Cabot Streamlines and Standardizes Scheduling, Greatly Improving Visibility
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- America
- Asia
- Europe
Country
- United States
- Worldwide
Product
- Aspen Plant Scheduler
- Aspen Supply Chain Connect
- AspenTech engineering
- AspenTech advanced process control
- AspenTech information management solutions
Tech Stack
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Access
- ERP system
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Productivity Improvements
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
Applicable Industries
- Chemicals
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Procurement
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Predictive Maintenance
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Cabot is a specialty chemicals manufacturer with 42 manufacturing facilities in 18 countries that revenues $2.5 billion. The company has expertise in making and handling fine particles, modifying the surfaces of very fine particles, and designing particle-media composites for specific properties. Cabot has been an AspenTech customer for 10 years, using AspenTech engineering, advanced process control, and information management solutions across all global sites. Cabot made the decision to expand their AspenTech relationship into the supply chain space with Aspen Plant Scheduler.
The Challenge
Cabot’s Carbon Black business was using their own Microsoft® Excel and Access-based tools for scheduling, which did not provide the visibility required to make timely business decisions. Planning was performed regionally, scheduling was performed offline through customized tools at each plant, and executing events was done manually in the ERP system. As a result, schedulers were forced to spend the majority of their time gathering the data needed to make decisions. Cabot sought to improve the information available to the schedulers and enrich communication along the supply chain.
The Solution
Cabot decided to standardize on Aspen Plant Scheduler at all global Carbon Black sites, which now provides visibility into their supply chain to bridge execution gaps, thereby improving schedule use and response time, and reducing working capital. The professional services team at AspenTech worked with Cabot to develop the standard scheduling model, as well as its implementation and deployment at the initial European plants. Cabot’s four-stage implementation methodology and “cookie cutter” approach to basic scheduling enabled a faster and smoother rollout for subsequent plants, using mostly internal resources.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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