Honeywell’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling solution for an Olefins Complex optimizes feedstock and raw material selection to maximize product profit margins while accounting for logistical constraints such as how the furnaces are scheduled with respect to decoking and maintenance. The Refinery and Petrochemical Modeling System (RPMS) evaluates and selects the best feedstocks/raw materials to purchase or use from upstream (e.g., refinery) to produce the most profitable mix of final products as indicated from forecasted demand (e.g., from a polymers supply chain demand forecasting application such as PICASO).
RPMS enables the planner to model the performance of the plant under various modes of operation and using a variety of feedstocks. RPMS allows the planner to evaluate a variety of cases and determine the optimum profitability for plant operations over the planning horizon.
If planning is the process of estimating for a future time period (typically 1 to 12 months out), scheduling is the process of determining and committing to the sequencing of controllable activities (events) for the current and immediate future (typically today and for each day over the next few weeks).
Honeywell’s scheduling module (Production Scheduler) handles feedstock and furnace scheduling for Olefins complexes and is the link that connects the monthly plan to plant operations (or the Advanced Control and Optimization application on the unit). This innovative approach uses multi-period, successive linear programming to optimize the schedule subject to quantity, quality and logistical constraints. Whereas, previously, a scheduler would have been satisfied to generate one feasible schedule that meets plan and does not violate key quantity constraints, now it is possible to generate multiple schedules that are optimized in terms of profit, performance (minimization of mode changes) and penalties (solution imbalances).
Production schedules become more consistent when based upon a consistent set of rules that accurately reflect the operation. It is now much more practical to rework a schedule in the light of plant upsets or changing economics, and the business becomes much more agile as a result.
Honeywell’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling for Olefins delivers an unsurpassed return on investment in the following areas: