(111e) From Process Simulation to Operator Training - A Success Story of Business Improvement Enabled by Simulation Technologies

This article describes how simulation technologies have helped improve the business performance at Honeywell Specialty Materials chemical plant. Design based steady state and dynamic models were initially developed for process engineers to better understand the process behavior and make educated decisions/suggestions to improve the operability and productivity of the process. These models were well validated against plant data. They were later on extended for developing Operator Training Systems (OTS) which has since been deployed across the facility.

Chemical processing plants, like other complex, dynamic systems, depend on a combination of automation and skilled human intervention to ensure safe and efficient operation. Developing the spectrum of skills plant personnel need for optimal performance requires training solutions based on a “real world” perspective. Prior to the implementation of OTS at this site, the operators were simply given basic guidance to handle instabilities and emergency situations. It was not intuitive and difficult to get operators fully engaged for all the details. The successful development and implementation of OTS has completely changed this culture. The OTS models, validated against startup, shutdown, and upset conditions which were seen in the plant, have enabled the plant to conduct effective trainings for its operators and ensure their readiness to deal with abnormal situations. The operators have enthusiastically embraced this new training approach. The deployment of the OTS through virtualization also significantly reduced the training cost for the business.