Industry Information shows details about a selected industry, and allows the main game window to be centered on the industry.
An industry produces or consumes commodities, such as goods, oil, coal, etc., that can be transported. Many industries rely on other industries in order to operate: for example, a steel mill cannot produce steel unless it has a supply of iron ore from which to make the steel and coal to power its furnaces. In this way, a number of industries can be linked together to form a chain. For example, a steel mill may be linked to an iron ore mine and a coal mine, and then link to a car factory, which would in turn link to a car dealership. Each industry has a specific contract with specific other industries in the chain: it cannot be linked to just any industry of the right type. See consumers and suppliers for a list of connected industries.
An industry cannot produce anything unless it has enough of a supply of the commodities that it demands. Each industry has an input store: whenever commodities are dropped off at the industry, they go into the input store. The input store has a finite capacity. When the input store has commodities in it of all the required types, the industry will produce its output commodity until the stores are depleted. When the input stores are full, the industry that supplies the input commodity will also stop producing until there is some space in the input store, unless playing in beginner mode.
When an industry produces commodities, it stores them in its output stores. When these get full, the industry stops producing. Commodities for transport away from the industry are taken from the output stores.
Industries need workers in order to operate, and end consumer industries (industries other than power stations that consume but do not produce, such as shops) also need customers. Passengers bound for an industry may either be commuting there to work in it, or visiting it as customers (in the case of an end consumer industry) or in some other capacity (in other cases). Producing industries will reduce their production and eventually stop producing entirely if they are short of staff. End consumer industries will close to customers if they do not have enough staff to keep going. End consumer industries will also only consume goods when customers arrive and buy the goods.
To connect a stop to an industry, simply place the stop so that any part of the industry is within the stop's catchment area. Note that the catchment area for goods is much smaller than the catchment area for passengers, as passengers can walk. More than one stop can serve the same industry. The stop details window shows which industries are connected to any given stop.
Note: Offshore industries have thier own, built-in stops. These are not listed in the list of stops, but function as a stop in every other way.
When starting the game, the intial number of industries can be set in Create New World.
As urban areas grow, more industries may appear.
Tip: Build and link industries manually by using the build industries tool in the map editing toolstrip. You must be the public player to do this. Change when new industries are generated in the cityrules.tab file: industry_increase_every = 0 generates no new industries.
Click on an industry in the main game window with the Inspection Tool or an industry listed in the Industry List to open the Industry Information window.
Use the slider bar to scroll items if all are not visible at once.
The name of selected industry is shown in the titlebar ofthe Industry Information window.
Other information about selected industry and options include:
Productivity: the maximum rate of goods that the industry will supply (if a supplier) or consume (if it is a consumer) in units per month/day (depending on the date settings). Supplying electricity to the industry increases the rate both of production and consumption, thereby giving the opportunity to transport more commodities to/from that industry.
The Status colour bar under the picture shows how and whether the industry is operating (also used in the Industry List):
- White: does not produce and consume.
- Green: at optimum status.
- Dark skyblue: at optimum status of marine resources.
- Cyan: some of the lines are operating normally.
- Dark blue: sufficient marine resources are remaining.
- Dark green: sufficient materials are waiting for transportation.
- Gray: not connected by goods transport.
- Dark brown: production is stopped due to excessive inventory.
- Dark yellow: can not operate because some materials are missing.
- Yellow: can not operate/open because there is no material or goods at all.
- Orange: since some items are overstocked, it stopped receiving the goods.
- Orange red: since all items are overstocked, it stopped receiving.
- Red: since all the storage is full, arrival and operation are stopped.
- Purple frame: the production rate is declining due to the staff shortage.
Industry picture shows a view of the industry building. Click on thepicture to centre the main game window on the industry.
Staffing level bar: The gauge under the industry picture represents staff fulfillment level.
When the staffing level falls below a certain percentage, productivity declines according to the proportion of staff shortage. Light purple or dark purple bar indicates the current staffing level. When it became a staff shortage, the color of the gauge changes to dark purple .
The yellow bar displayed when it is staff shortage represents the staffing level required for normal operation. The required staffing level depends on the type of industry.
Tip: The minimum required staffing percentage for each industry type can be set in simuconf.tab.
Consumer: lists the destinations in the industry supply chain for goods produced by the selected industry.
Destination industries and their map co-ordinates are listed by an arrow button. Click on the arrow button to centre the main game window on the destination industry.
Suppliers: shows origin of goods in industry supply chain required by the selected industry.
Supplier industries and their map co-ordinates are listed by an arrow button. Click on the arrow button to centre the main game window on the supplier industry.
City: shows the town or city, if any, in which the industry is located. If the industry is located in a town, and that town is supplied with electricity, the industry will receive a supply of electricity from the town without being separately connected.
Electrical demand: shows how much electricity that this industry demands . Industries that demand electricity can work without it, but they will be more productive if supplied with electricity.
Visitor demand: shows the number of visiting passengers that this industry demands in a month. For end consumer industries, these are customers, and the industry will not sell its stock without these visitors arriving.
Visitors this year: shows the number of visiting passengers that have arrived at this industry so far this year.
Jobs (available): shows the number of people that this industry employs. The number in brackets shows the number of workers that this industry needs but who are not currently at work. If this number gets too high in proportion to the number of jobs, the industry might reduce production or close to customers.
Production: gives details on output of the industry.
Information shown includes: the name of the item; the quantity currently stored; the maximum storage capacity for that type of item; the goods category; and the percentage level of output compared to input.
Consumption: gives details on inputs to the industry.
Information shown includes: the name of the item; the quantity currently stored; the number of those items currently in transit towards the industry; (in brackets) the maximum number of those items that will be in transit to that industry before no further items will be put in transit; the maximum storage capacity for that type of item; the goods category; and the percentage level of input compared to output.
Stops which serve the Industry are listed at the bottom of the Industry Information window.
The Chart shows more detailed historical statistics regarding the industry.