Advanced Analytics Helps a Plastic Manufacturer Optimize its Yield

A leading producer of plastics sought our help improving its production processes across seven global sites. In particular, ChemicalsCo wanted to find ways to reduce its consumption of a key ingredient in many plastics. In just four weeks of analysis, we helped ChemicalsCo reduce consumption of the ingredient, acetic acid, by 20%

In the years leading up to our engagement, ChemicalCo’s consumption of acetic acid had been high, and it had been one of the company’s biggest variable costs. To help solve the problem, we assembled a joint team of consultants, data scientists, and process engineers.

Our team used a combination of machine learning techniques and engineering knowledge to distill the key factors impacting acetic acid loss. This allowed us train a simple, transparent algorithm to identify the factors determining periods of “low” and “high” consumption in ChemicalCo’s processes. The insights from the model were immediately actionable for ChemicalsCo to reduce its ingredient and thereby bring more stability to production costs across its global footprint.