Case Studies > Shell Adopts Global Supply Chain Process to Increase Profitability and Drive an “Enterprise First” Strategy

Shell Adopts Global Supply Chain Process to Increase Profitability and Drive an “Enterprise First” Strategy

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Europe

Country

Netherlands

Product

aspenONE Planning & Scheduling
aspenONE Supply & Distribution
Aspen PIMS
Aspen Petroleum Scheduler
Aspen Collaborative Demand Manager
Aspen Petroleum Supply Chain Planner

Tech Stack

Supply Chain Management
Demand Management
Inventory Optimization

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Innovation Output

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Oil & Gas

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing
Procurement

Use Cases

Supply Chain Visibility
Demand Planning & Forecasting
Predictive Maintenance

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. Its corporate strategy is 'More Upstream, Profitable Downstream,' utilizing technology and innovation for sustainable development that delivers growth for shareholders. As part of Shell’s Global Supply Excellence Program, the company focuses on three key management objectives: operational excellence, flexibility to respond to market opportunities, and margin optimization across the supply chain.

The Challenge

Shell, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, was facing inefficiencies and limited flexibility due to the independent operation of its many refineries. The actions of one refinery could adversely affect another in the same region, leading to higher costs and lower overall profits. Each refinery conducted business in its unique way to increase profit margin, but such 'siloed' operations often resulted in inefficiencies and lower margins. Shell identified uncommon operating procedures at each of its refineries, which led to these inefficiencies and lower margins.

The Solution

To address these challenges, Shell’s management team created the Enterprise First initiative, which focused on standardizing and simplifying business processes across all of Shell, standardizing technology solutions that support the standardized business processes, and optimizing profit margins across the supply chain. Shell reviewed its business processes and discovered that many refineries had developed their own supply chain planning and operational processes. By standardizing these practices, Shell could improve efficiency. Shell also discovered a large number of home-grown spreadsheets and obsolete one-off applications supporting the refineries, resulting in high support, maintenance, and training costs. By standardizing IT applications across its refineries, Shell could reduce operational costs and respond faster to changing market activities. The key enabler of the Enterprise First initiative is aspenONE for refining and marketing.

Operational Impact