Minimal Factory

In Minimal Factory you steer 14 real sites from North Rhine-Westphalia, teeming with activity – on real terrain from official elevation data, every shape a cuboid. No order, no rounds: all of them share the same five levers – investment, workforce, supply, quality and market. Every change shows at once output, sales, stockpile and the result per day in euros; 10 seconds are one working day. Investment builds out visibly: up to three blast furnaces at the Henrichshütte in Hattingen, as in the 1960s, four lines at Opel-Werk I in Bochum-Laer, three in a future factory after the Mercedes-Benz plant in Düsseldorf, elsewhere coke oven batteries, shafts, washeries, blast furnaces, compressors, quays with cranes, rolling mills, lifts and locks, adits, weaving sheds or ring kilns. Real monuments come to life, the stockpiles fill, and trains, trucks, ships and pipelines run with the volume. People and machines work everywhere; when something breaks down at the Henrichshütte, the area flashes red and fitters come. The car plants show production from the inside, from the coil to the first start, the future factory robot cells, driverless transport vehicles, drones and a robot dog; a factory tour travels at eye level from station to station.

The surroundings are not invented: terrain, buildings, trees, streets and tracks come from official elevation data by Geobasis NRW and from OpenStreetMap. The plants are independent, simplified interpretations based on publicly available information: figures and prices as orders of magnitude, times heavily shortened, halls and processes interpreted – not a faithful simulation of operations, and no cooperation with the sites named. The real Henrichshütte, founded in 1854 and last tapped in 1987, is today the LWL Museum Henrichshütte. At Opel-Werk I the first Kadett A left the line in 1962 and the last car in 2014; the halls were demolished, and today the site is MARK 51°7. The Mercedes-Benz plant in Düsseldorf has built vans since 1962 and is in operation. Each of the 14 introductions tells past and present under “The real site”, with sources. The game speaks German and English and runs right in your browser: no download, no app, no sign-up.

• Pick one of the 14 sites on the title page – all are playable, each with a task of its own, such as “run the works” (Henrichshütte), “build cars” (Opel-Werk I), “build vans” (Mercedes-Benz Werk), “make coke” (Kokerei Hansa) or “lift ships” (Henrichenburg). Before you start, the introduction shows “The real site” with sources.
• No order, no rounds: tap WORKS. All 14 sites have the same five levers, the chain Suppliers → Plant → Good → Stockpile → Market and, in large type, the result per day in m €, at small sites in k €. The economy runs fast: 10 seconds are one working day.
• Investment builds out the plant: Opel-Werk I 1 to 4 lines, future factory 1 to 3, Henrichshütte 1 to 3 furnaces. In the car plants more money builds further lines on the north site, less makes them disappear – and every line costs money each day. At the other sites, depending on the place, coke oven batteries, shafts, washeries, compressors, quays with cranes, rolling mills, lifts and locks, adits, weaving sheds or ring kilns grow; real monuments such as the blast furnaces at Meiderich come to life.
• Workforce in five steps: 2,000 to 10,400 at Opel-Werk I, 1,200 to 6,000 in the future factory, 3,500 to 13,000 at the Henrichshütte. Too few and lines stand still (“Too few people”); too many cost wages without output.
• Supply tight, normal or double: if it falls short, the parts store empties, then material is missing. Quality low, normal or high: less scrap costs inspection and maintenance – at the Henrichshütte low quality also means more breakdowns, which flash red.
• Market: slump, normal or boom – demand comes from outside. Build more than sells and the stockpile grows; when it is full, the surplus goes at a 40 % discount. Build too little and the stockpile covers the gap first, then orders are lost.
• The line at the top says what jams – “It fits”, “Too few people”, “Material missing”, “Too much built” or “Market wants more” – and the chain frames that spot in orange; with it the result, the cash and the last eight days. An ironworks only pays with volume: try a second furnace.
• At the Henrichshütte the foreman runs stations 1 Blowers, 2 Stoves, 3 Burden and 4 Tapping of furnace 3. Step in and the station shows “By hand” instead of “Foreman runs it” until the foreman takes over again – “Hand to foreman” gives it back at once.
• Factory tour at Opel-Werk I and in the future factory: the button in the hall and works cards or key T starts it. The camera travels through the halls from station to station – 16 in Bochum, 10 in Düsseldorf – with one sentence each. ◀ ▶ to step, ❚❚ to pause, ✕ to end.