth, SlotHeight, MinDailyCube, MaxDailyCube. Rank is given based on smallest to the biggest slot.

I need to assign a SlotName to products in product table that meet following criteria. (two tables do not have a common field)
UnitWidth <= SlotWidth &&
UnitDepth <= SlotDepth &&
UnitHeight <= SlotHeight &&
AvgDailyCube > MinDailyCube &&
AvgDailyCube <= MaxDailyCube

Appreciate your advise on how to set this up in Knime

[rfeigel]

Try using a Rule Engine inside a loop. Hard code the dimensions from the second table in the rules and use the loop to pass row by row variables from the first table. You’ll need a rule for each possible SlotName. This will compare the dimensions from the two tables and select the correct SlotName.

[chandiaz]

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried columns expression to hardcode the formulas. But, the objective of using two tables was to avoid hardcoding as dimensions in the second table may need to be changed to compare different slot sizing. I will try the loop today

[rfeigel]

You might be able to avoid using loops by employing a Cross Joiner node. Without having access to your data its hard to tell. Frankly I don’t know how loops will help without hardcoding the rules. Your fundamental problem is how to join the two tables.

[marzukim]

hi @chandiaz , welcome to the community.
i’m not an expert in procurement item interactions, nor am i proficient in knime.
correct me if i’m wrong, based on my understanding of your requirements, is that one product can be assigned to multiple slot names according to the given rules.
i’m using 3 of your rules just for the purpose on validation of workflow,

KNIME_assign02.knwf (112.1 KB)

apologize if this is not what you were expecting.
rgds

[chandiaz]

Hi @marzukim , Thanks for taking time to review it.

My requirement is to select the best slot name from available slots (in table 2) to store the products (in table 1) that meets the given rules. Appologies, i have not mentioned that slots are arranged from smallest to the largest. ( rank 1 represent the smallest) . So, the model should consider the smallest slot that meets the rules before it considers a larger slot to avoid under utilisation.

I think your workflow is somewhat close to what I am trying to achieve. I need to figureout how to install the latest verion of knime without loosing my old files as you have done the workflow in the latest version. Will play with it and confirm. thanks again