Safripol has implemented ApplyIT’s FlexiLOG to support a wide range of its business processes, to check all data changes and sign-offs against user competency profiles and perform audits, and make use of a structured data model for detailed report development.

Safripol produces 160 000 metric tonnes per year of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) based on its own slurry polymerisation technology. It also produces 110 000 metric tonnes per year of polypropylene (PP). The products are supplied to converters for end applications in packaging and as structural material in other industries such as construction and automotive.

Safripol belonged to The Dow Chemical Company and operated within a disciplined culture of work processes and associated electronic tools.  The tools were largely based on stringent Safety, Health & Environment requirements from The Dow Chemical Company and used in an efficient operating environment during the production of polymers.

The company was sold to a South African ABSA Capital consortium headed by Joaquin Schoch and Geoff Gaywood.

Safripol had six months to find or develop tools to replace the Dow tools to ensure a sustainable operating environment.

FlexiLOG provides a highly flexible logging tool, developed by process manufacturing software specialist ApplyIT, for capturing and reporting on essential operations information and communicating this information to involved parties. Tasks can be assigned to personnel to carry out critical actions and e-mails sent to notify people of logs requiring their action or review. 

FlexiLOG was implemented to replace the Dow production management tools and to build on the efficiency benefits provided to Safripol by Dow. 

“The previous tools used by the company provided us with effective communication methods and proper logging of events and process conditions,” says Andries Mans, ODMS co-ordinator and production tools specialist at Safripol.

“Our operations staff need to work in an informed environment and our technicians need programs to help them make decisions and log conditions to enable effective communication amongst operations staff.”

“We chose FlexiLOG as a replacement tool because it was a local product that could be configured in a short time to mimic the functionality we had with the Dow tools,” says Mans.

The project went live on Safripol’s system in the second half of this year.

“As the FlexiLOG system mimicked, with some enhancements, our previous system, the changeover went quickly and smoothly and enabled us to continue functioning at our high productivity levels,” says Mans.

FlexiLOG has provided Safripol with a single access point for all operational software tools across all business units. It has also enabled the company to control its own data capture templates and make changes independently.

Access to data and transactions is centrally controlled through user profiles that grant access via a dynamic matrix of log template, business unit and log type. 

“The flexible reports have provided us with a greater ability to analyse the data captured especially with regard to statistics,” says Mans. “And the master task list, a repository for managing and tracking operations tasks, enables us to better manage tasks that may otherwise slip between the cracks.”

FlexiLOG’s red tag system allows plant operators to quickly and accurately identify the points required for lockout and produce legible tags to display at these points. Some isolation procedures at Safripol include up to 40 separate lockouts that all need to be effected and tagged to make an area safe for work to proceed.

Scott Bredin, business unit manager at ApplyIT, says the inherent ability of the system to adapt to suit Safripol’s needs was a key factor in the success of the project.

“Rapid prototyping of solution elements meant feedback from users could be incorporated into the system immediately to ensure it met user requirements,” says Bredin.

“The Web-based deployment of the system on the Safripol intranet meant minimal time was required for installation. Remote access to the Safripol system enabled ApplyIT’s consultants to perform much configuration offsite.”

 Contact 

Scott Bredin, ApplyIT, (031) 275-8080, bredins@applyit.com                                                                               Andries Mans, Safripol, (016) 970-4222, amans@safripol.com                                                                                                                                               Lisa Cooper, Predictive Communications, (011) 608-1700, lisac@predictive.co.za