HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 16

Digital
management was greatly simplified using
automatic scheduling logic.
The AI-powered software automatically
schedules and optimizes thousands
of activities and hundreds of resources
and quickly re-sequences the schedule if
any changes occur (e.g., an on-the-job injury).
By linking a schedule to key metrics,
the software can also provide immediate
insight into how changes to that schedule
will impact costs and production goals,
ensuring the schedule is aligned with
business objectives.
The software took all constraints into
account to eliminate idle time. It analyzed
all personnel involved and their tasks,
then automatically optimized the schedule
so that people were working and not
waiting. In addition, the software identified
how resources could be optimized
and revised the schedule accordingly.
With everything and everyone maximized
in the schedule, resources were
used to their fullest with activities unfolding
in the optimal order to ensure fewer
interruptions in the process.
One schedule to view, enhancing
collaboration. The AI-powered scheduling
softwarea
delivered predictable
performance by aligning schedules with
business rules and constraints, enabling
everyone in the organization to benefit
from a complete, single-source view of
operations. The plant also used companion
software that is a web-based schedule
visualization and reporting tool (FIG. 2).
This tool provided access to published
maintenance schedules and associated
data for all team members, from an internet-enabled
device, and incorporated
Gantt chart and tabular views of schedule
information so everyone was viewing
one single source of truth. The tool also
allowed for input from front-line workers
for more informed decision-making.
Eliminating 366 days of idle time.
More importantly, by optimizing activities
for the plant shutdown, the software
provided a 4% improvement in the reduction
of idle time, which in turn eliminated
366 days of idle time. In terms of financial
savings, considering a cost of $500/d multiplied
by 366 days, the plant potentially
saved $183,000 in just three days. Because
shutdowns can take place as many as six
times per year, the potential savings can
exceed $2 MM. The software helped align
FIG. 2. A web-based schedule visualization and reporting tool provides access to published
maintenance schedules and associated data for all team members.
the client's operational decisions automatically
with business goals to maximize
their return on investment through intelligent
and responsive resource allocation.
Benefits beyond schedule optimization.
In addition to optimizing
schedules, the proprietary AI-powered
scheduling software can optimize against
cost resources. The scheduler can immediately
see how their decisions would
impact costs using " What if? " scenarios
and advanced analytics. For example,
what would the cost savings be if a higher
cost resource of a welder at $180/hr was
swapped for one at $120/hr? During turnarounds,
an extra day can mean the difference
between making or losing millions of
dollars. AI-powered software can achieve
this by adding different sets of resources
to reach a faster time-to-production date.
Interactive capability puts users in
control. To enable complete user control
over a schedule, AI-powered software provides
an interactive capability so that the
user can adjust and adapt any schedule to
accommodate organizational preferences.
In a typical scheduling situation, a scheduler
will use the software to generate a
" first cut " solution automatically and will
then manually manipulate this solution to
incorporate preferences and to determine
their impact. The scheduler can also lock
the schedule for a specific time horizon
(such as " up to 180 days from today " )
and use the optimizer to rearrange the
sequence of activities outside the locked
time horizon to meet a specific objective.
Plant shutdowns are one of the most
critical times in the operation of a plant.
The revenue lost by shutting down a plant
can amount to a significant portion of an
annual budget and affect the plant's financial
future in either a positive or negative
way. However, when done efficiently,
a shutdown can boost both plant reliability
and revenues. AI-powered scheduling
software provides a single solution that
improves capital efficiency and reduces
costs by ensuring the right resources, assets
and people are in the right place at
the right time and quickly re-sequences
the schedule if any changes occur. Simply
stated, it is a proven way to optimize the
plant shutdown schedule and maximize
financial savings.
NOTE
a Actenum DSO/Maintenance
OWEN PLOWMAN is the VP
of Business Development at
Actenum Corp., where he blends
his software technical skills with
knowledge of the oil and gas
industry to advance Actenum's
product capabilities and address
customer challenges effectively. He has worked in
the IT industry for 41 yr. Prior to joining Actenum,
he spent 14 yr at Oracle Corp. Canada Inc., in a
variety of management positions in sales consulting,
technical support, marketing and professional
services. He left Oracle to act as an independent
consultant to small and mid-sized software
companies. Mr. Plowman began his career writing
commercial software in 1979. After completing
his university studies in molecular biology and
computer science, he was employed by Meta
Systems Canada (an Ontario software startup),
where he led development team efforts and
consulted on projects for Canadian and U.S.
government agencies and defense contractors.
Hydrocarbon Processing | FEBRUARY 2021 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com

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HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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