THE FUTURE, - Solvay

Management
improvement
42
Management improvement > INNOVATIONS 09
208392 208802 209065
GESLOOP: A DECISION-MAKING TOOL TO
EASILY OPTIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION MARGIN
BY AN INTEGRATED SIMULATION OF RAW
MATERIALS PRODUCTION - SALES VALUES
A tool to boost profi tability
THE PROJECT. Gesloop is a comprehensive
management tool and a highly original one, for
four reasons:
• it gives an immediate and easy answer to the
need of optimizing the profi tability of a plant, by
helping to make the best choices amongst
complex sets of variables (i.e. energy and steam
costs, raw materials features and costs, selling
prices, maintenance costs);
• it quantifi es (in EUR) the partial contribution of
each unit of the plant to its global profi tability;
• it gives a common tool easily understandable by
the different departments (sales, production,
purchasing, supply chain);
• it shows all results in a simple graphic that
helps us improve our reactivity.
SBU VINYLS
> Francesco Tarantino; Paolo Groppi;
Alessandro Lippi; Giovanni Piras; Nadia Schioppa.
POWOW: NEW METHODOLOGY AND
PLATFORM FOR COLLABORATION OF ALL
STAKEHOLDERS IN MAJOR INTERNATIONAL
PLANT CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Planetary pow-wow
for building new plants
THE PROJECT. Solvay has developed a unique
system for managing engineering documents on
the intranet/internet, which permits collaboration
between everyone involved in building a new
production plant anywhere in the world.
This system, called Powow, is accessible to all
interested parties. It is unique in enabling large
numbers of partners to work with the same tool
and to identical rules. Previously, major projects
involved only contacts between Solvay engineers
and a limited number of subcontractors.
But globalization, the presence of engineering
companies in emerging markets and Solvay’s
desire for geographic expansion have changed
the situation.
In addition to document management, Powow
includes a portal that allows Solvay to launch
tenders on the internet – with the appropriate
access rights – and to gather the proposals in
close integration with the space set aside for
the project itself. Particular focus has been placed
on creating the common structures and
numbering conventions that are essential
to international collaboration, while ensuring the
security of the system, including on the internet.
Users have been trained and the system is now
used by many subcontractors – in particular in
China, India, Thailand and Brazil.
CC ECM
> François Carette; Jean-Marc Chamberland;
Frédéric Jacquet; Denis Mathei;
Jean-Noël Meurisse; Christoph Winter.
External partner: Geert Reyniers (Jacobs
Engineering, Antwerp).
LOGISTICS AUTOMATION (LGA) BY RFID
Tracing trucks in real time
THE PROJECT. Logistics and EDP (Electronic
Data Processing) have started working with the
RFID (Radio Frequency Identifi cation) technology,
developing software programs to manage inbound
and outbound deliveries. We have started
the project with trucks delivering goods to our
customers.
Each truck has been equipped with an RFID card
which identifi es the registration number, type of
truck, etc. This data is available through the
central database as soon as entered, and then at
each important location in the plant.
We have installed the RFID reader to identify
the position of the trucks when they connect into
the system. This allows the system to know the
status of the trucks: parking area, loading bay,
weighing zone, or if they are leaving for a delivery.
The data will be used to more effi ciently control
and manage the traffi c in the plant. This automatic
logistics system appears to be a huge
improvement compared to the previous method.
Moreover this will help us optimize our Vinythai
(Thailand) resources by reducing the dispatching
operators from two to one per shift, while doubling
the capacity plant. This new system increases
employees’ productivity and adds a “fun”
dimension to their work.
SBU VINYLS
> Sitthiporn Phaengsomsri;
Kanchanat Kanchanalaksana;
Saowaluck Theeraseupsakul.