Production tags
Production tags fence which products can run on which work centers (tanks and packaging lines). They’re how you tell vestl that the gin tank only runs gin batches, the allergen-free line only runs allergen-free products, or the high-speed bottling line is reserved for premium SKUs.
Tags are free-text and operator-defined. Type whatever fits your operation — gin, whiskey, non-allergen, customer-finn, kosher, bond-room. vestl normalizes capitalization and trailing spaces, so Gin and gin become the same tag. Tag names that already exist on other tanks or products show up as autocomplete suggestions to keep things consistent.
Where tags live
Three places:
- On the work center (Tanks & Lines). Tags here say “this equipment only accepts products with at least one of these tags.”
- On the product (Products). Tags here are carried by the specific product.
- On the product line (Product Lines). Tags on a product line apply to every product on that line — useful when an entire line should be fenced together.
A product’s effective tags are the union of its own tags and its product line’s tags. You can add product-specific tags on top of product line tags, but you can’t subtract a product line tag from a single product.
How scheduling decides
When you place a manufacturing order on a work center (in the schedule, in MRP, or anywhere else), vestl runs this check:
| Work center tags | Product effective tags | Allowed? |
|---|---|---|
| empty (no tags) | anything | yes — open work center accepts anything |
gin, whiskey | empty | no — untagged product can’t enter a fenced work center |
gin, whiskey | gin | yes — at least one tag matches |
gin, whiskey | vodka | no — no overlap |
gin | gin, vodka | yes — gin matches; the extra vodka doesn’t matter |
The rules in plain English:
- Empty tags on a work center mean “open.” Any product can run there.
- Empty effective tags on a product mean “general-purpose.” That product can only run on open work centers.
- A tagged work center always rejects untagged products. The fence is strict by design — letting unlabeled products slip through would defeat the purpose. If you want a product to run on a tagged tank, the product or its product line needs at least one matching tag.
What happens when you change tags
Changing tags can affect already-scheduled batches. vestl rejects any tag change that would orphan a scheduled batch — you’ll get an error naming the affected order numbers. Reschedule those batches first (move them off the work center, or onto a compatible one), then re-attempt the tag change.
This applies to:
- Adding a tag to a previously-open work center, when scheduled batches don’t carry that tag.
- Removing a tag from a work center, when scheduled batches relied on that specific tag.
- Removing a tag from a product when that product is currently scheduled on a tank that required the tag.
- Removing a tag from a product line — same, but cascades through every product on the line.
There’s no “force” or “cascade unschedule” path. The right move is always to reschedule the affected batches explicitly.
Practical patterns
Reserve a single tank for a single product line.
Put the product line name (or a code like customer-finn) on the tank’s tags and on the product line’s tags. Every product on that line runs on the tank automatically; nothing else can.
Run two compatible product lines on the same tank.
Tag the tank with both names: gin, aquavit. Tag the gin line with gin and the aquavit line with aquavit. Either product line’s products can use the tank.
Allergen segregation.
Tag the dedicated allergen-free line with non-allergen. Tag every allergen-free product (or its line) with non-allergen. Allergen-bearing products with no non-allergen tag will be blocked from the line.
One-off custom batch on a normally-fenced tank. Tag the one-off product with the tank’s tag. Run it. The tag doesn’t have to come from the product line — per-product tags are also valid.
Limits
- Up to 32 tags per record (work center, product, or product line).
- Tags are 1–50 characters each.
- Tag values are normalized to lowercase.
GinandGINandginare all the same tag.
Where tags are enforced
The fence runs whenever an action could put a product on an incompatible work center:
- Schedule placement — placing a Batch Order on a tank checks the tank’s tags against the product’s effective tags.
- Batch Order creation — creating a Batch Order checks every planned tank or line in the formula’s routing. This catches incompatibility before the order lands on the calendar.
- Scheduling a Batch Order — scheduling rechecks the routing against the selected Formula version, so a tank tag change between creation and scheduling is caught.
- Schedule changes — changing the pinned Formula or routing rechecks compatibility so a new production path cannot silently bind the Batch Order to incompatible tanks.
- Tag changes — editing a tank, product, or product line’s tags is rejected if it would orphan any already-scheduled batches in a published scenario.
When a tag fence blocks an action, vestl lists the affected work centers and the product’s effective tags. Use that list to re-tag the product, re-tag the work center, or adjust the formula routing so the product runs through compatible work centers.