Using Ilog’s software, BASF is aiming to align its plastics production with demand, while accomplishing planning tasks two to three times faster than the previous planning method.
Styrene polymers are all-purpose plastics that are used for a wide range of products, from cars and computer cases, to printers and CD cases. BASF wanted a planning system enabling it to better align production output and the supply chain with market demand.
BASF produces styrene polymers at three plants: at its headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in Antwerp, Belgium and in Tarragona, Spain. Prior to implementing Ilog’s software, the production planning and optimization was carried out manually via spreadsheets that calculated production volumes for each product at each site, taking into account constraints such as required staff, set-up times for new product output slots, and the synchronization of multiple production stages.
BASF says that in order to improve synchronization of customer demand with production volume, and to speed up the entire production planning process, it chose Ilog’s optimization technology to enable a tightly integrated planning system.
