Operator Training Simulator

Ferroman LEARN

Operator Training Simulator

Give operators time at the controls before a new unit starts up.

On a simulator built around your process, crews can practise normal operation, planned shutdowns and responses to disturbances without interrupting production.

Discuss your training needs

Klaus Liljemark at a Ferroman control-room workstation, facing a bank of process displays.

How the simulator works

We start with your operators and shift supervisors. Together, we define what each role must be able to do to run the unit safely and efficiently. We look at equipment involved in recurring unplanned shutdowns and tasks where crews need more practice.

Those priorities determine which parts of the process, control logic and operator displays we model. For each exercise, we agree what the trainer should observe to confirm that the operator can perform the task.

Start-up, normal operation and shutdown

Before commissioning, a crew can rehearse the start-up sequence on the displays planned for the new unit. Once the simulated process is running, operators can practise holding it steady, changing throughput and bringing it to a planned shutdown.

Process behaviour and equipment

In a steel reheating furnace, operators can change a temperature setpoint and follow how heat transfers to the steel over time. In a process plant, an exercise might explore how pump flow affects vessel level or how heat input changes separation in a distillation column. Training can also cover compressors and reactors where they are part of the unit.

Disturbances and hazardous situations

In a pressure-rise exercise, operators compare the pressure trend with flow readings and valve positions, then practise the response in the site’s operating procedure. During the debrief, the crew reviews when it escalated the situation, what colleagues needed to know and how the timing affected the outcome.

Checking competence after commissioning

The trainer observes the operator’s decisions and handovers against the agreed criteria. After commissioning, your team can repeat the exercise across shifts, identify skills that need a refresher and check them again after further practice.

Train-the-trainer

We can train your instructors to run sessions, debrief crews and maintain the exercises themselves. When equipment or procedures change, they can update the scenarios and use them with the next shift or intake.

We train your summer operators.

Request a summer training proposal

We work with your shift supervisors to define what summer recruits need to do on your line. We turn your operating procedures into a trainee guide and train recruits in the checks, routines and handovers for their role.

For panel operators, we can add simulator sessions on routine adjustments and alarm response before their first shift. For a proposal, tell us which line they will work on, how many people need training and when they start.

See how Outokumpu approached RAP5 onboarding

Ferroman LEARN brings together operator training, digital learning and simulation within Ferroman Engineering’s Digitalization & Automation business area.

Experienced operators know what to watch as a unit warms up, settles into steady operation or begins to drift. We work with them to capture those decisions in trainee guides, digital academies and simulator exercises that other shifts can use.

Klaus Liljemark, who led Ferroman’s operator onboarding project at Outokumpu Tornio.

Ferroman LEARN in practice

Panel operator onboarding at Outokumpu Tornio

On the RAP5 line in Tornio, Klaus Liljemark led Ferroman’s work with Outokumpu to organise existing training materials into a learning path for panel operators. The first phase produced a guide that gives summer trainees a clear sequence to follow during onboarding.

Read the Outokumpu case study

Ferroman Engineering

OTS contacts

Talk to us about training your next intake, preparing a crew for commissioning or building simulator exercises for an existing line.

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