Pharmaceutical manufacturer: Simulation-based support for the plant design of a galenic facility
Sector: Chemical industry, pharmaceuticals
Software: Plant Simulation
Initial situation: New galenic facility in the planning phase
A company in the pharmaceutical industry was planning a new galenic facility and wanted simulation-based support for the plant design right from the start. The focus was on forecasting system behaviour, sizing the storage areas and identifying potential bottlenecks at an early stage, even before any investment was made.
Objective: To safeguard the investment sum and gain an early understanding of plant behaviour
The aim was to minimise the investment required for the new plant and to gain reliable insights into the behaviour of the entire plant as early as the planning phase.
Solution: Simulation model with genetic algorithms for sequence optimisation
Using Plant Simulation, SimPlan modelled the galenic production process and the automated storage areas. Genetic algorithms were employed to optimise the production sequence, enabling various scenarios to be systematically run through.
Results: Bottlenecks identified; model used as a training simulator
The simulation identified the bottlenecks in the planned plant and enabled a well-founded assessment of possible countermeasures. Beyond the actual planning project, the client also used the model as a training simulator for local management.
Simulation as the basis for the investment decision
The case study demonstrates how using simulation to support factory planning helps to identify investment risks at an early stage and to design the plant from the outset to reflect realistic system behaviour.
