Dow Chemical optimises capital cost decision-making with aspenONE

Aspen Technology, Inc., a leading provider of software and services to the process industries, has announced The Dow Chemical Company is optimizing capital cost decision making for large-scale petrochemicals projects using the aspenONE Engineering software suite. Dow has reduced the time it takes to produce accurate engineering estimates from months to weeks by using Aspen Capital Cost Estimator (ACCE). The application provides powerful estimating and collaboration capabilities that can scale to manage very large, global projects.

Previously, estimators were unable to model large, multi-plant facilities as one integrated project. Now, ACCE users can save time by increasing scope visibility across the entire project, which allows engineering & construction firms and owner operators to regularly achieve efficiency improvements of 50 to 75 percent in their estimating activities.

ACCE helps estimating professionals rapidly and reliably conduct conceptual estimates at the earliest stages of project definition, which typically requires multiple, large engineering teams to design, estimate and construct. ACCE users working on projects of all sizes also benefit from these same capabilities.

With critical decisions made early in the capital project cycle having a major impact on project economics, scalable “megaprojects” push the limits of engineering, fabrication, construction and transportation resources. The latest ACCE enhancements provide the ability to handle projects of expanded scope and scale, empowering estimators and executives to make effective capital cost decisions among different alternatives. 

As with previous releases of AspenTech’s cost estimation software, ACCE incorporates yearly updates for capital materials and equipment pricing to improve the accuracy of project estimation activities. 

aspenONE Engineering is an integrated engineering lifecycle solution - from conceptual design through to plant start-up and operations support - enabling process engineers to model, build, and operate safer, competitive, and more reliable process plants. Owner operators and E&C’s are able to reduce capital and operating costs, increase engineering efficiency and quality, and accelerate time to market with payback in months instead of years.

Bruno Robitaille, Project Controls and Estimating Professional, The Dow Chemical Company adds: “Dow’s use of Aspen Capital Cost Estimation’s new features is helping to achieve noteworthy efficiency improvements by easily breaking up large projects into smaller sub-projects, making them more manageable. The ability to merge these pieces back together to support large-scale projects has uniquely positioned Dow as a technology leader, which is driving growth for our business.”

Blair Wheeler, Senior Vice President of Marketing, AspenTech concludes : “Large scale ‘megaprojects’ are extremely complex to design and build. Aspen Capital Cost Estimator gives owner operators and engineering and construction companies unprecedented transparency and flexibility in managing these project complexities. Using ACCE customers can reach capital decisions earlier and manage projects more rigorously and accurately, thereby reducing project risk.”