Case Studies > World Leader in Refining Reduces Planning Run Times from Hours to Minutes and Achieves the Most Profitable Solutions

World Leader in Refining Reduces Planning Run Times from Hours to Minutes and Achieves the Most Profitable Solutions

Company Size

1,000+

Region

Asia

Product

Aspen PIMS-AO

Tech Stack

Parallel Processing
Global Optimization

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Applicable Industries

Oil & Gas

Applicable Functions

Process Manufacturing

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance
Process Control & Optimization

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

About The Customer

The customer is a leading Asian refining company that owns and operates some of the largest refinery complexes in the world. The company is ranked in the top 125 on the Fortune Global 500 list and is present in many business sectors, including textiles, science and technology, energy and more. The company’s manufacturing division is the world’s largest refining hub. It has transformed their country from being a net importer of petroleum products to a net exporter, thereby ensuring the nation’s energy security. With a crude processing capacity of over 700 thousand barrels per day (BPD), efficiency and profitable operations are critical.

The Challenge

The company, a leading Asian refining company, was facing challenges in reducing planning run times while increasing solution quality. They wanted to gain time to explore complex, multiple price and operation scenarios and eliminate the occurrence of local optima. The company also wanted to increase internal customer satisfaction through faster response times to different business processes and have the ability to capture and explore more opportunities. The decision to expand the use of Aspen PIMS-AO was due to the recently enhanced global optimization capabilities with the new Aspen PIMS-AO V8.7 algorithm and the intention to explore the parallel processing feature for the maximum business impact.

The Solution

The company adopted Aspen PIMS-AO in 2008 due to its superior optimization capabilities. The parallel processing capability of Aspen PIMS-AO, combined with global optimization, exceeded desired results with the expanded use of the software. The company developed a work process to eliminate the occurrence of local optima by generating an optimized input solution and running the case stack varying the “epsilon” parameter. They tested several high-performance server machines to establish the optimal number of CPU cores and discovered that the optimal number of cores is 40. The company has successfully reduced their planning run times from 30 hours to 90 minutes with Aspen PIMS-AO, making the process 95% faster.

Operational Impact

The company has successfully reduced their planning run times from 30 hours to 90 minutes with Aspen PIMS-AO, making the process 95% faster.
The company has consistently achieved zero local optima – ensuring that they are achieving the best solutions.
The company continues to adopt the latest versions of the software as it becomes available.
By employing parallel processing and the global optimization features, they have greatly increased the speed, reliability and robustness of the planning process.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced solution run times from 30 hours to 90 minutes, making the process 95% faster.
Achieved zero local optima.
Increased ability to run multiple price and operation scenarios.