About SymOpSys Labs

SymOpSys Labs delivers assessment tools that show how candidates think, diagnose, and control real process behavior — enabling better hiring decisions than legacy exams or outdated simulation platforms.

Mission

Our mission is to help plants make better hiring decisions by identifying operators who can operate proficiently — capable of thinking through the process, diagnosing developing issues, and stabilizing real conditions to improve safety and reduce environmental and operational risk.

Many legacy assessment tools have been around long enough that candidates already know the scenarios, and strong scores often come from familiarity rather than true operating skill. When a test becomes predictable, it can be gamed. Modern assessments require modern scoring — fresh scenarios, realistic process behavior, and evaluation methods that reveal how a candidate actually thinks through the unit instead of how well they remember a script.

Why Simulations

Operators don’t work in theory — they work in noisy, aging units with imperfect instruments, shifting conditions, and tight specification limits. A good day is when the trends draw straight lines. A bad day is when the unit starts to move, alarms stack, and the process stops behaving as expected. That’s when real operator skill makes the difference.

Simulation-based assessment helps plants hire people who can bring a unit back under control safely and efficiently. It separates candidates who can reason through the process, anticipate developing issues, and act with discipline from those who struggle when the plant pushes back. It raises the bar for entry by showing who can operate with awareness, stability, and good judgment — before they ever reach the control room.

Simulation reveals how a candidate performs when:

• alarms hit in waves rather than one at a time,
• the process responds unpredictably,
• instruments disagree, drift, or fail quietly,
• decisions must be made under pressure and sensory load,
• and small deviations threaten to become larger issues.

It shows how they actually operate — not how they answer questions.

Design Philosophy

SymOpSys Labs is built from the operator’s point of view:

• Interfaces modeled after real DCS graphics and trend pages — familiar layouts, realistic pacing, and no gimmicks.
• Alarms that behave like real alarms — stacking, flashing, latching, and demanding the right kind of attention.
• Controllers that switch cleanly between manual and auto, with realistic ramping, noise, and tuning behavior.
• Scenarios that feel like a rough shift on the panel — dynamic, imperfect, and driven by actual process behavior, not quiz mechanics.

Built to assess an operator’s attention to detail, forethought, prioritization, and understanding of how variables interact during a rough shift — the same dynamics they’d face during a process upset when decisions matter.

Roadmap

The first live scenario centers on a horizontal drum, D-101 — a fully interactive unit operation with all four core process variables (level, pressure, temperature, and flow), complete PI controllers, manual/auto toggles, realistic dynamics, trends, alarms, and physics that mirror what operators see in real equipment. It behaves like an everyday unit op and forms the foundation for scenarios tailored to the unique processes at your site.

From there, the roadmap expands into:

• Distillation columns and fractionators.
• Jacketed reactors and exothermic behavior.
• Fired heaters and furnace management.
• Pipeline operations and other site-critical systems.

Future modules can be built from your plant’s flowsheets, operating objectives, and typical upset conditions — without copying or exposing any site-specific controller designs. Scoring can be tailored around the priorities that matter most to your facility, including safety margin protection, stability discipline, environmental performance, or throughput reliability. Early access partners help shape scenario design, failure modes, and evaluation focus to reflect the realities of their units.

If you’re interested in shaping that roadmap—or piloting early versions inside your site—reach out through the contact page.