CMT’s Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals will be held on 15-16 June 2009 in Singapore to examine Operational Excellence issues in the Refining and Petrochemicals Industry.

The refining & petrochemicals industries are fundamentally cyclical businesses, where success in the long-term is dependent on creating a sustainable competitive advantage. Establishing this competitive advantage requires an in-depth understanding of all aspects of operations to find critical opportunities to improve productivity and implement Operations Excellence.

The cumulative effect of the constantly evolving refining and petrochemical industries has strengthened the role of operational excellence in delivering core business requirements and profitability.

Operational excellence means ensuring that plants are able to produce when required – a key element in ensuring profitability. Refineries & Petrochemicals Production facilities need to sustain the profitability of their operations so that every day, they operate a unit at full capacity, thus increasing their returns.

Industry data and experience have given clear recognition to the high costs and problems that come with process instability, equipment malfunction and failure, and Operational excellence remains relevant in terms of meeting business needs in a manner that maximises resources and minimises waste.

The traditional role of operational excellence teams is evolving to align with the overall needs of the business itself, and moving away from traditional aspects like manual data gathering, logging and reporting, responding to process and quality upsets etc.

In today’s context, Operational Excellence in the refining and petrochemical industry is increasingly looking at cost/profit control, on-line quality control, managing the operating envelope and asset effectiveness. In short, operational excellence teams are playing an increasing role in the overall performance of the refining and petrochemical industry.

The key will be in taking a holistic view and approach to building operational excellence solutions that are in line with current economic conditions, corporate business requirements, and long-term goals and objectives. Some of these solution elements include:

• Integration of applications in the workflow- breaking down traditional organisational ‘walls’
• A collaborative approach to look at problems and solutions holistically, not in isolation.
• Sharing data to ensure consistency across the board.
• Value-based changes and solutions that can demonstrate quantifiable improvement.

While the list is not exhaustive, it marks the evolution of Operations Excellence in the Refining and Petrochemicals industries.

Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicalsis a timely discussion forum featuring a highly interactive panel discussions with in-depth exchanges of operational strategies amidst the challenges of a slowing economy.

Case studies will be presented, dissected and examined by a delegation of top management from refineries and petrochemicals companies', including representatives from Business Planning, Operations, Process Engineering, HSE, Supply & Procurement, Storage & Terminal, EPC, and commercial Global Oil & Gas operations divisions.

Those seeking more information and opportunities to participate as panellists, delegates, media partners, exhibitors and / or sponsors at the Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals forum are urged to submit their registrations, enquiries and proposals at http://www.cmtevents.com/?ev=090633 or contact Ms. Nadia Al Bahar, Marketing Manager at +65 6346 9114 or email at nadia@cmtsp.com.sg