IBM Wins Contract to Develop Manufacturing Executive System for Bhatinda Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The giant information technology (IT) company International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) (IBM) (Armonk, New York) has won a contract to develop a manufacturing executive system (MES) for the Bhatinda greenfield refinery, which is under development in Punjab, India.

The contract has been awarded by HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited (HMEL) (Noida, Uttar Pradesh), a joint venture company formed by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (BSE:500104) (Mumbai) and Mittal Energy Investment Pte Limited (Mittal) (Singapore), which is a subsidiary of the ArcelorMittal Group (NYSE:MT) (Luxembourg).

HMEL selected IBM as its strategic business partner to select applications and manage the implementation of the new venture. IBM will design the manufacturing processes and build a common integration and reporting framework.

The multi-million-dollar software package will be developed over the next 18 months and, when completed and implemented, will provide executives and process managers with a unified view of operations through access to real-time data across all systems.

The systems will enable HMEL to operate the new refinery at maximum efficiency levels, thereby providing maximum returns in investments. Decision-making in the refinery operations will be improved in many areas, including energy and quality management, trade and risk management, physical security, planning and scheduling.

IBM will use its Chemical and Petroleum Integrated Information Framework Package, which is a configurable software platform, to integrate the best-in-class analytic, process management, and advanced-information management software from IBM and other suppliers. The IBM package has been specifically designed for the petrochemical industry to reduce unplanned shutdowns, reduce costs, and improve the productivity of skilled personnel by providing contextual views of critical operations in real-time.

According to Richard Dirckz, the vice president of operations at HMEL, "IBM understood our needs and has the global expertise, knowledge repositories of leading practices, processes and key performance indicators to support our goal of becoming one of the smartest refineries in the world. In fact, HMEL will be among only a handful of refineries to start operations with the full suite of MES applications."

HMEL has invested more than $4 billion in the Bhatinda zero-residue refinery, which will have the capacity to process up to 180,000 barrels of crude oil each day. The environmentally friendly refinery will be able to produce clean fuels and polypropylene from a variety of crude oil feedstocks. The refinery is expected to be commissioned next year.

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