AM-00-42 EFFECTIVE PLANNING & EXECUTION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN – NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND A RETURN TO BASICS

Description:

Increasing consolidation of the downstream energy industry is resulting in significantly more complex and interdependent petroleum supply chains, involving multiple refining networks within the same company "competing" for the same feedstocks and markets. These supply chains will not deliver on the synergistic promise that mergers offer, unless effective planning solutions are implemented to govern optimization of the business. This paper presents what the authors believe are the three key characteristics that all effective planning and execution process must exhibit. A detailed review of the five elements that make up the supply planning process - inputs; optimizing and scheduling; feedback loops and calibration; organization; and enabling technology - provides the framework for the resultant planning solution "blueprint". The path forward suggested by the authors, requires a return to basic "blocking and tackling" (i.e. doing certain "basic" things very well), built upon new technological developments in centralized data storage, automated workflow management, and intra/internet platforms. A virtual planning environment is envisioned where key economic objectives are updated almost continuously and weekly/monthly plan reviews are things of the past.