American Institute of Chemical Engineers
2003 Spring National Meeting
March 30 - April 3, 2003
New Orleans, Louisiana

Call for Papers

A topical conference is being offered in Information Technology (IT) that combines cutting edge developments in IT with applications in the chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, food, paper, textile, forest products, and other chemical process industries. Though the business professional will benefit form this conference, it is directed primarily to plant managers, process improvement engineers, design engineers, researchers, and IT suppliers. It will be relevant and timely with sessions in online databases and information systems, supply chain management, applications to increase profitability and productivity, and research and development applications. Further information about this topical conference and the 2003 Spring National Meeting can be obtained at:

www.aiche.org/conferences/spring/

IT veterans as well as people new to IT in the CPI are invited to participate and to submit for consideration their Proposals to Present on the AIChE Web site at:

www.aiche.org/springapp/

Accepted presentations will be published in the conference proceedings. For additional information, please contact the conference coordinators below or the chairs of the individual sessions.

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Innovation, with a traditional focus on process, product and catalyst technology improvements, has been a key value driver in the chemical process industries. Although innovations of these technologies have driven major improvements, new developments are matched quickly in the very competitive environment in the CPI. The overall impact of these innovations might create an edge, but no longer creates lasting competitive advantage and sustainable shareholder value. To gain a sustained advantage, chemical producers are now applying that same spirit of innovation to the continuous improvement of the key business processes that contribute to profit generation. The improved performance of these business processes is the key strategic initiative to achieve increased shareholder value for chemical companies, and the leading manufacturers are now turning to IT as a key enabler for this transformation.

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The last few years have been extremely challenging for the chemical process industries - fluctuating feedstock prices, economic recession, overcapacity, and bottoming out of the petrochemical cycle, resulting in falling revenues and historically low profit margins. Many companies responded with cost cutting programs, but cost cutting is not enough. Although many predict the industry is on the upswing, there are opportunities for your company to drive profitability in the short-term and the long-term. This session will provide an opportunity for industry leaders and experts discuss trends and challenges for driving profitability with IT.

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The chemical supply chain is the end-to-end flow of materials and incremental value-added processes within a chemical business. It is composed of many business processes, each an important link in the chain, from sourcing of raw materials, into manufacturing process, and eventually delivering to customers. Most IT experts are predicting supply chain systems as the next biggest technology makeovers since the huge investment in the costly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in the 1990s. Increased forecast accuracy, reduced inventory cost, and improved customer on-time delivery are the obvious benefits that can generate quick return on investment for chemical producers.

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Information Technology (IT) today pervades science, engineering, education, and society in ways that are still changing and need to be understood. Computer simulation as a third partner to the time-tested methods of theory and experimentation has expanded the scope of science from the subatomic level to the cosmos. As the complexity of computing grows, so will the need for well understood concepts and theories to manage this complexity. Entirely new research problems and opportunities are created each day by rapid technological advances in information technology. This session will focus on new developments, challenges and emerging opportunities at the interfaces among information technology, research and development, and education.

Topics of particular interest include but are not be limited to:

• Create new instruments with new capabilities;
• Use computation to explore new science and/or engineering concepts; and
• Develop new paradigms for computing (e.g., DNA or quantum computing).

Examples of such topics are:

• Acquiring spatial data and using it in large-scale predictive models;
• Computational methods for looking at stochastic and nonlinear dynamical factors in complex systems;
• Analysis, modeling and optimizing of multi-scale phenomena;
• Knowledge discovery, visualization and interpretation of large-scale heterogeneous data sets;
• Integrating data from multiple sources and creating consistent data sets over vast scales in space and time;
• Hybrid discrete and continuous models of system designed to control physical systems; and
• Innovative uses of the Internet in science and engineering.

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The session will include speakers from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software providers, such as SAP, ERP users from the chemical industry, and specialists in customizing standard software. Topics will be new approaches to Materials Management, Production Planning and Responsible Care based on new Customer Relationship Management software.

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This session will explore the use of IT for enhanced security as well as the security issues confronting IT.

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This session focuses on online database software to capture, organize and use YOUR data.

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This session will explore opportunities for the CPI arising from new IT technologies and IT developments that are on the horizon, including wireless applications for manufacturing, virtual partnerships, smart plants, and other emerging IT tools.

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This session is about applications of information technology and databases in computer aided engineering.

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