Tugger and Carrier Feature Part 1 & 2 - These two tutorial videos go over the Tugger and Carrier features of Simcad. These videos will teach you how to create both Tuggers and Carriers and what they can do, also how to set up a Tugger hook and release Carriers at any process, how to load and unload a Carrier exactly where desired, and how to effectively set up a layout so that congestion of Tuggers, Carriers and Objects is minimized for a smooth running simulation.

- Start  by creating a new Object (Parts) in the Object and Containment and check Display Object Value.

- Next select Carriers and Robots and add two new carriers- Tugger and CArt, select the Tugger and at the bottom set the Carrier Type to pull as Cart and set Number to Pull as 1.

- Change the color of these new items by going to Object and Containment and Define Object Dimensions.

- Create a Start Process for each new item - Cart, Parts, and Tugger.

-Define Object Creation Rules for each Start Process - for Tugger and Cart change to Create Carriers Only, also limit the amount created by checking Stop the process after - for tuggers enter 1 and for carts enter 5.

- Next create three Generic Processes - Cart Load, Cart Pick Up, Depot.

- Now create a stop for the Tugger and Carts, a stop consists of 3 processes, a Drop Off 1, and Unload 1, and a Pick Up 1 - Create three of these stops.

- Copy and Paste these processes and using _2 and _3 as a process name extension.

- Place Connectors in front of the stops as well as in between Cart Pick Up and Depot and also between Cart Load and Cart Pick Up.

- Space the layout a bit to give more room for each process and path.

- Connect the model in the following order - Start Tugger to Depot, Start Cart and Start Part to Cart Load.

- Now Cart Load to the Connector to Cart Pick Up, Cart Pick Up, Cart Pick Up to the Connector to Depot.

- Next connect that Connector to the middle Drop Off Connection but do this back and forth so the tugger can travel in both directions.

- Connect the other two Drop Off Connections in the same way to the middle Drop Off Connector.

- For each stop the flow goes as such - Connector to Drop Off, Drop Of Splits to Unload and Pick Up, Unload to Pick Up and finally Pick Up to Connector -do this for each step.

- Adjust the position of the stops so the flow is better seen.

- Finall we need to connect the Depot to both the top Connector and Cart Load - but do this with a rounded track, clicking several times to create points and form an arch.

- To use our Tugger and Carts we need to set special Carrier requirements at the processes they will use - start with Cart Load, double click and select Customize.

- Scroll down to Carrier Requirements.

- First thing is to select Insert New Carrier Definition - this is used whenever initializing a Carrier, we will be using Cart Load to fill the Cart with only Parts objects.

- Change the Object Type to Parts and Carrier Required to Cart. 

- Check Carrier Waits and set a Min. Load of 3 and a Max Load of 3, Load and Unload Times can be changed as well, for this example they will be left at 0 - When using Carrier Definitions be sure to check Enable Object Based Carriers, otherwise the min and max for the object will be overwritten.

-NOTE: If a Cart doesn't need a full load (1-3) then you would set Min. Load to 1 and Max. Load to 3. However, if Carrier Waits is checked then the Carrier will always wait for a full load, check these setting of load amount produced is undesired.

- Number of Empty Carriers determines the number of Carriers that process can deal with at once, this becomes more important in other processes - for Cart Load set it to 2, Meaning two Carts can be filled at once.

- Save the changes made to the process.

- Now double click Cart Pick Up - Customize and select Carrier Requirements.

- Here is where Numbers of Empty Carriers really comes into play, since this is where potentially all 6 Carriers could be, we must allow at least 6 Carriers to be processed, because the Tugger has to be processed in order to hook a Cart and take it to a stop.

- If a loaded Carrier (Loaded Cart) gets to a process then it will release all of the objects (Parts) that Carrier is loaded with, to stop this from happening Check Limit Carrier Release to: and Check Release no more than a maximum number of objects - Max - 0.

- In a case where only one type of object needs to be released (if a Carrier is able to hold multiple types of objects) then check Release objects of a specific type and select the type - NOTE: this section only pertains to Carriers that are loaded with objects, not a Tugger loaded with Carts.

-Now we need to tell the Tugger to pick up Carts here, we do this by checking Hook Cart When Loaded - At Least, this means that we only hook loaded carts at this process, leave 0 for At Least and set the Maximum Cart to Hook to 1 - this is to let the tugger move through the process without hooking any carts, this is because it's possible to have all Carts out at the stops and none here.

- Save the changes made to Cart Pick Up.

- Watch Part 2 to complete the Tugger and Carrier Tutorial.