Shift Sequence

The Shift Sequence setting is used to designate what Shifts are run, and in what order, within a 24-hour work day (for up to three shifts). GainSeeker also uses it to divide a work day into multiple shifts of the same length.

This setting is used with the Start of work day setting to:

determine how to group data by Day/Shift for OEE Charts and DPU charts.
calculate the Current Shift and Previous Shift date periods by dividing the work day into equal shifts.

This setting assumes that all Shift names are one character long, such as 1-2-3 or A-B-C.

To set the Shift Sequence, right-click or double-click this setting and enter one of the following:

Setting	Shift Duration	Example Setting	Example work day:
Three characters (in order)	8 hours	312 (the default)	Shift 3, then Shift 1, then Shift 2
		CAB	Shift C, then Shift A, then Shift B
		123	Shift 1, then Shift 2, then Shift 3
		ABC	Shift A, then Shift B, then Shift C
Two characters (in order)	12 hours	12	Shift 1, then Shift 2
Two characters (in order)	12 hours	AB	Shift A, then Shift B
One character	24 hours	1	Shift 1
One character	24 hours	A	Shift A

Grouping DPU and OEE charts by Day/Shift

To group these charts by Day/Shift, you must:

use traceability field 2 to track the Shift for each data record being analyzed
set the Shift Sequence using the same Shift names that are stored in your data records

When data is grouped by Day/Shift, GainSeeker creates a separate group for each combination of Day and Shift:

First, it uses the Start of work day setting to determine when a normal work day begins and ends.
Next, it uses the Shift Sequence setting to divide the work day by the number of Shifts to determine the start/end time for each Shift name (plus four hours at the start and end of the shift, because sometimes a shift may start earlier or end later than usual).

For example, if the Shift Sequence = 312 (so there are three 8-hour shifts per day) and the Start of work day = 23:00, GainSeeker determines that Shift 3 normally runs 23:00 - 06:59 the following day (padded by four hours on each end of the shift), followed by Shift 1 from 07:00 - 14:59, followed by Shift 2 from 15:00 - 22:59.
Within the expanded date/time range for each Shift name, it extracts the data records stored with that Shift name and groups them into one point on the chart.

Continuing the example above, all data records between 19:00 and 10:59 (the following day) that are stored with the Shift traceability set to 3 will be grouped into one point on the chart. The same is true for Shift 1 data from 03:00 to 18:59, and for Shift 2 data from 11:00 to 02:59 the following day.

Calculating the 'Current Shift' and 'Previous Shift' date periods

When retrieving data for either of these date periods, only the Date/Time on each record is used - not traceability field 2 (Shift).

To calculate the Current Shift or Previous Shift date period:

GainSeeker first uses the Start of work day setting to determine when a normal work day begins and ends.
Next, it uses the Shift Sequence setting to divide the work day equally by the number of Shifts to determine the start and end time for each Shift.

If you do not run 24 hours per day, you may need to add one or two extra characters to your Shift Sequence setting to ensure that the workday is divided into the 8-hour or 12-hour "shifts" you need.
Then it compares the current PC clock to these Shift start and end times to determine what is the Current Shift (or Previous Shift) and uses that date/time range to retrieve the data.