Simultaneous branch overview

A simultaneous branch is a type of branch with two or more parallel paths where all paths within the branch are selected to execute at the same time. This is also known as a non-conditional (AND) branch.

Simultaneous divergence and convergence

A simultaneous divergence is a branching structure that allows steps in two or more paths to run in parallel.

A simultaneous convergence is a branching structure that brings together two or more paths run in parallel into a single path.

In a manufacturing process, it is common to execute several branches at the same time. For example, adding two separate materials while mixing the same materials. One approach is to build three Equipment Sequences. Another approach is to define all three processes within a single Equipment Sequence and execute the processes simultaneously at run-time. A simultaneous branch specifies all the paths and executes them simultaneously. All steps linked to the simultaneous branch must be active before the transition below the simultaneous convergence will evaluate.

The following example shows a simultaneous branch and its elements.

This example shows three simultaneous paths: one to add Material_A, one to add Material_B, and one to mix the ingredients. Item

1

shows the transition evaluating TRUE, resulting in the simultaneous execution of the first step of each path. The simultaneous divergence in item

2

creates the three paths to execute in item

3

. In item

4

, the first step of each path is configured. The simultaneous convergence in item

5

merges all three simultaneous paths back together. Tran_006 in item

6

begins evaluating when all steps above the simultaneous convergence are active. When the transition expression evaluates TRUE, execution of the simultaneous paths ends and execution continues to the next step.