Planta con Pedidos

A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional, grado superior), module 0163 Programacion de la produccion of the Tecnico Superior en Programacion de la Produccion en Fabricacion Mecanica.

You are Ane Gorostidi, the new production programmer of Talleres Urkimendi S.L., a fictional make-to-order machining shop of Elgoibar (Gipuzkoa) with 18 people that machines steel parts for agricultural-machinery and hydraulics makers, and the plant manager asks you to programme the plant for 24 weeks, from January to June 2028.

Every part passes through two machining centres, the bottleneck, which machine 423.5 pieces a week today while the spring brings 552: the plant accepts everything at three weeks, delivers 40% of the pieces on time and earns a margin under 4%.

Round by round you decide two things: the master plan and the lot size at the bottleneck; the sequence on the machining centres and the shifts; purchasing and the maintenance of the bottleneck; and how to answer a rush order and a defective lot returned by a client. Each week the bottleneck capacity, the queue, lost orders, punctuality, lead time, work in process, breakdowns and the result are recomputed.

Each round is scored on the result improvement over 24 weeks, the on-time deliveries, the average lead time and the cost a piece, with the margin, the bottleneck utilisation, the work in process and the breakdown hours shown but not scored. Overtime beyond the legal annual limit or a bypassed machine interlock caps the score. Spanish with English.

An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.