Procter & Gamble uses VirtECS technology to recommence Coffee Production in New Orleans

21/03/06 In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the VirtECS advanced planning and scheduling technology developed by Purdue Research Park-based Advanced Process Combinatorics Inc. (APC) helped Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) bring back online its massive coffee manufacturing facility in New Orleans.

P&G's Folgers plant in New Orleans had been using VirtECS since 2003, when the company contracted APC to install the system's planning and scheduling components there in an effort to maximize production capacity and to rapidly respond to market changes. But when Katrina struck the New Orleans area in August 2005, APC rapidly reconfigured VirtECS to allow plant operators to better respond to the unusual conditions caused by the hurricane.

"A lot of coffee moves through this facility every day," said Billy Martinez, a key planner at Folgers. "To be able to plan operations reliably so that the right things happen at the right time - even when the unpredictable occurs - allowed us to quickly and smoothly resume normal operations. We were one of the first local plants to get back up and running following the hurricane."

Planning coffee production is a challenge because of the time-sensitive nature of the product and the need for consistency in taste and aroma, Martinez said. Coffee must be canned shortly after roasting to maintain freshness. The VirtECS system can handle complex processes, such as coffee production, well beyond the ability of other technologies, said Steve Harding, Ph.D., APC's vice president of engineering. VirtECS is a proprietary approach to automated scheduling and capacity analysis that delivers results that satisfy demanding process constraints, optimize business objectives and maximize throughput.

When it was not possible to get key people into the plant in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, P&G used VirtECS(TM) to plan production from a remote facility.

The latest VirtECS(TM) suite is allowing engineers to experiment with and optimize production strategies before bringing process changes online.

P&G purchased a global license to use VirtECS(TM) in 2000, and expanded initial applications for the technology to include design modifications to facilities, detailed capacity analysis, and scheduling within the company's most complex facilities. The Folgers plant in New Orleans is Procter & Gamble's largest coffee-making facility, producing more than 50% of all Folgers coffee.

Advanced Process Combinatorics gives its customers a competitive advantage through superior decision support products and services. APC develops and sells VirtECS(TM), an advanced planning and scheduling system. VirtECS(TM) helps its users make better tactical manufacturing decisions in a world of complex processes and product proliferation and better strategic decisions in capital investment for process improvements.