BASF styrene polymers production moves to advanced flexible planning

The chemicals giant also claims a two to threefold reduction in planning time against its earlier system, as well as the improved optimisation itself. BASF says it needed more flexible, real-time production planning to better align plastics production and its supply chain with changing global demand. Prior to implementing the Ilog optimisation-based solution, production planning was carried out manually with spreadsheets used to calculate production volumes for each product at each site, and taking into account constraints like required staff, set-up times and the synchronisation of multiple production stages. The new tightly integrated planning and optimisation system uses Ilog’s technology in combination with SAP’s APO (Advanced Planner and Optimiser). Since go-live, experience has shown reduced stock levels and thus inventory costs, while maintaining BASF’s ability to deliver material immediately to its customers. “The combination of the Ilog optimisation software and SAP APO enables us to plan production continuously for any given production volume,” says Stephan Franke, project leader at BASF. “The Ilog engine returns planning solutions quickly to the planner, accelerating the entire process. As a result we can now communicate and discuss plans between production planners and on-site staff more efficiently.”