Getting started with Fexel factory layouts

What's in the catalog, and how is it organized?

The left side of the screen

Parts sit on shelves by trade: conveyors, warehousing, robots, machines, packaging and more. Click a shelf to open it.

Routers are the rows at the top of a shelf. The pictures below them are single parts: click one, then click the plan to put it down.

Type in Search catalog to find any part by name.

What are the routers?

A router lays out a whole system from something you draw. It picks the parts, sizes them and puts them on the parts list.

• Each router opens its settings when you finish drawing. The m and ft switch at the bottom of the settings sets every length.

How do I save my layout and start a new one?

The top bar

How do I share a layout with someone?

The arrow near Save, top right

1. Click the arrow. A read-only link is copied.
2. Paste it into an email or a chat. Anyone with it sees the same layout, live, as you change it.

The camera beside it downloads two pictures, the plan and the 3D, for a report or a slide.

What are the keyboard shortcuts?

How do I set up the building: walls, roof, columns, dock doors and floor zones?

Facilities - Factory, then Floor marking

1. Pick Building and drag from one corner to the other. The size shows as you drag, and the building settings open with Wall thickness.
2. On the Roof tab pick Flat, Sloping or Gable and set the heights on the section drawing. Press Place building.
3. Pick Columns and drag a box round the building. Set Columns along, Columns across and Column size, and press Place columns. The grid is cut to the walls and to the roof above each column.
4. Pick Dock doors and drag along a wall. Set Door width, Door height and Door to door, and press Place doors. Each wall gets its own run.
5. Pick Write on the floor, drag a box where the zone is, type its name and press Enter. Set Cap height and Paint, and press Paint it.

• The building is a drawing on the plan and a set of heights. Racking placed inside keeps 9 in (229 mm) off the walls, steps its frames to the roof above each row, and keeps a clear zone 20 ft deep inside every dock door.
• The columns are the obstructions: racking placed over the grid goes round them, and you choose how on the racking settings.
• Click a column on the plan while the columns card is open to leave that one out. First column off the wall is half a bay to start.
• The letters are painted geometry, so they show in the 3D view and export with the layout. Esc while typing cancels.

I placed the racking and then a column changed. What happens?

Double-click a column → Edit columns

1. Double-click any column and press Edit columns. The grid comes back on the card.
2. Click a column on the plan to take it out. Click it again to put it back.
3. Press Re-run columns. The racking over that grid is laid again and the message says how the count moved.

• Deleting a column with the Delete key does the same.
• The card also has Delete, which removes the whole grid.

How do I draw racking?

Warehousing → Pallet racking, or R

1. Pick Pallet racking.
2. Drag from one corner of the floor to the other. Drag along and the bays grow; drag away and the rows grow.
3. Let go. The racking settings open.
4. Press Place racks.

• Pallets are added when you place, if Fill with pallets & cases is ticked.
• Press Esc to cancel.

How do I lay out drive-in or shuttle racking?

Warehousing → Drive-in racking or Shuttle racking

1. Pick the rack and drag the area. The count is lanes, depth, levels and positions.
2. Set Pallets deep for the lane depth and press Place lanes.

• A forklift aisle is clear floor, 11.8 ft (3.6 m) between the rack faces. A crane aisle is 5.9 ft (1.8 m) pallet face to pallet face, and the lanes a crane serves carry no wheel stop in its aisle.

How do I lay out cantilever racking for long stock?

Warehousing → Cantilever

1. Pick Cantilever and drag along the run. The count is bays and arms.
2. Set the arm length, the levels and the load per arm, and press Place cantilever.

• A run stops at a column or a dock door and starts again past it.

How do I add a mezzanine?

Warehousing → Mezzanine

1. Pick Mezzanine and drag the deck.
2. Set the deck height, the floor load and which side the stair is on, and press Place mezzanine.

How do I fill a whole building with racking?

Warehousing → Pallet racking, dragged over the building

1. Draw the building, its columns and its dock doors first.
2. Pick Pallet racking and drag a box over the whole building.
3. The count on the plan is racks, levels, loads across and pallet positions. Press Place racks.

• Racking keeps 9 in (229 mm) off the walls and a clear zone inside every dock door.
• Under a sloping or gable roof, each row is as tall as the roof above it allows.

What does the racking do about the columns?

Racking settings → Rows and aisle tab → Around columns

• Every choice keeps the aisles clear of columns.

What does each racking setting do?

Every field, touched in turn. The drawing on the card lights the part each one sets and the line under it says what it does.

• The tabs are the drawing views: Load, Front of a bay, Side of a frame, Rows and aisle.
• A field left blank is sized from the pallet and the truck.
• The m and ft switch at the bottom of the settings sets every length, here and in the parts list. A number you type is in that unit.

How do I leave out one bay, or a whole row?

Double-click a rack → Edit racking, then click the plan

1. Double-click any rack and press Edit racking. The layout comes back on the plan.
2. Click a bay to take it out. Click the row number at the end of a row to take out the row. Click again to put it back.
3. Press Re-run racking. The count updates.

• The card also has Delete, which removes everything that racking placed.

How do I set the pallet size, how tall the load is and what it weighs?

Racking settings → Load tab → Pallet, Load height, Pallet weight

1. Pick the Pallet.
2. Type the Load height, pallet included. Taller loads, fewer levels.
3. Type the Pallet weight, 2200 lb or 1000 kg.

How do I change the aisle width for a forklift, VNA truck or crane?

Racking settings → Rows and aisle tab → Served by

Pick the equipment that works the aisles. Each one needs a different aisle width, and the rows are spaced to match.

Aisles are measured load face to load face. Type your own in Aisle width.

How do I make racking double-deep, or change how many pallets fit in a bay?

Racking settings → Side of a frame tab → Pallets deep; Front of a bay tab → Loads across

1. Type 2 in Pallets deep. A second standard frame goes behind each frame on row spacers, with its own beams; a deep-reach truck works both from the one aisle. The parts list doubles the frames and beams and adds the row spacers.
2. Set Loads across for how many pallets share a beam. The bay width follows.

Deeper than two is drive-in or shuttle. Drive-in and shuttle racking

How do I set the building height, beam length or frame size?

Racking settings → Front of a bay tab → Clear height, Beam length, Frame height; Side of a frame tab → Frame depth

1. Type the Clear height, in feet or metres as the switch is set. The level count follows.
2. Leave the sizes blank and they are worked out from the load. Fill them in when you already know the rack you want.

• With a vendor picked, Beam length and Frame depth list that maker's sizes.
• Beam heights land on the upright's next hole up.

How do I add a stacker crane?

Racking settings → Rows and aisle tab → Served by → Stacker crane

1. Draw the racking.
2. Under Served by, pick Stacker crane.
3. Press Place racks. The aisles are laid at the crane's width, 5.9 ft (1.8 m) pallet face to pallet face, with a crane in each one.

• Racking already placed? Drag a stacker crane from the Warehousing shelf onto one of its aisles. Aisles that can take one turn green; the area is laid again at the crane's aisle width and every aisle in it gets a crane.
• Crane aisles go without floor guards.

How do I add cube storage, like AutoStore?

Warehousing → Cube Storage Grid

1. Drag Cube Storage Grid from the Warehousing shelf onto the plan. It stands in the 3D view as it lands.
2. Select it and set it up in its settings.

How do I add a vertical lift module?

Warehousing → Vertical Lift Module

1. Drag Vertical Lift Module from the Warehousing shelf onto the plan.
2. Select it and set it up in its settings.

How do I add a storage wall for totes?

Warehousing → Storage Wall

1. Drag Storage Wall from the Warehousing shelf onto the plan.
2. Select it and set it up in its settings.

How do I get a vendor's part numbers on my parts list?

Racking settings → Front of a bay tab → Vendor

1. Pick a maker: Interlake, Ridg-U-Rak, Speedrack West, Steel King, Stow or Unarco.
2. Press Place racks. The parts list carries their part numbers.

• A line shows the maker's part number when their sheet ties one to that size, and says "needs one" when it doesn't.

How do I reuse the same racking settings on my next job?

Racking settings → Load tab → Style

1. Fill in the racking settings.
2. Click the save icon beside Style, name it, press Enter.
3. Next time, pick it from Style and every field fills in.

• Styles are kept in this browser.

Where do the rack guards go, and how do I turn them off?

Racking settings → Rows and aisle tab → Floor guards

Upright protectors on the face a forklift loads from, corner guards at the ends of each row, and a rail across each end frame. All on the parts list.

• Guards follow the aisles. The back of a back-to-back pair and a crane aisle go without.

What's on the racking parts list?

The clipboard button, top bar

Grouped by racking area, each headed by its pallet positions and the load it was designed for. Every line has a quantity, a size, a weight where the vendor lists one, and where its part number came from.

• The notes under each group give the beam levels and anything still to rate.

How do I show pallet counts on the plan?

Parts panel → Legend

Tick Legend and a table appears in the corner of the plan. It prints with a snapshot.

How do I get the parts list into Excel?

Parts panel → download button

1. Pick m or ft. It is the same switch as on the racking settings.
2. Click download. An Excel workbook named for the session and its version saves to your computer.
3. Parts has one row a line, ready to filter and sort. By part totals each part across the plan, ready to order. Lines with no part number are marked To quote in yellow.

How do I put the customer's floor plan under my layout?

The picture button, top bar

1. Click the picture button. Your file dialog opens.
2. Pick the drawing: a PNG or JPG of the plan view.

• The floor plan stays in your browser window and is left out of the saved session. Export a PDF to an image first.

My floor plan is the wrong size. How do I scale it?

Picture button → Calibrate scale

1. Press Calibrate scale.
2. Click both ends of a dimension you can read on the drawing. The longest one you can find is the most accurate.
3. Type it the way the drawing writes it, 300'-0" or 300ft, and press Set scale.

The same panel sets Opacity, lets you Move the drawing into place, and Replace it with a new revision.

Which conveyors are on the shelf?

The Conveyors shelf

A drawn route is straights and corners. Everything else is a part you drag from the shelf, each with its own inlet and outlets to draw routes from.

How do I draw a conveyor from one machine to the next?

Conveyors → Draw a conveyor route, or C

1. Press C.
2. Click the start on the outlet: the filled circle with the arrow.
3. Click each corner. Click the end on the next inlet, and the route settings open.

• The route finishes on its own when it lands on an inlet, and both joints are declared with the run.
• A free port is drawn filled; a port already joined is hollow. Outlets carry an arrow.
• Legs run square: every corner is a 90° turn. Points land on a 4 in (100 mm) grid.
• On open floor, Enter or a double-click ends the route. Backspace takes the last point back. Esc drops it.

How do I set the corner radius?

Route settings → A corner tab → Corner radius

Corner radius is the inside radius of each turn. Leave it blank and every corner gets 5 ft (1.5 m). Where a leg is too short for that, the radius steps down until the turn fits. Press Place conveyor and the run is built: straights, bends and supports.

• The route takes its height and width from the port it starts on. What you type on the card wins.
• With a maker picked, Corner radius lists the bends that maker makes.

How do I add a stop or a sensor?

The Conveyor Utilities shelf

Drag a Conveyor Stop or a Conveyor Sensor to the spot on the run where it belongs. The hall already has an inspect eye before the divert, a reject-arrived eye on the rework return, and a stop at each end.

How do I change level?

A route drawn off the top of a spiral, an incline or a lift

A drawn route stays at one height. These parts change it, and the route you draw from their outlet starts at the height they finish at:

• Both ends of a route sit at one height, so a spiral's Conveyor Height is set to the line it joins, and the route leaves from its outlet at the top.

Can a conveyor run overhead?

Route settings → Height

Yes. Above walk-under height, 7 ft (2.1 m), the run hangs from the ceiling on hangers in place of legs. The route off the spiral takes its 15 ft from the spiral's outlet, and the card's drawing shows it; type any height under Height yourself.

How do I make a closed loop?

1. Click three or more points.
2. Click the first point again. The caption says closed loop and the settings open.

How do I set the belt width and the height?

Route settings → Belt width and Height

• The Across the belt tab draws the bed at the width and height you set.
• The m and ft switch at the bottom sets every length on the card.

How do I make a conveyor a belt or a chain?

Route settings → Carries product on

1. Drawing a new route, pick it under Carries product on before you press Place conveyor.
2. For a run already placed, double-click it, press Edit conveyor, pick it and press Re-run conveyor.

• Set the width to a flexible chain size before you pick Flexible chain.
• A route with a maker picked under Vendor takes what carries it from that maker's range.

How do I get a maker's part numbers?

Route settings → Vendor

1. Pick the maker under Vendor.
2. Pick the range under Family, when the maker has more than one.
3. Corner radius now lists the bends that maker makes. Press Place conveyor.

• Makers on file: Ashland, Roach, Dorner, FlexLink, Hytrol, Omni Metalcraft and QC Conveyors.
• The card remembers the last maker you picked.

What about the pallet end?

The Robots shelf, then the Conveyors shelf

• Pallet ports are their own kind, so a case route leaves them alone. Place pallet parts end to end by hand.

How do I change a conveyor after I placed it?

Double-click the run → Edit conveyor

1. Double-click the run. Its settings panel opens.
2. Press Edit conveyor. The route settings come back, filled in, still joined to their ports.
3. Change what you need and press Re-run conveyor.

• Belt width, Height and Corner radius can also be typed straight into the settings panel; the run is laid again.
• Drag the run on the plan to move it whole.

What goes on the parts list for a conveyor?

The clipboard button, top bar

Every run lists its straights, cut or stock length, its curves, the end drive and the idler, and the supports: brackets, beams and feet, or hangers when it runs overhead. With a maker picked, each line carries that maker's part number. The machines and the shelf parts list themselves.

• The download button writes the list as an Excel workbook.
• Legend totals the metres of case conveyor and pallet conveyor on the plan.

How do I delete a conveyor?

Select the run and press Delete, or press Delete on its reopened settings. It asks once more, then the whole run goes: straights, corners and supports.

How do I add a machine and set what goes in and out?

The Machines shelf → Custom machine, then the machine settings → Plan tab

1. Open the Machines shelf and click Custom machine.
2. Drag a box on the plan where the machine stands. The caption gives its size, how many go in and out, and which way it flows.
3. Set Inputs and Outputs, one to four each. Every one gets its own tab: In 1, In 2, Out 1.
4. On each tab, pick what it Carries, the Face it is on and its Carrying height.

• Flow on the Plan tab sets which way product runs through it: the long way of the box, or north, south, east or west.
• Ports on one face spread out evenly. An output on the out end lines up with the input that carries the same thing, so a lane runs straight through.
• The box grows to hold its ports, and the settings say so.

How do I put robots inside?

Machine settings → Inside tab

1. Pick the Robot: Delta (ABB IRB360), Cobot (UR) or SCARA.
2. Set How many, the Gripper each holds and the Camera over each.
3. Press Place machine.

• Each robot gets a bay along the line, and the box grows to hold them all. A machine holds up to six.
• To add a robot to a machine you already placed, drag a delta, a cobot or a SCARA from the Robots shelf onto it. It gets a new bay, and the box grows longer along the flow.
• A gripper from the Robot Tools shelf, dropped by a robot, goes onto that robot in place of the one it held.
• A camera dropped on the machine goes over a robot without one, or over the line. One that cannot see across the lane is turned away, and the message says why.
• With Robot set to None, Inspection cameras hang cameras over the line on their own.
• Panels on the Frame tab is Smoked, Clear or Solid.

Can I start from a ready-made machine?

Machine settings → Plan tab → Start from

Draw a Custom machine and pick one under Start from. It fills in the inputs, outputs and robots, and every one can still be changed before you place it.

• The settings open on the last machine you placed. Blank starts again from one in and one out, an empty box.
• An outlet on a side beside a lane that runs straight through gets a reject pusher.

How do I join conveyors to it?

Conveyors → Draw a conveyor route, starting on the machine

1. Arm Draw a conveyor route and click on the machine's outlet. The route starts there.
2. Click where it goes, and press Place conveyor.

• A conveyor placed with its end on a free port is joined to it.
• A conveyor joined to a port that carries product becomes a flexible chain at the port's height.

What goes on the parts list for a machine?

The clipboard button, top bar

Each machine is one line to quote, with its size, how many go in and out, and its panels. A reject pusher at a side outlet is a line of its own. The robots, grippers and cameras inside list themselves as catalog parts.

• The download button writes the list as an Excel workbook.

How do I change a machine after I placed it?

Double-click the machine → Edit machine

1. Double-click the machine. Its settings panel opens.
2. Press Edit machine. The machine settings come back, filled in.
3. Change what you need and press Re-run machine. The conveyors on its ports stay joined.

Which robots are on the shelf?

The Robots shelf

How do I put a robot on a stand?

The Robot Positioners shelf, then the Robots shelf

1. Put the stand down first: a Robot Pedestal like the one tending the two mills, a Mobile Cobot Column, a Robot Floor Track, an Overhead Robot Track or a Heavy Robot Gantry.
2. Drag the robot from the Robots shelf and drop it inside the stand's footprint.

The robot seats on the stand's mount, at its real height, and rides it from then on: move the stand and the robot moves with it. A toast names the pair.

• The plan draws the stand; the robot riding it shows in the 3D. Click the robot in the 3D to open its settings.

How do I pick the model?

Robot settings → Model

Model lists the maker's arms; pick one and the robot is redrawn at that size, link by link. The generic Articulated Robot takes a Reach instead, 16 in to 15 ft (400 mm to 4.7 m).

How do I put a gripper on the robot?

The Robot Tools shelf

1. Drag a tool from the Robot Tools shelf and drop it on the robot.

It hangs from the robot's flange, the right way up, and moves with the arm. This works on a robot standing on the floor and on one riding a stand.

Which grippers are there?

The Robot Tools shelf

How do I check the cell?

The shield button, top bar

1. Press the shield. Every part is checked.
2. A part with a problem turns red; a concern turns amber. Click it to read why.

• Robots, tools and stands are left out of the clash check, so an arm swung over a conveyor stays clear.
• Whether the robot reaches its pick is the assistant's job: see Let an assistant build it.

How do I take a robot or a tool off again?

Select the stand → Carrying button

1. Click the stand. The Carrying button appears beside it with a count.
2. Press it, then press Take off on the row.

The part lands on the floor where it stood, with whatever rides it.

How do I set up a welding cell?

The Welding shelf, the Robots shelf, the Robot Tools shelf

1. Put down a Weld Positioner and the Arc Welding Robot facing it, with a Welding Table and parts carts for the fitter.
2. Drop the Arc Welding Torch on the robot.
3. Draw the fence round it: the next four topics.

• Also on the Welding shelf: a Weld Headstock and a Headstock-Tailstock Positioner. The ABB IRB 1600 arc welder is on the Robots shelf.

How do I fence the cell?

Facilities - Factory → Guarding, or G

1. Pick Guarding. Click each corner of the fence. Click the first corner again to close it, or press Enter for an open run.
2. The guarding settings open. The caption counts the length, the legs and the openings, and says when there is no way in for a person yet.

How do I get the fence in a maker's parts, at their height?

Guarding settings → Vendor, Height

Press Place guarding. Panels and posts are laid along the line, cut to length.

• With no maker picked, the fence is built from the catalog's own 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) panel.
• Finish on the same card sets the colour.

What happens where a conveyor crosses the fence?

The fence leaves an opening for it and puts a Light Curtain across the opening. A machine crossing the line gets a Guard Gate. The caption counts the openings and names what crosses.

How do I put a gate in the fence?

Facilities - Factory shelf → Guard Gate

Drag a Guard Gate from the shelf onto the fence line. The panels open up round it, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide. A Light Curtain dropped the same way makes a product opening.

• Edit the guarding later and the gate stays where you put it.

What does a tending cell look like at work?

The lathe, the fixture table with its nest trays and blanks, the stand, the cobot, the two-sided gripper with a jaw on each side, and the fence drawn round it with a gate. Then it runs: the door opens, the arm goes in with a blank on one side of the gripper, turns, and comes out with the finished part on the other, and the door shuts while the part goes to its nest. Every part came from the shelf and every one is on the parts list. See Let an assistant build it for how a cell is set going.

What can an AI assistant do in Twin Studio?

Claude or ChatGPT, signed in with your Fexel account

Describe what you want in plain words and the assistant builds it with the same routers you use: racking, conveyors, guarding and mezzanines.

It checks the layout for clashes and reach, and hands you the parts list. The layout opens in Twin Studio, where you carry on by hand.

How do I connect Claude Code?

Your terminal

1. Copy this and run it: claude mcp add --transport http fexel https://factory.usefexel.com/mcp
2. Start Claude Code and type /mcp
3. Pick fexel and sign in with your Fexel account.

How do I connect Claude on the web or the desktop app?

Claude → Settings → Connectors

1. Click Add custom connector.
2. Name it Fexel and paste https://factory.usefexel.com/mcp
3. Click Add, then Connect, and sign in with your Fexel account.

How do I connect ChatGPT?

ChatGPT → Settings → Apps & Connectors

1. Under Advanced settings, turn on Developer mode.
2. Click Create, name it Fexel and paste https://factory.usefexel.com/mcp
3. Set authentication to OAuth, click Create, and sign in with your Fexel account.

Where do the layouts the assistant builds show up?

Twin Studio → your layouts list

In your layouts list, under the Fexel account you signed in with. The assistant also gives you a link to each layout; open it to watch the layout change as the assistant works.

What should I ask it?

Any chat with Fexel connected

1. Draw selective racking in a 100 ft by 60 ft area for a reach truck, four levels, and give me the parts list from Interlake.
2. Put guarding around the robot cell with a door on the aisle side.
3. Check the layout and tell me what clashes.

Say what you want built, how big, and who works it. Click one to copy it:

Can I see it run before I build it?

Any chat with Fexel connected

1. Run the tending cell: the robot loads Mill A from the blank cart and puts the finished part on the outfeed.
2. Export the layout with the cycle as USD.

Yes. Ask the assistant to run the cell, and what you placed moves the way it will on the floor: the robot loads the mill, the door shuts, the part comes out to the outfeed. Show it to the customer before the purchase order, before the steel is cut, before commissioning.

Export the running layout as USD and it plays in the customer's own tools. The cycle times and the throughput come from simulation later, on that same export; this is the layout seen working.