[en] Environmental awareness is essential for todays corporation. Corporations have been held liable for the short-term and long-term effects of such chemicals as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and petrochemicals to name a few. Furthermore, corporations have been held accountable for disposal of wastes or by-products of chemical production. Responsibility for the environment either mandated by government agencies or done voluntarily is an economic factor for business operations. Remediation of environmental hazards on a voluntary basis has often created goodwill and a payoff for being socially responsible. Remediation also can result in new business opportunities or savings in production costs. To be environmentally aware and socially responsible, the chemist should know where to find regulatory information for countries worldwide. Using online data sources is an efficient method of seeking this information

[en] Some time series applications require data which are either expensive or technically difficult to obtain. In such cases scheduling the points in time at which the information should be collected is of paramount importance in order to optimize the resources available. In this paper time series models are studied from a new perspective, consisting in the use of Optimal Experimental Design setup to obtain the best times to take measurements, with the principal aim of saving costs or discarding useless information. The model and the covariance function are expressed in an explicit form to apply the usual techniques of Optimal Experimental Design. Optimal designs for various approaches are computed and their efficiencies are compared. The methods working in an application of industrial maintenance of a critical piece of equipment at a petrochemical plant are shown. This simple model allows explicit calculations in order to show openly the procedure to find the correlation structure, needed for computing the optimal experimental design. In this sense the techniques used in this paper to compute optimal designs may be transferred to other situations following the ideas of the paper, but taking into account the increasing difficulty of the procedure for more complex models. - Highlights: • Optimal experimental design theory is applied to AR models to reduce costs. • The first observation has an important impact on any optimal design. • Either the lack of precision or small starting observations claim for large times. • Reasonable optimal times were obtained relaxing slightly the efficiency. • Optimal designs were computed in a predictive maintenance context

[en] The risks that are associated with the petrochemical industry from a lender's perspective were described. It was suggested that the petrochemical industry is facing a downturn which will be intensified by the Asian economic crisis. In the past, petrochemicals were recognized as a major requirement for economic growth and many governments encouraged joint ventures with foreign companies. However, the Asian economic crisis has significantly slowed petrochemical demand from Canada. The three major risks associated with the petrochemical industry - cyclical nature of the business, price volatility and complexity - were examined. It was shown that a typical petrochemical company accesses multiple feedstocks and produces thousands of products. This complicates cash flow analysis and market risk for lenders. Another risk pertains to environmental issues and international environmental policies which emphasize reduction of emissions, including those from chemical manufacturing. Critical success factors such as global diversification, leading process technology, low cost operation, and focusing on core competencies were also reviewed. Prediction for the next three to five years was a further slowdown of Asian demand, competition from Asian petrochemical companies, capacity driven oversupply and industry consolidation as a way to deal with depressed markets that could last for several years. Nevertheless, the emerging markets will continue to be the hotspots. Alberta, as one of the low cost feedstock areas of the world, will continue to be in a good position to take advantage of the Asian recovery which despite the current problems, is confidently expected within the next three to five years. 5 figs

[en] The impact of the Asian economic crisis on the petrochemical industry was discussed. From 1985 to 1995 East Asian currencies that were pegged to the US dollar experienced a 40 per cent depreciation against other major currencies, such as the Japanese yen. This resulted in strong exports which stimulated rapid economic growth rates. However, during 1995-1997, the US dollar rebounded, appreciating by 20 per cent. For countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Korea, the sharp appreciation of their US dollar-linked currencies effectively reversed their export advantage vis-a-vis China and Japan, and led to massive devaluation of their currencies. Tightening of the Japanese fiscal policy by increasing taxes produced disastrous results, leading to a drastic reduction in consumer demand. The solution, it was suggested, lies in loosening Japanese fiscal policy and stabilizing the Yen-Dollar rate. Another solution suggested was decisive action to strengthen the Japanese banking system. Despite the current difficulties, it was concluded that the future outlook for the Asian petrochemical market is bright and that steady economic growth can be expected in the long term. It was suggested that the main factor that will determine how quickly East Asian economies recover will be how quickly the Japanese economy emerges from recession. 6 figs

[en] An example of feedstock optimization at an olefins plant which has the flexibility to process different kinds of raw materials while maintaining the same product slate, is presented. Product demand and prices, and the number of units in service as well as the required resources to operate these units are considered to be fixed. The plant profitability is a function of feedstock choice, plus constant costs which are the non-volume related costs. The objective is to find a set or combination of feedstocks that could match the client product demands and fall within the unit's design and capacity, while maximizing the financial operating results

[en] The risks and opportunities in the rapidly developing markets in Southeast Asia, China in particular, were discussed. It was asserted that no other region in the world can match the long-term market opportunities that China and Southeast Asia promise. The forces driving the economic development in Southeast Asia were described, including the great potential the region holds for the petrochemical industry. Graphs showing total polyethylene production vs. demand for year 2005 were included as illustrative examples. By 2005, China is projected to be importing almost one-half of the products it consumes. Every country with excess capacity will supply China with polyethylene. The political uncertainties that makes doing business in the region a high risk undertaking were reviewed, along with other risks relevant to the petrochemical industry such as (1) high capital costs, (2) over-building to the point that there is more supply than demand for the product, (3) low-cost producers may drive down prices to maintain market share, and (4) the uncertain nature of projections regarding economic growth and (5) inflated estimates of demand for petrochemicals. 1 tab., 4 figs

No abstract available

[en] Over the past 10 to 15 years, petrochemical companies have aggressively cut costs due to increased international competition. Unfortunately, these conditions will remain part of the future business environment. To remain international as players, leading chemical companies must develop new methods to keep a competitive edge. One option is to use global supply-chain management. With this strategy, organizations can optimize costs in an integrated fashion along the entire manufacturing and delivery system worldwide. This is a sharp contrast to previously used compartmentalized cost cutting by departments such as transportation, manufacturing, etc. Rethinking the supply-chain management requires devising a new order on how all manufacturing process costs contribute to the total product costs. Manufacturers can no longer look at operation segments as separate puzzle pieces. They must devise a framework that integrates all functions of production and distribution to be the lowest-cost manufacturer in that market

[en] The global forces affecting strategies within the petrochemical industry were examined. These include public favour, financing opportunities, economic developments, legislative influences and the challenges to product delivery. The conference was divided into six sessions which examined various aspects of the industry. One session examined the societal, economic and environmental aspects of the petrochemical sector. The issue of global trade and how trade agreements can impact on markets, market access and investment decisions was also discussed. The collapse of financial markets in Asia and the resulting currency crisis has had a profound impact on the petrochemical industry, particularly in terms of lending criteria. Industry speakers provided their perspectives on what conditions could create a favourable business climate for the petrochemical sector. The importance for petrochemical companies to have secure and economical access to feedstocks and markets was emphasized. The vital role of transportation to the sector's viability was also addressed. tabs., figs

[en] Predictive Maintenance can provide an increase in safety, quality and availability in industrial plants. However, the setting up of a Predictive Maintenance Programme is a strategic decision that until now has lacked analysis of questions related to its setting up, management and control. In this paper, an evaluation system is proposed that carries out the decision making in relation to the feasibility of the setting up. The evaluation system uses a combination of tools belonging to operational research such as: Analytic Hierarchy Process, decision rules and Bayesian tools. This system is a help tool available to the managers of Predictive Maintenance Programmes which can both increase the number of Predictive Maintenance Programmes set up and avoid the failure of these programmes. The Evaluation System has been tested in a petrochemical plant and in a food industry