Teaching Chemical Production Logistics To The Next Generation

Logistics is a main factor of every industrial production. But with chemicals, logistics are different: Think only of processing dangerous or expiring materials, mostly as bulk or fluid, or of ever-increasing requirements in quality or sustainability. Chemical production logistics, therefore, are much more complex than packaged good logistics. This makes special methods necessary, such as chemical supply chain management and optimization, or discrete-event simulation of processes and logistical networks.

Dr. Sonntag teaches course at TU Dortmund

To help future process engineers create the logistical innovations of tomorrow, Dr. Christian Sonntag of INOSIM recently has started teaching the course Logistics of Chemical Production Processes at the department of Biochemical  and Chemical Engineering (BCI) of TU Dortmund University as an external lecturer. The course is taught in English and is attended by students from all parts of the world who are enrolled in the (international) Masters programs of the BCI or in the International Summer Program of TU Dortmund. The students receive a sound background in production logistics that enables them to identify logistic problems, to select suitable tools and techniques for simulation and optimization, and to apply them to real-world problems.

Hands-On Tutorials

While the first half focuses on more practical aspects of supply chain management, supply chain optimization, and discrete-event simulation, the second half of the course focuses on theory and methods for mathematical optimization of production logistics and the short- and medium-term production scheduling of batch processes. This covers approaches such as mixed-integer (non-)linear programming, optimal scheduling based on timed automata models, and AI methods such as evolutionary and genetic algorithms. Christian is supported by INOSIM project manager Peer Sander who develops and supervises tutorials on discrete-event simulation and scheduling with process simulation software for the students.

Do you have any questions or would like to know more about this topic? Please contact us.