Planta Química Multiproducto

A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional, grado superior), module 0185 Organizacion y gestion en industrias quimicas of the Tecnico Superior en Quimica Industrial.

You are Lucia Agramunt, the new production technician of Resinas del Mijares S.A., a fictional resin plant of Almassora (Castellon) with about 85 people, three batch reactors and a thermal oxidiser on the solvent vents, and the production manager asks you to programme the paint season over 24 weeks, from January to June 2029.

The plant loses 39.5 of its 120 hours a week to product changes, full reactor boil-outs and breakdowns: an OEE of 54%, about 187 tonnes a week while the paint season asks for 336. The plant leaves 22% of the demand unserved and earns a margin of about 2%.

Round by round you decide two things: the master plan and the shifts; the campaigns and reactor cleaning, and the energy of the plant; maintenance and the supply of monomers and solvents; and how to answer a paint maker whose other supplier is down and a leak at a transfer line.

Each week the capacity, the OEE, the stock within the plant, the orders not served, the energy and the CO2 a tonne and the result are recomputed. Each round is scored on the result improvement over 24 weeks, the kg of CO2 a tonne, the orders not served and the cost per tonne, with the margin, the OEE, the stock and the permit infractions shown but not scored. Long campaigns save changes but fill the warehouse.

Running the thermal oxidiser below its permit conditions or hiding a spill from the authority 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.