Nor-Par a.s

© Nor-Par and AICOS Technologies 1

SIMBAX and CHEMCAD

BATCH PRODUCTION SIMULATION, PLANNING, SCHEDULING & OPTIMIZATION Software integration with the possibility to further integrate with Control Systems/SCADA

Overview

The various problem settings faced by process and chemical engineers in charge of process design, process optimization or production can be grouped into four categories, depending on:

– their scope (a single device, a process or a whole plant); – the nature of the parameters involved (physico-chemical or logistic); – the term during which the corresponding decisions will have an impact (long-term or

short-term). These four categories are presented in the table below: Problem category Scope Parameter nature Decision term

1. Technical process optimization (e.g. of a unit operation)

single device (reactor), possibly several devices

physico-chemical (e.g. temperature, concentration)

long-term (process changes)

2. Process cycle time analysis

single process with multiple stages

logistic (e.g. operation duration, number of devices of each type)

long-term (process and/or plant changes)

3. Plant capacity analysis

multi-product, multi-purpose plant

combinatorial / logistic (e.g. number of devices of each type, production schedule)

long-term (the plant equipment changes)

4. Operational production planning & scheduling

multi-product, multi-purpose plant

combinatorial / logistic (production schedule)

short-term (the operation schedule of an existing plant changes)

Nor-Par a.s

© Nor-Par and AICOS Technologies 2

Methodology and Software Solutions

The problems arising in each of the four categories presented above can be tackled using one or several corresponding simulation and/or optimization methods that have been developed on purpose. Furthermore, several software tools which implement these methods are available on the market from Nor-Par a.s. Problem category Method Software tools Vendor

steady-state simulation CHEMCAD Chemstations 1. Technical process optimization (e.g. of a unit operation) dynamic simulation CC-DYNAMICS Chemstations

2. Process cycle time analysis

single-product batch recipe simulation

SIMBAX (mainly logistics oriented)

AICOS Technologies

3. Plant capacity analysis

multi-product material flow simulation

SIMBAX AICOS Technologies

4. Operational production planning & scheduling

schedule optimization A further program will be offered later in 2008

AICOS Technologies

5. Integration integration with plant SCADA systems and Historian/SAP interface

PLANT2CC by Nor-Par

Nor-Par/ Nor-Par Online

A Solution to Each Problem Setting

The diagram below highlights how problems, methods and software tools fit together in a common framework that can be used to design tailor-made solutions for the client:

1 Technical process

optimization

2 Process

cycle time analysis

3 Plant

capacity analysis

4 Operational production scheduling

Device Process Multipurpose plant Multipurpose plant

More chemistry

More logistics

Steady state & dynamic simulation

Batch recipe simulation

process logistics (exact) (time only)

Material flow

simulation Schedule

optimization

CHEMCAD CC-DYNAMICS

SIMBAX Further tool (from 2008)

Nor-Par a.s

© Nor-Par and AICOS Technologies 3

Simulation Activities of AICOS Technologies and Nor-Par

AICOS Technologies has know-how in Applied Mathematics and Software Engineering with more than 15 years of expertise in the field of material flow simulation for the process industries. On this basis, the company has developed the material flow simulation software SIMBAX which is mainly logistic-oriented and can deal with both single-product and multi-purpose plants. Referring to the classification of practical problems above, SIMBAX covers the logistic-oriented issues of category 2 and all issues of category 3.

AICOS Technologies has integrated into SIMBAX some specific resource allocation functions which facilitate its use for capacity analysis in large multi-purpose plants (i.e. for category 3).

AICOS Technologies offers a separate solution for operational schedule optimization (i.e. for category 4) which is used by many chemical and pharmaceutical plants and can be easily integrated with ERP systems.

Nor-Par has know-how in plant process simulation and its collaborators have more than 10 years of expertise in the field of process simulation. Nor-Par sells and uses as engine the steady-state and dynamic simulation software CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS which can address in detail all issues related to technical process optimization. Referring to the problem classification above, CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS cover thoroughly the issues of category 1 and technical-oriented issues of category 2.

Collaboration between AICOS Technologies, Nor-Par and Nor-Par Online

AICOS Technologies and Nor-Par/Nor-Par Online together provide to plants and engineering companies a unique tailor-made suite of user-friendly simulation software tools (CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS + SIMBAX) that enables them to solve in an integrated way the problems of categories 1, 2 and 3. AICOS Technologies also offers a specific user-friendly solution for category 4.

Typically, engineers dealing with process development before addressing scale-up and product transfer into the plant would first solve physico-chemical issues with CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS, then transfer the data needed to SIMBAX and tackle there the cycle time and capacity analysis issues. On the other hand, should the logistic analysis show that technical process changes need to be considered, unit operations of the production recipes could be analyzed in detail calling CHEMCAD routines from SIMBAX. The integration is based on a comprehensive Excel data transfer interface.

Currently, an integrated solution suite as considered above hardly exists. Engineers who need to tackle logistic issues use SIMBAX or, in the worst but common case, analyze extremely roughly a few solutions with Excel. The most advanced people use a variety of tools and have designed own solutions for data transfer between them.

Advantages

AICOS Technologies and Nor-Par jointly offer a solution of broad scope. Their long-term expertise enables them to recommend to the customers tailor-made integrated software tool combinations.

In Nor-Par’s sales area, Nor-Par: – has the possibility to rent out CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS and to sell related training

services to operating plants or engineering companies – has the possibility to rent out SIMBAX and to sell related training services to those

chemical or engineering companies that use CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS – makes SIMBAX presentations to interested companies – delivers SIMBAX to the clients – provides to the customers licenses acquired from AICOS Technologies

Nor-Par a.s

© Nor-Par and AICOS Technologies 4

– provides together with AICOS Technologies training and consulting services in the use of SIMBAX

– offers training and model building in CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS – provides to industrial users Training Simulator, Production Improvement & Optimisation

System and integration with the client's own software systems – provides tailor-made integration between CHEMCAD/CC-DYNAMICS and SIMBAX – provides tailor-made software and solutions according to the clients' needs.

For more information on the advantages provided by SIMBAX, please read the paper "Tracking Down the Bottlenecks". Further documents are available on request.

AAIICCOOSS TTeecchhnnoollooggiieess AAGG

MMaatteerriiaall ffllooww iissssuueess iinntthhee pprroocceessss iinndduussttrryy??

FFiillll tthhee ggaappss wwiitthh SSIIMMBBAAXX..

UUssee SSIIMMBBAAXX ttoo ooppttiimmiizzee yyoouurr bbaattcchh oorr sseemmiiccoonnttiinnuuoouuss pprroocceesssseess aanndd yyoouurr mmuullttiippuurrppoossee ppllaanntt!!

SIMBAX is a decision support tool built specifi-cally to fulfill the needs of the process indus-tries – chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmeticsand nutrition – in the area of material flow simulation. The software:• has been designed for chemists and

process engineers• uses their language in its object-oriented

concepts and in its animated interface• can be learnt in a few hours even with no

simulation background. The screen provides at any time a perfectoverview of the model, enabling you to react accordingly or to draw provisional conclusions already in an early phase.

Whichever kind of study you perform…• design of complex batch and

semicontinuous processes• reengineering of existing processes

and material flows• optimization of a multipurpose plant• design of a plant extension• improvement of operational production

planning policies

… the key issues are ddeebboottttlleenneecckkiinngg and pprroodduuccttiioonn ccaappaacciittyy aannaallyyssiiss.. SIMBAXallows you:➔ to quickly compare a variety of alternative

scenarios in order to eliminate bottlenecks➔ to find a solution maximizing the

productive utilization of the equipment and resources.

Unlike more general simulation tools, SIMBAX,thanks to its process-industry specific natureand to its comprehensive graphical user inter-face, does not turn modeling into headaches. Instead, it leaves you time to interpret theresults. Furthermore, SIMBAX best complements thermodynamic process simulation since itenables you to also optimize the logisticissues. Indeed, these are often as critical as the physicochemical parameters.

DDoo yyoouu wwaanntt ttoo aavvooiidd tthhiiss??

• Your most expensive production device often stays idle.

• Getting the right container out of the storage place is as tricky as solving a puzzle.

• Production must be interrupted because a recycled solution is not yet available.

• Operators are not available when needed.

OObbvviioouussllyy yyoouu wwaanntt ttoo mmaakkee tthhee mmoosstt eeffffiicciieenntt uussee ooff yyoouurr pprroodduuccttiioonn eeqquuiippmmeenntt aannddrreessoouurrcceess,, possibly to achieve a higher production capacity at a reduced cost.

PPuutt tthhee rreeaalliittyy iinnttoo tthhee ccoommppuutteerrSSttaarrtt wwiitthh yyoouurr ffaaccttoorryy……Take a plan of your existing or planned factoryand just draw it in a SIMBAX window. Defineeach device graphically by choosing among apalette of chemical engineering standardicons. No matter whether it is a reactor, a fil-ter, a mill, a spray dryer, etc., you will almostalways find the right symbol and if not, youmay draw it yourself. Then enter the devicecharacteristics, for instance its volume capaci-ty. You can of course also define groups ofequivalent devices.Are you concerned about a possible lack ofstorage place or of manpower? Just enterthese elements in the same way. Finally, drawconnections between the factory elements tospecify which material transfers are feasible.

…… ccoonnttiinnuuee wwiitthh yyoouurr pprroocceesssseess……Model a process as defined by the develop-ment department or just as described for pro-duction purposes. Enter graphically each stage and define its elementary operations asprecisely as needed, using the fully integratedinterface to Microsoft Excel if you wish. SIM-BAX offers you the possibility of building easi-ly very realistic models of practical situationssuch as:

• semicontinuous filtering• continuous buffer tank management• alternative routings• parallel processing• operation synchronization• batch grouping and batch splitting• device cleaning and set-up

at production changes• material and container handling.

…… ccoommpplleettee tthhee mmooddeell wwiitthhyyoouurr pprroodduuccttiioonn ppllaannConsider a time period and define the produc-tion campaigns as they appear on the plan-ning board of your multipurpose plant. Thespecifications of each order include the prod-uct identification, the quantity required, theproduction process to be used, the campaignstarting date and the due date. After the simu-lation, the corresponding graphical represen-tation will help you to detect due dates thatcould not be met and to evaluate the resultingdelays.

UUnnddeerrssttaanndd tthhee ssiittuuaattiioonn

EEllaabboorraattee tthhee ssoolluuttiioonn

Use the animated color flow chart to analyzethe utilization of your equipment andresources, to iiddeennttiiffyy bboottttlleenneecckkss and toeevvaalluuaattee ccyyccllee ttiimmeess.. The fully detailedsimulation results also inform you about:➔ the tank level variations➔ the manpower workload➔ the raw material consumption➔ the inventory level of intermediates ➔ the production quantity achieved.

Additional statistics presented as pie and barcharts help you to complete your understand-ing of the situation. Last but not least, you can

export all these results for further analysis orpresentation purposes.

Now knowing what causes the difficulties,identify improvement opportunities and designpromising alternative scenarios. In a few min-utes, change your factory, modify yourprocesses or update your production plan

and… run a further simulation! Then comparethe results with the previous ones, performfurther simulation runs if needed, and so on. OObbttaaiinn eeaassiillyy yyoouurr bbeesstt ssoolluuttiioonn..

AA rreecceenntt aapppplliiccaattiioonn ttoo aa ddyyeessttuuffff mmuullttiippuurrppoossee bbaattcchh ppllaanntt A dyestuff factory producing both liquid andsolid forms faced the following situation:• two production lines were used for product

synthesis• the device performing the nanofiltration of

all liquid products had become one of the bottlenecks of the production facility, due to long processing times and an increasing demand for liquid forms.

The plant management used SIMBAX todesign productivity improvement scenarios forthe liquid dyestuffs and to evaluate the feasi-bility of fully utilizing the capacity of thenanofiltration equipment.The study revealed that a tremendous reduc-tion of waiting and idle times on the synthesislines could be achieved through product-spe-cific modifications of the material flow, such

as:➔ the dynamic assignment of each

synthetized batch to liquid or solid postprocessing

➔ the use of intermediate storage between synthesis and final formulation.

TThheessee llooggiissttiicc iimmpprroovveemmeennttss rreessuulltteedd iinn aa3300%% iinnccrreeaassee ooff tthhee pprroodduuccttiioonn ccaappaacciittyyooff tthhee wwhhoollee ppllaanntt..

SSIIMMBBAAXX hhaass aallssoo bbeeeenn uusseedd ttoo::• design a new plant for an optical

brightener• integrate reverse osmosis in a

paper brightener production facility

• debottleneck the production process of a light stabilizer

• optimize the material flow in a multipurpose pigment plant

• optimize a pharmaceutical formulation plant.

• A two-day iinnttrroodduuccttoorryy ccoouurrssee – available in English, German or French – makes getting started on SIMBAX “child’s play”.

• A follow-up wwoorrkksshhoopp offers you the support of a SIMBAX specialist while you model practical cases of your own. In this way, you extend your knowledge of SIMBAX in those areas that are most relevant to your needs.

• TTeesstt lliicceennsseess enable you to perform a detailed software evaluation before taking a definitive decision about the use of SIMBAX.

• Our extended hhoott lliinnee sseerrvviicceess provide youwith immediate support if some specific SIMBAX issue troubles you.

• Additionally, you can rely on AICOS Technologies experts and on their long-term experience gathered during many practical projects for any ccoonnssuullttiinngg sseerrvviicceess in thefield of production logistics. Our consultants will always help you to reach your opera-tional goals and to turn your problems into improvement opportunities.

TTeecchhnniiccaalliissssuueess

TTaakkee aaddvvaannttaaggee ooff oouurr sseerrvviicceess

HHaarrddwwaarree rreeqquuiirreemmeennttss• A Pentium PC running under Windows NT,

2000 or XP.• At least 256 MB RAM.• A hard disk with at least 500 MB free

capacity.

AAvvaaiillaabbllee vveerrssiioonnss• Professional single-user version.• Professional server version.

For further informationplease contact:DDrr.. PPhhiilliippppee SSoolloott

Tel.: +41 61 686 98 76E-mail: psolot@aicos.comor: simbax@aicos.com

AAIICCOOSS TTeecchhnnoollooggiieess AAGG · Efringerstrasse 32 · CH-4057 Basel · Switzerland · Tel.: +41 61 686 98 77 · Fax: +41 61 686 98 88 · E-mail: info@aicos.com · Web: http://www.aicos.com

Thanks to SIMBAX

your material flow will be

in order.