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Introduction

This document provides instructions for setting up Coat Switching. This process allows the entry of one lens coating to another.

• Driven by pricing lite-ups.
• Operator can enter color as it appears to the eye.
• Color sub still available, either or both can be used (substitution can be prevented by individual lite-up).
• Up to 40 levels (color sub has 1 level only).
• Program first checks for lite-ups to NOT switch, then looks for Exact Matches, then for Okay To Switch.
• Manufacturer can optionally be forced.
• Switched color is used for lookup in blank selection.

The operator will always enter the color of the lens as it appears to the eye.  Thus, a job where one might use an uncoated lens, a scratch coated lens, or an AR lens out of the box will be entered as "W".  All modifiers to the lens would be done via lite-ups on the pricing page of order entry.  If the ECP specified Crizal, the operator would accept the default color ("W" or "SRC") and then light up Crizal. 

After the job is entered, blank selection will first look at the "Don't Switch by lite-up" data.  This allows conflicting combinations of lite-ups to not do coat switching.  For example, the first record shows for stock lenses, if lite-up 2,2 is on (Solid Tint) and lite-up 2,18 is on (Crizal), blank selection will NOT coat switch.  One can also override and prevent the original Optifacts nominal color substitution by lite-up.  Additionally, this section of the screen will also allow an entry to prevent STK/SF splitting in blank selection.

If there are no conditions that will prevent switching, the center section data is checked to see if there is an exact match for the entered color.  This can optionally force a specific manufacturer to be used.  There can be more than one record within the entered color and lite-up, for stock or SF.  If more than one is found, they are sorted by the priority number.

If no exact matches are found, the program then looks at the third section of the screen, to see if there is an okay switch for a lite-up.

Once a good record in supplier_priority is found the program will blank select for this changed color code, and specific manufacturer if entered.  Thus, only one record in supplier_priority each for stock and SF will be considered.

Procedure

From the Optifacts main menu:

Type 8 - Blank Selection and press enter.

Type 10 - Coat Switch Editor and press enter.

The Coat Switch Editor displays. The active table is the No Switch table.

Don't Switch by Lite-up

• Press Q and Escape to query existing entries that are in the No Switch table.
• Type A  to add new record or U to update an existing record.

In the No Switch table, the Don’t Switch by lite-up fields define a lite-up that will not switch.

Example: Activating coat switching on a product that has a tint would not be desirable. An uncoated product would be preferred.

• STK Flg
  • This field is left blank when activating F/SF blank splitting (-3/-3). If both finished and semi-finished are to be switched, 2 separate entries MUST be made.
    • 1 – Will change stock finished lens.
    • 2 – Will change semi-finished lens
• Num and Bit
  • Both of these fields work in conjunction with each other. The Num/Bit values represent the lite-up that is being defined.
• NoNum and NoBit
  • Enter the pricing number from 0-16 or -1/-2/-3
    • -1/-1 – To never switch the above lite-up otherwise enter a num/bit that will conflict with the above lite-up and should not be switched.
    • -2/-2 – Prevents nominal color substitutions.
    • -3/-3 - Prevents Finished/Semi-finished blank selection splitting.
• Press Escape to save the data.

Exact Coat Match for a Lite-up

The second table is the Coat Match table.

• To activate the Coat Match table, press T and the [ ] brackets will move down to the second portion of the screen enabling data entry.
• Press Q and Escape to query existing entries that are in the Coat Match table.
• Type A to add new record or U to update an existing record.

In the Coat Match table, the Exact Coat Match for a lite-up field defines what products can be substituted for another.

Example: If a hard coated finished lens can not be found but an uncoated finished lens can be found, this can be set to tell the system to pick the uncoated lens and process the job using a hard coat lite-up.

• STK Flg
  • If both finished and semi-finished are to be switched, 2 separate entries MUST be made.
    • 1 – Will change stock finished lens.
    • 2 – Will change semi-finished lens
• Num and Bit
  • Both of these fields work in conjunction with each other. The Num/Bit values represent the lite-up that is being defined.
• Entered Clr
  • Standard color code entry in the color field to be defined in conjunction with the Num/Bit field.
• Priority Number
  • Define the priority of the defined scenario. Valid priorities are from 1 through 20, with the lower number representing the higher priority.
• OK Mfr
  • Defines a specific manufacturer to be switched. If the switch is to work with specific but not all manufacturers, separate entries MUST be made. Otherwise, leave this field blank to represent all manufacturers.
• OK Clr
  • Defines what coat is ok to switch to.

Example: The following setup says that when a stock lens (1) and a lite-up of (2/16) A/R is used and a color code of SRC is entered, lens pick will switch to a finished lens with a color of AR if it is available.

Okay Coat Switch for a lite-up

In the Coat Switch table, the Okay Coat Switch for a lite-up fields are basically the same as the Exact Coat Match for a lite-up fields. The only difference is that it’s a secondary table to catch product that could not be entered into the No Switch table.

• Stk Flg
  • If both finished and semi-finished are to be switched, 2 separate entries MUST be made. 
    • 1 – Will change stock finished lens.
    • 2 – Will change semi-finished lens
• Num/Bit
  • Both of these fields work in conjunction with each other. The Num/Bit values represent the lite-up that is being defined.
• Entered Clr
  • Standard color code entry in the color field to be defined in conjunction with the Num/Bit field.
• Priority Number
  • Define the priority of the defined scenario. Valid priorities are from 1 through 20, with the lower number representing the higher priority.
• OK Mfr
  • Defines a specific manufacturer to be switched. If the switch is to work with specific but not all manufacturers, separate entries MUST be made. Otherwise, leave this field blank to represent all manufacturers.
• OK Clr
  • Defines what coat is ok to switch to.

Example: The following setup says that when a stock lens (1) and a lite-up of (2/16) A/R is used and a color code of SRC is entered, lens pick will switch to a finished lens with a color of AR if it is available.

• Press E to exit.

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