diff --git a/src/_includes/layouts/use-case.njk b/src/_includes/layouts/use-case.njk
index d3a0372a73..edcb7c0171 100644
--- a/src/_includes/layouts/use-case.njk
+++ b/src/_includes/layouts/use-case.njk
@@ -9,10 +9,33 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
problem hero sub-headline (the pain in one line)
customerPain { heading, intro[], cards[ {icon,title,detail} ] }
outcomeFirst { heading, intro, dimensions[ {label,title,detail} ] }
+ howItWorks { heading, intro, designPattern{}, diagram{}, pieces[], architecture, docsCta{} }
whyItMatters { heading, intro, points[ {title,detail} ] }
competition { heading, intro, traps[ {label,title,detail} ] }
comparison { without[ {title,detail} ], with[ {title,detail} ] }
+ howItWorks answers "how does FlowFuse build this", which the pain, outcome
+ and comparison blocks deliberately do not. It is the bridge from the
+ marketing narrative into the product docs, so keep it high level here and
+ push every detail into a docs link.
+
+ designPattern { kind, name, detail, docsUrl }
+ kind is the pattern family, e.g. "Hardware pattern" or
+ "Software pattern". name is the specific pattern chosen
+ for this use case.
+ diagram { src, alt, caption, width, height, placeholder }
+ End-to-end architecture drawing. src may be a placeholder
+ while the real diagram is commissioned; set
+ diagram.placeholder to true to render the placeholder
+ treatment and keep it visibly unfinished. width/height
+ default to 1200x630 and only exist to reserve the box, so
+ override them when the real asset is a different shape.
+ pieces [ {icon, title, detail, docsUrl} ]
+ The problem broken into the individual components that get
+ built. Order them the way you would build them.
+ architecture slug of a /use-cases/ architecture page this sits on
+ docsCta { label, url }
+
Legacy fall-back front-matter (simple skeleton, still supported):
gap[], workflow[], outcomes[]
@@ -23,11 +46,17 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% set nav = [] %}
{% if customerPain %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "customer-pain", label: "Customer Pain" }]) %}{% endif %}
{% if outcomeFirst %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "outcome-first", label: "Outcome First" }]) %}{% endif %}
+{% if howItWorks %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "how-it-works", label: "How It Works" }]) %}{% endif %}
{% if whyItMatters %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "why-it-matters", label: "Why It Matters" }]) %}{% endif %}
{% if competition %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "competition", label: "Why Off-the-Shelf Fails" }]) %}{% endif %}
{% if comparison %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "with-without", label: "With / Without FlowFuse" }]) %}{% endif %}
{% if aiBuildLayer %}{% set nav = nav.concat([{ id: "ai-build-layer", label: "Build It With AI" }]) %}{% endif %}
+{# --- section eyebrow numbers, derived from nav so they cannot drift ---
+ Pages omit blocks freely, so a hardcoded "03" desyncs from the nav as soon
+ as an earlier block is missing. Look the number up instead. #}
+{% macro secNum(id) %}{%- for item in nav -%}{%- if item.id == id -%}{%- if loop.index < 10 -%}0{%- endif -%}{{ loop.index }}{%- endif -%}{%- endfor -%}{% endmacro %}
+
-
01 · Customer pain
+
{{ secNum("customer-pain") }} · Customer pain
{{ customerPain.heading }}
{% for paragraph in customerPain.intro %}
@@ -94,11 +123,11 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% if outcomeFirst %}
-
02 · Outcome first
+
{{ secNum("outcome-first") }} · Outcome first
{{ outcomeFirst.heading }}
{{ outcomeFirst.intro }}
@@ -114,13 +143,103 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% endif %}
+ {% if howItWorks %}
+
+
+
+
{{ secNum("how-it-works") }} · How it works
+
{{ howItWorks.heading or "How FlowFuse builds this" }}
+ {# width/height are here to reserve the box before the image
+ arrives; without them "h-auto" collapses the figure to
+ zero and the whole section below it jumps on load. #}
+
+
+ {% if howItWorks.diagram.caption or howItWorks.diagram.placeholder %}
+ {% if howItWorks.diagram.placeholder %}Placeholder diagram, pending art request. {% endif %}{{ howItWorks.diagram.caption }}
+ {% endif %}
+
+ {% endif %}
+
+ {% if howItWorks.pieces %}
+
{{ howItWorks.piecesHeading or "The individual pieces" }}
+
+ {% for piece in howItWorks.pieces %}
+
+
+
+ {% include "components/icons/" + piece.icon + ".svg" %}
+
{{ secNum("why-it-matters") }} · Why this is important
{{ whyItMatters.heading }}
{{ whyItMatters.intro }}
@@ -140,11 +259,11 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% if competition %}
-
04 · Why off-the-shelf doesn't work
+
{{ secNum("competition") }} · Why off-the-shelf doesn't work
{{ competition.heading }}
{{ competition.intro }}
@@ -165,11 +284,11 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% if comparison %}
-
05 · With / without FlowFuse
+
{{ secNum("with-without") }} · With / without FlowFuse
Without FlowFuse
@@ -206,11 +325,11 @@ sitemapPriority: 0.7
{% if aiBuildLayer %}
-
06 · Build it with AI
+
{{ secNum("ai-build-layer") }} · Build it with AI
{{ aiBuildLayer.heading or "From described to deployed, with the FlowFuse Expert" }}
{{ aiBuildLayer.intro }}
diff --git a/src/index.njk b/src/index.njk
index b7f03ee6c6..4284cb645c 100644
--- a/src/index.njk
+++ b/src/index.njk
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ operationalSystem:
- title: "OPERATIONAL WORKFLOWS"
items:
- name: "Workforce Assignment"
+ url: "/use-cases/workforce-assignment/"
description: "Dynamic operator allocation using training, ergonomics, and demand data."
- name: "Shop Floor Communication"
url: "/use-cases/shop-floor-communication/"
diff --git a/src/use-cases/production-monitoring.njk b/src/use-cases/production-monitoring.njk
index 5086a4a875..8dfbc56b0e 100644
--- a/src/use-cases/production-monitoring.njk
+++ b/src/use-cases/production-monitoring.njk
@@ -7,6 +7,44 @@ problem: "Your operation is running. You just can't see it clearly enough, until
industries: ["automotive", "food-beverage", "life-sciences", "aviation-aerospace", "aerospace-components", "renewables", "semiconductors", "electronics-appliances"]
values: ["production-performance"]
+howItWorks:
+ heading: "How FlowFuse builds production monitoring."
+ intro: "Production monitoring is not one app you install. It is a handful of pieces you define once and then replicate. This is how the problem breaks down, and which FlowFuse pattern carries it across every line and site."
+ designPattern:
+ kind: "Hardware pattern"
+ name: "Pipeline plus environment variables"
+ detail: "The monitoring application is built once and distributed to every line by a DevOps pipeline. Everything site-specific, tag addresses, line names, shift boundaries, lives in environment variables instead of inside the flows, so the same snapshot runs everywhere without an edit."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/devops-pipelines/"
+ diagram:
+ placeholder: true
+ src: "https://placehold.co/1200x630/eef2ff/4338ca?text=Production+Monitoring+Architecture"
+ alt: "End-to-end architecture for production monitoring: PLCs and machines feeding edge instances, publishing to a broker and historian, with role-specific dashboards on top and a pipeline distributing the application across sites."
+ caption: "Machines and PLCs into edge instances, out over MQTT into your historian, role-specific dashboards on top, and one pipeline distributing the whole application across every line."
+ pieces:
+ - icon: "queue-list"
+ title: "Define the data model"
+ detail: "Name the equipment hierarchy and tag structure first: site, line, cell, signal. Every later piece depends on it, and this is exactly the part an off-the-shelf tool decides for you."
+ - icon: "chart"
+ title: "Derive the metrics"
+ detail: "Counts, cycle times, downtime reasons and OEE are calculated from the model rather than read off a machine. The logic sits in Node-RED flows your own team can read and change."
+ - icon: "device-agent"
+ title: "Collect at the edge"
+ detail: "The Device Agent runs an instance on existing edge hardware and speaks OPC-UA, Modbus, S7 or MQTT to whatever is already on the floor."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/device-agent/introduction/"
+ - icon: "arrows-right-left"
+ title: "Publish and store"
+ detail: "Contextualized data leaves the edge on a stable topic structure and lands in your historian or database. The schema and the storage stay yours."
+ - icon: "dashboard"
+ title: "Visualize per role"
+ detail: "A line view for the supervisor, trend detail for the maintenance engineer, a roll-up for the plant manager. FlowFuse Dashboard builds all three from the same data."
+ - icon: "rectangle-stack"
+ title: "Replicate across sites"
+ detail: "Snapshot the working application and let the pipeline push it to every other line, with each site's specifics supplied by environment variables."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/envvar/"
+ docsCta:
+ label: "Read the pipeline docs"
+ url: "/docs/user/devops-pipelines/"
+
aiBuildLayer:
intro: "The FlowFuse Expert works on this use case with you: describe the monitoring you need and get a working starting flow, then query what it captures in plain language."
steps:
diff --git a/src/use-cases/shop-floor-communication.njk b/src/use-cases/shop-floor-communication.njk
index 070eede175..a1a8645826 100644
--- a/src/use-cases/shop-floor-communication.njk
+++ b/src/use-cases/shop-floor-communication.njk
@@ -6,7 +6,44 @@ meta:
problem: "The line stopped four minutes ago. The person who can fix it will find out when someone walks over."
industries: ["automotive", "food-beverage", "aviation-aerospace", "electronics-appliances"]
values: ["labor-operational-efficiency"]
-architecture: "edge-connectivity"
+howItWorks:
+ heading: "How FlowFuse builds connected andon."
+ intro: "Getting an event to the right person is a small number of pieces, not a product. The routing logic is identical at every site; only the people, channels and shift patterns differ, and that is what decides the pattern."
+ designPattern:
+ kind: "Hardware pattern"
+ name: "Pipeline plus external configuration"
+ detail: "The routing and escalation flows are built once and distributed by pipeline. Who responds, on which channel, during which shift is read at runtime from a central configuration source, so a rota change or a new contact never requires a redeploy."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/devops-pipelines/"
+ diagram:
+ placeholder: true
+ src: "https://placehold.co/1200x630/eef2ff/4338ca?text=Shop+Floor+Communication+Architecture"
+ alt: "End-to-end architecture for connected andon: machine signals and operator call buttons into edge instances, routed against a central directory of roles and shifts, delivered to displays, team channels and phones, with acknowledgment timing recorded."
+ caption: "Machine signals and call buttons into edge instances, routed against a central directory of roles and shifts, out to displays, team channels and phones, with every acknowledgment timed."
+ pieces:
+ - icon: "bell-alert"
+ title: "Capture the event"
+ detail: "Machine signals, alarm bits and operator call buttons all become the same kind of event, collected by an edge instance next to the equipment."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/device-agent/introduction/"
+ - icon: "queue-list"
+ title: "Model the event"
+ detail: "Each event carries type, area, severity and the role that should respond. Routing decisions are made against that shape, not against a machine address."
+ - icon: "users"
+ title: "Keep the directory outside the flow"
+ detail: "Roles, contacts, channels and the shift calendar live in configuration rather than inside the flows, so the floor can change who responds without touching the application."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/envvar/"
+ - icon: "share"
+ title: "Deliver where people look"
+ detail: "The same event fans out to andon displays, team channels and phones, each with the context the recipient needs to act on it."
+ - icon: "clock"
+ title: "Acknowledge and escalate"
+ detail: "An unacknowledged event climbs the chain on a timer. Nothing waits on someone happening to be free."
+ - icon: "circle-stack"
+ title: "Record the timing"
+ detail: "Event, notification and acknowledgment timestamps land in your database, which is what turns response time into a metric you can manage."
+ architecture: "edge-connectivity"
+ docsCta:
+ label: "Read the pipeline docs"
+ url: "/docs/user/devops-pipelines/"
customerPain:
heading: "Events travel at walking speed."
diff --git a/src/use-cases/workforce-assignment.njk b/src/use-cases/workforce-assignment.njk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..78a0ca5e5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/use-cases/workforce-assignment.njk
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+---
+title: "Workforce Assignment"
+meta:
+ title: "Workforce Assignment | Use Cases | FlowFuse"
+ description: "Put the right person on the right task as conditions change: live assignment boards driven by real demand, skills and availability. Built on Node-RED, managed with FlowFuse."
+problem: "The plan assigned people at 6 a.m. The floor changed by 6:40, and the plan did not."
+industries: ["automotive", "food-beverage", "electronics-appliances"]
+values: ["labor-operational-efficiency"]
+
+howItWorks:
+ heading: "How FlowFuse builds dynamic workforce assignment."
+ intro: "An assignment is a decision taken against constraints that change during the shift. This is how the problem breaks down and which FlowFuse pattern carries it."
+ designPattern:
+ kind: "Software pattern"
+ name: "Data-driven application"
+ detail: "The rules are data, not flows. Skills, training currency, ergonomic limits and demand come from the systems that already own them, so the same application serves a different plant by pointing at different sources."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/ff-tables/"
+ diagram:
+ placeholder: true
+ src: "https://placehold.co/1200x630/eef2ff/4338ca?text=Workforce+Assignment+Architecture"
+ alt: "End-to-end architecture for workforce assignment: demand pulled from MES and ERP, skills and training from HR systems, constraints applied, a supervisor-facing assignment view, and the result published back and recorded."
+ caption: "Demand from MES and ERP, skills and training from the systems that own them, constraints applied, and the supervisor left with a decision rather than a spreadsheet."
+ pieces:
+ - icon: "chart"
+ title: "Pull the demand"
+ detail: "What has to run this shift, in what order, on which lines, read from MES or ERP rather than retyped."
+ - icon: "users"
+ title: "Read skills and training currency"
+ detail: "Who is qualified for what, and whose certification is about to lapse, from the system that already tracks it."
+ - icon: "cog-6-tooth"
+ title: "Hold the constraints as data"
+ detail: "Ergonomic rotation limits, required coverage and site rules live in configuration, so changing a policy is not a development task."
+ docsUrl: "/docs/user/ff-tables/"
+ - icon: "dashboard"
+ title: "Give the supervisor a decision"
+ detail: "A proposed allocation on a screen on the floor, adjustable in the moment. The tool advises; the supervisor decides."
+ - icon: "arrows-right-left"
+ title: "Publish the assignment back"
+ detail: "The decision returns to the systems and screens that need it, so the plan and the floor stop diverging by 6:40."
+ - icon: "circle-stack"
+ title: "Record what actually happened"
+ detail: "Assignments and changes kept as history, which is what makes next quarter's coverage and training decisions evidence-based."
+ architecture: "it-ot-middleware"
+ docsCta:
+ label: "Read the tables docs"
+ url: "/docs/user/ff-tables/"
+
+customerPain:
+ heading: "Static plans meet a dynamic floor."
+ intro:
+ - "Shift plans are built on yesterday's assumptions: then a machine goes down, an order is expedited, two people call in sick, and reallocation happens by supervisor intuition and hallway conversations."
+ - "Skills and certifications live in spreadsheets nobody checks in the moment, so the reshuffle is slow, and sometimes puts the wrong person on a task that requires certification."
+ cards:
+ - icon: "users"
+ title: "Reallocation by walking around"
+ detail: "Supervisors spend the first hour of every disruption finding out who is where and moving people by hand."
+ - icon: "academic-cap"
+ title: "Skills matrices nobody can see"
+ detail: "Certification and training data sits in HR files, invisible at the moment of assignment."
+ - icon: "clock"
+ title: "Idle time and bottlenecks coexist"
+ detail: "One station starves while another queues, because nobody sees both at once."
+ - icon: "clip-list"
+ title: "No record of who did what"
+ detail: "Assignment history that audits and improvement work need does not exist."
+ #placeholder: template copy for review, refine per Showcase
+
+outcomeFirst:
+ heading: "Assignment that follows the floor."
+ intro: "FlowFuse joins live demand signals, machine states, order priorities, headcounts, with skills and availability data, and drives assignment boards that update as conditions change."
+ dimensions:
+ - label: "Operational"
+ title: "Live view of people, tasks and gaps"
+ detail: "Who is where, what needs doing, and which stations are at risk, on one board that reflects now."
+ - label: "Organizational"
+ title: "Qualified people on qualified tasks"
+ detail: "Assignments checked against skills and certifications at the moment they are made."
+ - label: "Financial"
+ title: "Less idle time, fewer bottlenecks"
+ detail: "Rebalancing in minutes recovers the labor hours static plans leave on the table."
+
+whyItMatters:
+ heading: "Labor is the most flexible asset, managed the least flexibly."
+ intro: "Machines get condition monitoring; people get a morning plan and good luck."
+ points:
+ - title: "Every disruption taxes labor first"
+ detail: "Downtime, rush orders and absences all resolve into people standing in the wrong place."
+ - title: "Certification errors are compliance events"
+ detail: "In regulated production, an unqualified assignment is not inefficiency, it is a finding."
+ - title: "Assignment data feeds planning"
+ detail: "Recorded assignment history shows where skills are thin and where training pays back fastest."
+
+competition:
+ heading: "Why the usual approaches stall."
+ intro: "Workforce tools plan the shift; almost none of them react to it."
+ traps:
+ - label: "Workforce management suites"
+ title: "Great at rosters, blind to the floor"
+ detail: "Scheduling tools know who is on shift, not what the line needs right now."
+ - label: "MES task lists"
+ title: "Tasks without people context"
+ detail: "Work queues exist, but skills, availability and certifications live elsewhere."
+ - label: "Whiteboards"
+ title: "The 6 a.m. snapshot"
+ detail: "Accurate for the first forty minutes of the shift."
+
+comparison:
+ without:
+ - title: "Reallocation by intuition"
+ detail: "Supervisors move people based on what they happen to see."
+ - title: "Certification checked after the fact"
+ detail: "Qualification issues surface in audits, not at assignment."
+ - title: "No assignment record"
+ detail: "Improvement work has no data to stand on."
+ with:
+ - title: "Boards driven by live demand"
+ detail: "Machine states and order priorities reshape assignments as they change."
+ - title: "Qualification enforced in the flow"
+ detail: "Only certified people are suggested for certified tasks."
+ - title: "Every assignment recorded"
+ detail: "History for audits, staffing decisions and training plans."
+
+aiBuildLayer:
+ intro: "The FlowFuse Expert works on this use case with you, from the demand joins to the board itself."
+ steps:
+ - title: "Describe it, get a starting flow"
+ detail: "Tell the Expert your demand signals and people data sources; it assembles a working starting flow. Currently in open beta on FlowFuse Cloud."
+ - title: "Refine with in-editor assistance"
+ detail: "Function Builder and completions handle the matching logic and the Dashboard assignment board."
+ - title: "Own and adapt what you built"
+ detail: "The flow explainer keeps assignment rules readable, so team leads can evolve them as the operation changes."
+ note: "AI capabilities noted as beta are in open beta on FlowFuse Cloud at time of writing. Placeholder template copy for internal review."
+
+closingCta:
+ heading: "Put flexibility where the flexibility is"
+ description: "Talk to an expert about live workforce assignment, or connect your first demand signal today."
+---
+