Aspen Petroleum Scheduler
Enables fast, accurate, and collaborative creation of the operations schedule while integrating the scheduling and planning process
Aspen Petroleum Scheduler is an integrated system that supports comprehensive scheduling and optimization of refinery activities, including crude receipts, shared assay data, process operations, product blending, and product shipping. Aspen Petroleum Scheduler achieves more accurate, proactive scheduling and better coordination between scheduling, planning, operations and marketing. New synergies with Aspen PIMS™ allow planners and schedulers to share production targets and key performance indicators to enhance productivity and narrow the gap between the production plan and actual. Aspen Petroleum Scheduler is a core element of aspenONE® Planning and Scheduling for Refining and Marketing.
Features
- Integrated Planning, Scheduling and Blending: Integrates into one solution for crude and feedstock scheduling, shared production targets and assay integration with Aspen PIMS™, unit operations, product blending and product shipping, enabling more accurate scheduling. It can be used with Aspen PIMS to tightly integrate planning and scheduling. For optimized blending, integration with Aspen Refinery Multi-Blend Optimizer provides the same graphical user interface, giving the scheduling staff the same “look and feel" for all its activities.
- Scheduling Approaches and Automation: Incorporates three typical approaches to scheduling: simulation, linear programming and expert systems. Offers ability to include custom logic calculations using built-in logic authoring capability or Microsoft® tools. Enhanced Excel synergies now facilitate multiple event editing to increase ease-of-use and productivity while saving time.
- Interactive Graphical User Interface (GUI): Employs an easy-to-use graphical interface for building and maintaining a graphical representation of the refinery infrastructure. GUI components such as the model tree, flowsheet simulator and event interface support ease-of-use and facilitate changes in the model as operations dictate.
- Multi-User Collaborative Scheduling: Allows multiple users to work simultaneously on activities. Users share the same view of the refinery schedule, which improves coordination between schedulers and with other departments. Changes to the schedule are managed and automatic updates are provided to all users.
- Reporting & Solution Analysis Tools: Includes built-in reports and Microsoft Excel-based reports. Create and compare multiple cases that represent different operations of the refinery.
Benefits
- Event-based Scheduling: Enables calculations to properly reflect the sequence of events in the schedule. Provides compatibility between longer term (30-60 days) and shorter term scheduling (1-7 days).
- Coordinated Scheduling: Helps companies increase throughput, reduce quality giveaway, reduce plant inventories and shorten shut-down and start-up cycles. Improves evaluation of opportunities and allows quicker response to unplanned events. Reduces the gap between plant planning and scheduling.
- Multi-User Collaboration: Streamlines the business processes that can be easily replicated within and across refineries. Provides a fast response to issues and opportunities with automated updates for all users. Facilitates knowledge capture from experienced schedulers that can be easily shared with new staff.
- Improved Work Processes: Increases productivity by automating (fully or semi) both routine and complicated decision tasks that schedulers are faced with on a daily basis. “What-if” scenario analysis helps schedulers determine the best schedule given potentially changing operating parameters and prices.