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Caring for the customer

SIBUR has launched a complimentary customer data analysis project based on its own digital platform.

Advanced analytics is one of the key focus areas of SIBUR’s large-scale digital transformation programme. The Company was able to create cutting-edge infrastructure to work with data. The next step was to bring Company customers on board: i.e., factories that produce products from SIBUR polymers. Working together to streamline production processes helps our customers produce more from less. Two projects were seen through to completion in 2020 alone. Looking ahead, we plan to extensively scale up and broaden the range of customers involved.

Firstly, SIBUR specialists work with the customer to stand up a project team. This allows us both to immediately hit the ground running and get rapid feedback. Next, we analyse equipment and take readings of process parameters: temperature, pressure, etc. These data are then plugged into SIBUR’s digital infrastructure, where the entire production chain is modelled, and recommendations are generated for the processes that can be optimised. Then, full-scale tests are carried out. If the impact is stable, the problem is considered solved.

Looking ahead, we will be talking about service delivery: a recommendation engine will run on SIBUR’s infrastructure, while the client will simply be granted access to it, letting them see a dashboard with their own real-time metrics and recommendations

The first such project was conceived and launched in Q4 2019. One of our clients was facing problems with product defect rates: their film was breaking frequently. The operating procedure is as follows: the plant is loaded with polyethylene (SIBUR supplies it in the form of pellets) before being melted, stretched into a thin film and rolled up at a high speed. However, the film tore relatively frequently. When this happened, the machine needed to be stopped and the entire roll discarded. Clearly, this caused losses. Yet, we were able to secure an eightfold reduction in this occurring by Q1 2020-end. This project drove a total economic benefit of around USD 2 million per year.

Another success story illustrates this just as well. The polymer supplied to the customer production facility has certain characteristics, one of them being molecule length, which should fall within an acceptable range. SIBUR specialists discovered that if the molecule length of the entire batch of raw material is close to the upper or lower bound, then there are no problems, but if “long” and “short” molecules are mixed, then failures in production crop up. The Company started to monitor this more closely, and we only sent the client batches with a very tight spread of molecule lengths near to the optimal figure. This shows that sometimes, we have to tailor the product for specific customers.

The average project time is currently estimated to stand at six months. The key stumbling block is having the technology required to upload data. Far from all of our customers have modern enough equipment. Production lines have only been fitted with data upload modules since around 2010. If the equipment is older, sometimes you even need to purchase a special licence to access this kind of functionality.

Nonetheless, SIBUR plans to reduce the project timeframe to three months and extensively scale up, broadening the range of customers involved. Looking ahead, we will probably be talking about service delivery: a recommendation engine will run on SIBUR’s infrastructure, while the client will simply be granted access to it, letting them see a dashboard with their own real-time metrics and recommendations. This service may become a next-gen digital solution that is new to both Russia and Europe.


SIBUR digital platform optimisation production processes

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