Addressing the operational challenges in the development, manufacture, and supply of advanced materials and performance products

The challenges of supplying advanced materials and performance products are very different from those associated with commodity chemicals. Yet these challenges are well addressed by enterprise-wide optimization techniques. This paper discusses the nature of advanced materials and some challenges and solutions related to product design, production scheduling, process reliability, and logistics. Ongoing research in the use of multi-agent systems for batch process management is also reviewed.