PTT Chemicals implements i2 supply chain planning solutions

i2 Technologies says PTT Chemicals, one of the largest producers of petrochemicals in Asia, used i2 software to reduce inventory 30% and improved visibility, in a 15 month effort involving multiple PTT entities (including logistics, manufacturing, marketing) and spanned demand planning, master planning, production scheduling and order promising.

November 2, 2009

i2 Technologies Inc. says PTT Chemicals, one of the largest producers of petrochemicals in Asia, and the largest in Thailand, has completed the implementation of i2 supply chain planning solutions, reducing inventory 30% and improving visibility. i2 made the announcement Nov. 2.

PTT Chemicals sought software to maximize the efficiency of demand-supply planning and inventory deployment across the PTT Polymer Group supply chain. The company said it chose i2 for expertise in the supply chain management space, as well as its ability to understand and address PTT Chemical’s business challenges.

The project with i2 was the first supply chain project involving multiple PTT entities, including: PTT Chemicals, PTT PM (Marketing), PTT PL (Logistics), BPE (Manufacturing) and PTT ICT (IT). PTT set aggressive timelines to complete the project and realize benefits. In less than 15 months i2 helped PTT Chemicals overcome the challenges and achieve the project goals identified.

"We are impressed with i2’s commitment to making the solution go-live as well as its extended support until the solution stabilized," said Narong Mongkolpoonsuk, vice president, PTT ICT. "The i2 solution has been able to address our business needs and we are happy with the optimization results and reports feature. We are confident that through our partnership with i2 we will continue to track software usability beyond the go-live and extend the solution scope to manage upcoming capacity and meet our business requirements."

As a result of the i2 implementation, PTT Chemicals :

– Created a well-defined end-to-end process workflow spanning demand planning, master planning, production scheduling and order promising;

– Reduced inventory 30 percent, making the right stock available, and improving the quality of production schedules;

– Improved transparency and visibility with a company-wide KPI tracking system; and

– Gained ability to evaluate multiple alternate scenarios before selecting the appropriate operational strategy.

"We are very impressed with PTT Chemicals’ commitment to supply chain management and look forward to working with them on future engagements" said Prabhu Natarajan, vice president, i2. "PTT Chemicals is a very important customer for us and we expect that very soon they will be among the supply chain leaders in the petrochemical industry."

PTT Chemical Public Co. Ltd (PTTCH) was founded upon a strong foundation of two of the major players in Thailand’s petrochemical and chemical industry sectors – the National Petrochemical Public Company Ltd (NPC) and Thai Olefins Public Company Ltd (TOC). In line with the policy of the major shareholder, PTT, the merger puts PTT Chemical as the leader of PTT’s olefins business to take full advantage of opportunities for future growth with competitiveness enhancement, leading to an improvement of Thai petrochemical industry to reach international standard. See partial capabilities diagram below.

i2: In more than 20 years, i2 says it has dedicated itself to building successful customer partnerships. As a full-service supply chain company, i2 says it is uniquely positioned to help its clients achieve world-class business results through a combination of consulting, technology, and managed services. i2 solutions serve a wide cross-section of industries. www.i2.com

Also read from MBT: i2 Factory Planner improves user experience, increases planner productivity .

PTT Chemical Olefins and Downstream Production Units

PTT Chemical ) and subsidiary and polymer producer for High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Bangkok Polyethylene Public Company Ltd (BPE), offer integrated solutions and efficient business processes under the new brand InnoPlus, a high quality Asia polyethylene, the company says.

– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, electronic products editor, Manufacturing Business Technology , MBT www.mbtmag.com