WebCAST seminar on "Advances in Mathematical Programming Models for Enterprise-wide Optimization" by Ignacio Grossmann Rudolph R. and Florence Dean University Professor Professor of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University Date: April 26, 2012, 2-4 pm (EST) Dial-in from the comfort of your office to hear the presentation Deadline to Register: April 24, 2012 (details at http://www.castdiv.org/wewbcast.htm) Abstract: Enterprise-wide optimization (EWO) has become a major goal in the process industries due to the increasing pressures for remaining competitive in the global marketplace. EWO involves optimizing the operations of supply, manufacturing and distribution activities of a company to reduce costs, inventories and environmental impact, and to maximize profits and responsiveness. Major operational items include planning, scheduling, real-time optimization and control. We provide an overview of EWO in terms of a mathematical programming framework. We first provide a brief overview of mathematical programming techniques (mixed-integer linear and nonlinear optimization methods), as well as decomposition methods, stochastic programming and modeling systems. We then address some of the major issues involved in the modeling and solution of these problems. Based on the EWO program at the Center of Advanced Process Decision-making at Carnegie Mellon, we show the scope of these models by describing several applications that include optimal refinery planning, simultaneous planning and scheduling in multisite facilities for continuous multiproduct plants, optimization of industrial gas distribution systems, design and planning under uncertainty of offshore oil field infrastructures, and optimization of responsive supply chain design and planning with demand uncertainty. Finally, we close with a brief discussion of future directions of research in the EWO area. Biographical Sketch: Prof. Ignacio E. Grossmann is the Rudolph R. and Florence Dean University Professor of Chemical Engineering, and former Department Head at Carnegie Mellon University. He obtained his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, in 1974, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College in 1975 and 1977, respectively. After working as an R&D engineer at the Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo in 1978, he joined Carnegie Mellon in 1979. He was Director of the Synthesis Laboratory from the Engineering Design Research Center in 1988-93. He is director of the "Center for Advanced Process Decision-making" which comprises a total of 20 petroleum, chemical and engineering companies. Ignacio Grossmann is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Mexican Academy of Engineering, and associate editor of AIChE Journal and member of editorial board of Computers and Chemical Enginering, Journal of Global Optimization, Optimization and Engineering, Latin American Applied Research, and Process Systems Engineering Series. He was Chair of the Computers and Systems Technology Division of AIChE , and co-chair of the 1989 Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design Conference and 2003 Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Operations Conference. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Sigma Xi, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, and American Chemical Society.