Corporate dashboards for integrated business and engineering decisions in oil refineries: An agent-based approach

• Published in: Decision Support Systems Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 729 - 741
• Main Authors: Hu, W., Almansoori, A., Kannan, P.K., Azarm, S., Wang, Z.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.02.2012; Elsevier; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Agent-based modeling; Applied sciences; Artificial intelligence; Business; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Dashboards; Decision making; Decision Support System (DSS); Decision support systems; Decision theory. Utility theory; Decisions; Exact sciences and technology; Information systems. Data bases; Knowledge management; Mathematical models; Memory organisation. Data processing; Non-linear optimization; Oil markets; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Optimization; Optimization algorithms; Petroleum refineries; Refineries; Refinery; Simulation; Software; Studies; User interface; Simulation; Oil markets; Decision Support System (DSS); Agent-based modeling; Knowledge management; Refinery; Non-linear optimization; Knowledge engineering; Optimization; Multiple decision; Business process; Uncertain system; User interface; Systems engineering; Robustness; Information exchange; Mathematical programming; Computer simulation; Decision support system; Decision making; Linear programming; Dash board; Integrated management; Engineering design; Business model; Multiagent system; Integrated design; Artificial intelligence
• ISSN: 0167-9236; 1873-5797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dss.2011.11.019

It is generally very challenging for an oil refinery to make integrated decisions encompassing multiple functions based on a traditional Decision Support System (DSS), given the complexity and interactions of various decisions. To overcome this limitation, we propose an integrated DSS framework by combining both business and engineering systems with a dashboard. The dashboard serves as a human–computer interface and allows a decision maker to adjust decision variables and exchange information with the DSS. The proposed framework provides a two-stage decision making mechanism based on optimization and agent-based models. Under the proposed DSS, the decision maker decides on the values of a subset of decision variables. These values, or the first-stage decision, are forwarded through the dashboard to the DSS. For the given set of first-stage decision variables, a multi-objective robust optimization problem, based on an integrated business and engineering simulation model, is solved to obtain the values for a set of second-stage decision variables. The two-stage decision making process iterates until a convergence is achieved. A simple oil refinery case study with an example dashboard demonstrates the applicability of the integrated DSS. ► A DSS integrates business and engineering decisions under interval uncertainty. ► The decision maker and optimization model interact to obtain two-stage decisions. ► Illustrated by a refinery case study incorporating a dashboard and agent-based simulation. ► The DSS is also applicable to firms with similar business and engineering sectors. ► Can accommodate other market variables, e.g., interest and exchange rate fluctuations.