• v0.1.0 (alpha):
  • Begun development
• v0.2.0 (alpha):
  • Begun work of Logistics System
  • Finished Worker System
• v0.3.0 (alpha):
  • Deleted all Logistic System due to the fact that modules had too little control and only one storage, making that certain logistic flows were impossible. Instead completely redesigning to allow modules more control
• v0.4.0 (alpha):
  • Begun debugging the logistics system
  • After a lot of fucking about with the logistics system, finally got it to work
• v0.5.0 (alpha):
  • Begun adding recipes
  • Moved most classes to Tools.py
  • Changed CSV loading to have it's own function in Tools.py
• v0.6.0 (alpha):
  • Added production chains
  • Finished recipes
• v0.7.0 (alpha):
  • Added interface
  • Reworked the archive to note interface-relevant data
  • Added the ability to log on the interface console
  • Changed factory running forgo threading and instead work one-call-at-a-time related
• v0.8.0 (alpha):
  • Added plots to the interface
  • Changed Date() to work with correct days per month (e.g., February has 28)
  • Changed Date() to work with epochs since 00:00:00 00/00/0000 to support correct days format
• v0.9.0 (alpha):
  • Changed the interface library to PyQT 5 instead of Tkinter
  • Changed plotter to use Bokeh plots instead of matplotlib

Sidenote: everything in cursive is TODO

• v1.0.0: The Release

  • Add Factory infrastructure (programatically, then)
  • Add the basic Factory modules:
    • Office
    • Human Resources
    • Logistics
    • Depot
    • Archive
  • Add recipes & production chains
  • Add UI
  • Finish the depochify() function of Date class
  • Interface:
    • Add console
    • Add general information
    • Add factory-specific information
    • Add settings
    • Add plots
    • Add yearly news-paper ish event logs
  • Add Storage, Mixer and Oven
  • Add automizing production chains
  • Let the factory make income

• vX.0.0: The Visual Update

  • Interface:
    • Add LAYOUT OF THE FACTORY???

The factory is simply a collection of modules. There are some administrative modules, required for the logistics and administration of a factory. But most modules are actually product-related: an oven, a mixing station, etc. Each modules requires workers, and might have specific requirements (e.g. a certain education, a minimum / maximum age, etc.). A factory can, if required and desired, purchase new modules to increase operation.

Workers are small entities. They require to be paid "in fairness": if not paid enough, they will refuse to work or even resign. The workers are assigned to a module for certain hours of certain days, and do their thing there. Certain factors, such as extra safety, having lunch breaks or not having to work in weekends can decrease the minimum amount of salary a worker requires before he goes on strike.

These modules together create a final product, probably cookies, which can be sold on The Market. Requirements for these products (dough, milk, or stuff like iron) can be purchased on The Market. In future editions of this program, multiple factories might sustain each other. But for now, The Market is presumed to have infinite stock of stuff, and infinite demand for stuff.

The factory has a few bare-essential modules, needed for normal factory process, regardless of the actual product(s) the factory makes:

• Office:
  The office is the main part of the factory. It manages all money flows, and, more importantly, all optimisations done in the factory (buying new modules, purchasing new recipes, ordering new researches, etc.)
• Human Resources:
  Human resources is the second main part of the factory. This module is in charge of hiring, firing and paying all workers in the factory.
• Logistics:
  Logistics is the thirdmost main part of the factory. This module is in control of the goods flow from the market to the market again (but not the actual buying or selling).
• Depot:
  The Depot is tied with the Logistics module, regarding importance in the factory. In fact, it can be seen as an extension to the Logistics module. The Depot is the link between the Factory and the outside world regarding resources. The Factory can sell or buy resources through this way.
• Archive:
  Module that has a somewhat more abstract influence on the Factory process. Keeps track of all stats across the factory, to allow for decision-making and, maybe even more important, visualising the Factory's day-to-day process.

Then there are some modules that aren't required exactly, but aren't related to a specific product either:

Finally, we have product specific modules. These often come in a Chain, linking the modules together and allowing easier management of one product:

• Worker System:
  The worker system is one of the three backbones of a factory. Without workers, the factory would not be able to run at all. The worker system is managed (alsmost) completely by Human Resources. The basic idea is that every module needs certain types of workers, defined by the Positions, that need to be filled in with a willing slave. This slave is supposed to be human, so it has to rest occasionally, or else he or she will run out of energy and simply stop working. It also requires pay, which is order by Human Resources but eventually paid by the Office.

  That's why, every hour, Human Resources checks for each worker whether their shift (defined by their Position) is ended, and, if so, sends them home. At the same time, if the shift of a worker starts, the Human Resources checks him in.

  The second job of Human Resources is to fire workers that have no longer a place in the factory. There are several reasons why a worker would be fired:

  • He's too old (older than 67 yrs)
  • He isn't working hard enough (more about that in a bit)
  • The position the worker was working is no longer available
  • The worker isn't paid enough (this is actually a resignation, but a handled as if the worker was fired because there's no damn difference).

  Accompanied with this is checking whether a worker works hard enough. Human Resources does this by checking how many days the worker has worked in total, and comparing that to how many days of those the worker stopped working (energy depleted). If the worker spends more than half his days slumbering, he or she is fired.

  To replace the fired workers, or to get workers to begin with, Human Resources also hires new people. This is where the human resources team comes in: every month, one worker can hire one new worker for the factory (the only exception to this are workers for Human Resources self. They magically hire themselves). Accompanied with a position is the minimum amount of education a worker should have to be able to do a job, which is the measure by which they determine if you can be hired or not.

• Logistics System:
  The logistic system is another one of the Factory backbones. It handles all resource transferring between modules, which means that without, the factory wouldn't have any resources to work with. The logistic system relies on Storages, and by extension, Storage Rules. Each module can assign itself a storage of specified size. Then, it can specify the rules of that storage. Each rule can talk about one item (or all of them, using the '*'), and can control the following:

  • The desired amount of that item in the storage
  • The logic flow (In, Out, or both)
  • The target modules, aka, modules that can receive from / deliver to this storage with this item
  • The 'anti-target' modules: modules that CANNOT receive from / deliver to this storage with this item.

  Once those rules are specified, the Logistics module will then try to bring these around according to the rules. It hauls items every hour, and when it does, it begins by collecting all desired items (storage's items of which the rules are In or InOut and of which there are less stored than desired) and offered items (storage's items of which the rules are Out or InOut and of which there are more stored than desired). Then, it delivers these, by driving a forktruck from one storage to the other, hauling a specific amount of items per time. They can only haul one type of item for one rule, so beware. Each forktruck can only be driven by one worker, and one worker can only drive one truck. In the case that there are offers and / or requests left that cannot be satisfied by the other rules (and there are still workers left), the system will satisfy these rules with the depot if their target and antitarget modules property holds for the depot (by default, it doesn't).

• The Market:
  The Market is an abstract idea, representing the rest of the world the factory can interact with. At first, the market is static: there are endless resources and the prices don't change depending on how many bought or sold. However, in later versions, the market is a dynamic model: there is a pool of resources, and factories get less for items if they are sold in huge amounts.