The book is a very thorough description of the PLATOFORM system, which is used at the Exxon Corporation for the computational treatment of optimization problems arising in the planning of production and sale of oil products. The applications include the following:
Single refinery and chemical plant model.
Regional models for the coordination of several refineries or chemical plants.
Product distribution through intermediate facilities.
Distribution facility investment.
Drilling rig scheduling.
Portfolio investment.
Blocked operations scheduling.
Truck fleet sizing.
Vessel scheduling.
Most of these problems can be formulated as linear programs, but some of them require nonlinear programming and/or mixed integer programming. All of these problems involve vast sets of data and large-scale computations. It is also essential that the results are presented in a form that is suitable for the business analyst who may not be an expert in mathematical programming. Therefore the design objectives for PLATOFORM are as follows:A single integrated system.
A simple, basically nonprocedural, user input.
A comprehensive facility for model management.
A modular system that can be easily tailored to support individual user.
The PLATOFORM system can handle database management, matrix generation, matrix optimization, and report writing. PLATOFORM has greatly expanded the range of linear programming applications that can be supported within Exxon, basically for two reasons: (1) The amount of time to develop a new application has been greatly reduced. (2) The number of linear programming experts needed to support regular use of a linear programming model has been reduced. The authors expect that by means of continued development PLATOFORM will meet future needs and be used within Exxon for many years to come. The content of the book is apparent from the chapter headings:
(1) Linear Programming in Exxon.
(2) The PLATOFORM Concept.
(3) The Development of Exxon’s Mathematical Programming System.
(4) Data and File Structure.
(5) System Structure.
(6) Input Syntax.
(7) Data Management.
(8) File Management.
(9) Matrix Generation.
(10) Optimization.
(11) Report Writing.
(12) An Example.
Even though the book deals with examples from Exxon, it should be useful for anyone facing the task of developing software systems for the computational treatment of large problems within an organization having many users, most of whom are not computer experts. The book is also recommended as a textbook for university courses in operations research and related fields.
