Operability Analysis of Chemical Process Supply Chain Systems

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A process supply chain is a network of facilities involved in the procurement, processing, warehousing and distribution of materials and products from raw materials suppliers to customers. The profitability of an enterprise is strongly influenced by the operation of its supply chain. Increased market competition, global business environments, market volatility and product demand variation require process plants to be considered within the overall supply chain context rather than as isolated entities. These drivers have also raised the awareness of supply chain operation within the chemical process systems research community, leading to several studies in recent years on the modeling, optimization and control of process supply chain systems. In order to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive marketplace, production processes and their supply chains need to be responsive to customer demands and market trends, as well as feedstock and process variability. The goal of this research is to develop quantitative methodologies for analyzing the ability of process supply chain systems to operate satisfactorily within such dynamic market environments. Operability analysis tools have been developed for process plant operation and design, but their application to the extended environment of process supply chain systems is largely unexplored. In this research, an optimization-based framework will be developed for the analysis of process supply chain systems, drawing on approaches that have been established for process plant operability analysis.