The Client
Leading Global Chemicals Manufacturer
The Opportunity
Production Scheduling:
Client wanted to find a more automated and better way to create and maintain the production schedule across several batch reactors and schedulers.
The Approach
Profit Point engaged with the customer to design a production scheduling tool using Aspen Tech’s Aspen Plant SchedulerTM.
The tool was required to have the following features:
- Interface to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to automatically download data from and upload data to the ERP system
- Share schedules of production activities between multiple schedulers
- Show total consumption of shared raw materials and with accurate timing
- Schedule all equipment that can constrain production including unloading racks, reactors, blenders, auxiliary tanks, storage tanks, packaging lines and loading racks
- Schedule production activities, non-production activities (i.e. cleanings) and downtime
- Schedule planned production via a product wheel
- Schedule both Make-To-Order (MTO) and Make-To-Stock (MTS) products with different logic for each including automating repetitive / menial tasks and schedule with heuristics / optimization where appropriate
The Results
The client has been able to:
- Reduce the amount of time required to generate a schedule on a daily basis and allow for evaluating “what if” scenarios such as for unanticipated downtime
- Increase equipment utilization delaying capital expenditures
- Reduce both raw materials and finished goods inventory while increasing customer service levels
- Annual savings are on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year