Situation
Lotte Chemical Corporation (Lotte) was building a new facility in the United States, and recognized challenges in work management, supply chain, and overall asset management strategy were obstacles to reaching their operational goals for the new facility. Lotte decided to jointly engage SwainSmith and Operational Sustainability, LLC® (OS) to address these challenges. Before their purchase of the entire OESuite™ platform, Lotte characterized their operational software for this new facility as minimal, primarily Microsoft Office suite and email. Lotte sought an integrated solution, given that there was little pre-existing technology embedded in the culture.
Challenge
SwainSmith needed to provide a Master Data Catalog™ and Operating Model™ to ensure the foundational elements were correct. OS needed to incorporate the information from SwainSmith including methods, taxonomies, processes and workflows into the key OESuite™ software modules Lotte already used at other facilities and implement a system for the new facility, too. And, everything had to be done within the tight timeframe of the facility’s construction and commissioning. After consultation with OS, Lotte decided to utilize the compliance and operations management suite modules from OESuite, the flagship software from OS, for operations support and incorporate the technical content offered by SwainSmith into the OESuite Work Management module.
Solution
“It was very important that we could take our data and use it on the financial and accounting side. Our process allowed us to build our documents, processes, and workflows with SwainSmith, and then through OESuite, build a work management and asset management system tailored to the needs of our company,” Kimberly Doucet, Site IT Manager, said. After conversations in the spring of 2018, work began in the summer of 2018 through modeling and workshops as SwainSmith and OS gathered information and built out the content and workflows. By fall of 2018, the facility was progressing, and the process moved from a capital projects focus to a commissioning focus. The first operational unit went online in January of 2019, and before the end of 2019 the plant was fully operational and employing OESuite software for all units. Modules in use at launch included:
• Air / GHG / Emissions Credit
• Waste Management
• Incident / Event Management
• Management of Change
• PHA / Risk Management
• Corrective & Preventive Action (CAPA)
• Engineering / Document Management
• Work Management / CMMS / EAM
• Operator Rounds
Benefit
“The resources delivered were outstanding. By far one of the most beneficial projects we’ve chosen to fund and engage in. We were impressed with the amount of information and detail that was captured in written format and then could be shared effectively with our employees and leadership,” Doucet said.
Lotte was able to meet targets and goals; maintenance, EH&S, and operations know what is required to meet process requirements and compliance targets. “We sought an integrated operational platform that easily tied pertinent operational data together to achieve an optimized plant through a greenfield implementation of the technology – and that has been the outcome. We would absolutely do it again,” Doucet said, of the process and engagement. Lotte continues to utilize OS, SwainSmith, and the OESuite software platform across a range of facilities.