Issues, Workarounds & Localization

I realize this may sound a bit odd, but I think it would help simplify the INDUSTRY process and seems like it would be relatively easy to implement. So, here goes:

Problem: Having a large inventory of prints becomes very difficult to manage due to physical number of different prints. Plus, the manufacturing time is directly related to the max number of runs() associated with each individual print. For a print with a small limited number of runs(), the actual manufacturing time is sometimes very quick. For example, tech-II mining crystals typically finish in less than one hour which causes a LOT of extra effort simply to keep revisiting the INDUSTRY panel to submit next set.

Suggestion: Provide a special case of the STACK command that allows us to highlight a set of prints for a specific item [ same ME(), PE(), etc; however, there's no reason that runs() couldn't vary ]. Right click to see a drop down option to STACK PRINTS, this would result in accumulating the runs() for each selected print and result in one single print with a total runs() equal to the totals of the selected prints.

Advantages: Significantly reduce the number of prints we have to manage. Reduce the number of times we have to interface with the industry system. Allow us to consolidate manufacturing runs to manage the time to deliver so that one visit to manufacturing facility per day/week/xxx could be scheduled to handle multiple manufacturing slots. Dramatically reduce the impact of max items in cargo holds, station hangers, corporate hangers, cargo containers, etc. Should result in some modest performance improvements since inventory management will have fewer items to track.

I don't see any reason to assign a max runs() to prints consolidated with this special function since the submit manufacturing job function already has a check to ensure that number of runs() requested don't exceed the standard 30day cycle.

Sorry bout that, it seems like I never get it right :(