Chemicals, Oil, & Gas

Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) software such as Opcenter (formerly Preactor) is very commonly used in the chemicals, oil and gas sectors for a wide range of applications from long term strategic planning, medium term tactical planning and detailed scheduling. Each has their own requirements in terms of data and purpose.

Strategic planning uses a high level model to look at future requirements for equipment, labour and materials perhaps covering months and years ahead. Spreadsheets and demand planning software have traditionally been used for this type of activity but they often suffer from not having sufficient detail in terms of the real constraints of the system to provide accurate answers. Preactor allows the user to introduce multiple constraints, turn the demand into ʻproduction ordersʼ for each SKU (stock keeping unit) based on inventory control rules (typically days of cover), and load the orders onto the capacity available. In the fresh food sector days of cover may be set to zero because of shelf life issues. 

Tactical planning tools usually deal with a much shorter time scale, perhaps 15 to 30 days ahead. The model it uses will also depend on the type of product involved especially its shelf life. 

At the scheduling level the process is modelled in more detail. The process routing is added to the orders and resources are defined as tanks, pipes, filters, packing lines and staff.