When a custom chemical manufacturer with a newly acquired site reached out to Advanced Process Combinatorics, Inc. years ago, they were facing a long list of challenges. Knowledge of production processes was limited to one person at the plant, and urgent requests from customer service forced operators to break into the production schedule constantly. The site’s lack of inventory planning meant these adjustments were devastating, and at the time of acquisition, the plant was unprofitable.
The new leadership identified these problems early on and decided they needed to find a solution quickly to avoid losing business or damaging client relationships. “Because of the challenges involved with coordinating our client’s complex manufacturing processes, they knew they were going to need a planning and scheduling tool that could handle their many constraints,” said Steve Harding, President of APCI. “VirtECS® was able to capture all the details of their process, and they were confident the answers our tool could provide would be accurate.” According to Harding, the company also liked that VirtECS® could account for forecasting and inventory levels to provide prioritized schedules in real time.
Although the company was excited about the benefits VirtECS® could offer, they did share some concerns that APCI needed to address. “Our client’s primary concern was that VirtECS® required a lot of data to produce an accurate schedule, and they weren’t sure they could keep up with it,” Harding explained. “We solved for that by importing existing data from their forecasting and ERP systems into VirtECS® and creating templates they could use to quickly set up new products. This made it much more manageable for them to keep track of their data.”
How Implementing VirtECS® Transformed the Business
When it came time to begin implementing VirtECS® at the plant, APCI worked with the company side-by-side to configure the tool to the site’s specifications. As the team built and implemented the tool, they also learned its features inside and out. In following this process, the plant began to reap the benefits of VirtECS® very early on.
One of the first steps to improving the site’s planning and scheduling capabilities was to build a unique virtual model. This model immediately unlocked capabilities the client never thought possible. “After we created a model of the plant within VirtECS®, our client’s planning and scheduling process became much more robust,” said Harding. “Rather than using a manual process that required people to exchange calls and track down data, it became a seamless process that multiple people could access.”
He continued, “Having this process model allowed the client to look at different potential plant configurations. This let them maximize the value of each new investment they made. They could try out the different investment options in the software and instantly measure the resulting impact.”
Another impactful feature of the tool was the interactive dashboard, which made it easy for plant employees to view schedule summaries and check details needed to make informed tradeoff decisions. “Once the user makes a tradeoff, the dashboard will automatically show them how the key metrics change. They can see the consequences of each decision and decide if it will make other things worse or better. That’s really useful,” said Harding. This feature helped the plant avoid the costly schedule breaks that had previously limited their production capacity.
Once the user determined the most efficient path forward, they were able to publish the finished, optimized schedule with just one click and easily organize all the information operators need to execute the new plan in one place. VirtECS® can also display projected inventory of products forward in time, allowing the company to verify that they are always above safety stock levels and within the tank’s capacity. However, as Harding noted, “The number one value of implementing VirtECS® for this site was how it transformed their entire business process.”
Delivering Value Through Coordination & Optimization
After implementing VirtECS® and creating an optimized schedule, the site was able to increase its profitability in two ways. “With VirtECS®, the site could create a schedule that had fewer costly washouts,” said Harding. “We were able to lower the manufacturing cost by 4 to 5%, just by reducing the number of washes. We also coordinated the stock of necessary precursor materials, which helped cut idle time when product could not be made due to insufficient stock.” The increased capacity played a huge role in helping this chemical plant become profitable, and as a result, the business has been able to meaningfully expand by acquiring acquire other new sites.
With improved capacity planning and an optimized schedule, the client was able to expand their use of VirtECS® to address other significant areas of operation. APCI first connected VirtECS® with the site’s ERP, forecasting, and batch execution systems, which gave those tools access to updated data from VirtECS® in real time. As a result, the systems became much more powerful, and the plant could respond to changes quicker because the cost associated with making planning or scheduling updates was so much lower.
Additionally, APCI layered finite capacity supply planning on top of the detailed virtual plant model. With this feature, the company could balance their capacity against market forecasts and make strategic tradeoff decisions that aligned with their growth goals. “Our capacity supply planning tool helped our client maximize profit by making as much product as possible to meet forecasts,” said Harding. “This allowed our client to bring their S&OP process under control. With VirtECS®’ capabilities, the plant went from working in an uncontrolled state to a predictable, data-based production plan.”
The Future of VirtECS® in the Chemical Manufacturing Industry
Harding has worked closely with this chemical manufacturing client for years, acting as a primary contact during this project as well as projects at subsequent sites. Over time, the data has shown that VirtECS will continue to provide value long after the initial improvements gained during implementation. “Many specialty chemical sites have similar characteristics and face the same challenges as the clients we’ve worked with. These plants could all transform the way they operate by using a tool like VirtECS®,” said Harding. “Our platform is designed to continuously improve processes based on real data and accurate process representation. This allows our clients to continue trying out different configurations without spending the time and money to test the options in the physical plant.”
In the future, Harding sees several unique planning and scheduling challenges that chemical manufacturers will need to address. “For example, we’re in a period now where the price of crude has fluctuated frequently. It can be difficult for companies who depend on crude to change how they’re operating quickly based on those fluctuations,” Harding noted. “Because VirtECS enables plants to respond to change faster, our tool is uniquely equipped to help companies through the current market challenges.”
