Refiners and petrochemical manufacturers are being forced to change the way their facilities meet energy demand. Challenges like new imperatives for sustainability and energy efficiency, stricter regulatory requirements for monitoring compliance, new global suppliers, changing product demand, and constant pressure to manage risk, customer relationships, and health, safety and environment (HSE) compliance are having a major impact on business. With refineries running at very high capacity, especially in Asia, unplanned downtime has a ripple effect throughout the supply chain. Taking a facility out of production unexpectedly can severely cut into margins that are already razor-thin. As a result, the stakes have never been higher for refiners and petrochemical manufacturers to boost efficiency, safety and regulatory compliance for maximum productivity. Better planning and coordination can optimize factory utilization and throughput, while helping to keep inventories aligned with end-product demand. Anticipating and troubleshooting problems before they occur can eliminate days of costly shutdowns.
Visibility is Key
Maximizing control of manufacturing operations means empowering people with the knowledge and tools to take the right action at the right time. Aggregating data from disparate sources and providing dashboard views can help operators decide whether to purchase crude on the open market, plan production to take advantage of emerging opportunities, and optimize forecasting models. Communication and collaboration tools can help workers anticipate, troubleshoot and resolve problems quickly, thereby avoiding unplanned downtime.
Help from Microsoft and Partners
Partner solutions leverage core Microsoft technologies such as business intelligence, productivity, collaboration, and mobility, which help people transcend traditional barriers to make better, faster decisions and achieve greater efficiency. Equipment specifications, maintenance and performance records, and forecasting and trading information can roll up into dashboards, workflows and task lists for better planning. Role-based communication and collaboration tools ensure the right people can access the information they need to manage resources and downtime proactively. Together, these solutions make it possible to visualize operations and collaborate in real time, to give refiners and petrochemical manufacturers maximum visibility and control over manufacturing operations.
Maximizing Control
Microsoft is committed to helping refineries and petrochemical manufacturers maximize productivity. Our platform technologies provide a framework for interoperability. Tight integration among disparate data sources and applications permits the transformation of information into actionable knowledge. Collaboration and role-based productivity tools help to ensure people have the information they need at the right time, through an intuitive, accessible user interface. Microsoft enables Oil and Gas industry partners to focus on specific business challenges while leveraging our expertise in universal business needs such as security, performance, accessibility and collaboration. The result is a complete solution for taking control of manufacturing operations to make better decisions, avoid unnecessary downtime, maximize resource deployment, and increase overall profitability.
New economic and operating challenges are increasing the pressure on refiners and petrochemical manufacturers, reducing already tight margins. With increased visibility for operations, manufacturers can gain greater control over cost and improve efficiencies of scale. Microsoft and its partners deliver business and technology solutions that enhance role-based productivity. Gathering relevant data from plant systems and delivering it to the people who need it, in real time, improves insights, decision-making, and ultimately performance.
Key Benefits
Manufacturing Operations solutions from Microsoft and its partners empower businesses to:
- Change product portfolios and adjust to supply and demand changes
- Improve efficiency, allow quicker responsiveness to market needs, and manage inventory
- Increase visibility into the supply chain
- Make more informed decisions
- Avoid unnecessary downtime
- Anticipate and proactively resolve issues
- Improve customer satisfaction and response to emerging needs
- Facilitate compliance with industry and regulatory standards from OSHA, REACH, ISA, OPC Foundation, OASIS and other organizations