Sasol spends $12 million on mammoth implementation: expects one year ROI

Sasol Synthetic Fuels, the petrochemicals group, has ordered $12 million worth of integrated production control systems from Honeywell’s Hi-Spec advanced systems division. The firm expects improved decision making support and improved competitiveness through manufacturing improvements. Over the next two or three years, Honeywell is to work with technology partner AST Group and consulting firm Facilitated Integration Technologies to implement the system at Sasol’s huge Secunda, South Africa complex. The system will manage the fuels, gas production, gas circuit, utilities, water and ash, and market and process integration production units. Says Johan La Grange,Sasol’s executive sponsor: “An operation like Sasol generates vast amounts of information. This only has value if it can be turned into knowledge, which can then enable faster, better decision making. With this project we expect to improve information management and substantially shorten the decision making cycle. “The benefits … are vast. We conservatively estimate the project will have a payback period of less than one year. And it should put Sasol on an operational par with the top 10 companies in the petrochemicals sctor.”