The problem of identifying and forecasting potential scheduling conflicts and the impact to quality and delivery targets is a very real and complex problem. The most effective way to meet the above business objective is to develop a terminal simulation model that combines elements of a mass balance system (MBS), operational rules/procedures and operator behavioral patterns.
This paper is a case study describing the approach in designing a detailed pipeline tank terminal simulation model with an objective to identify and quantify complex and possibly unresolvable operating conflicts/events occurring given a current pipeline, tank or terminal configuration and then comparing this with other configuration options. In addition, the model will be able to measure quality impacts (measured by quantifying the volume of degraded product) that results from resolving the operating conflicts for each evaluated configuration.
We will demonstrate how the resultant model allows a terminal operator to effectively understand quality impacts to batches delivered through the pipeline tank terminal as a function of operational procedures and system configuration changes.
