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Total Deploys OpenTAS Nationwide at all Refineries

The French petroleum group Total migrated all six of its French refineries in record time to a standardised communication platform: OpenTAS developed by Implico. At the start of March 2010, OpenTAS went live at the sixth and final refinery in Gonfreville-l’Orcher in Normandy. With this project, Total has succeeded in harmonising and optimising the business processes for handling loading data in all of its refineries in France.

TOP’R – or Template Order Processing Refineries – was the name of the large-scale project for rolling out OpenTAS at Total’s refineries in France.

The Total group carefully analysed IT solutions and concepts from various providers before deciding in September 2007 to implement OpenTAS at all six of its refineries in France. The proven standard solution for managing and automating processes at terminals and refineries was introduced as a new layer between the regional terminal administration systems (TAS) and the central ERP system.

Total’s aim was to harmonize and optimize its business processes for handling loading data in order to increase the efficiency and transparency of its refinery processes and create a stable basis for successfully tackling other important issues such as EMCS, SOX compliance and ADR.

Concerning the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS), the great advantage of OpenTAS is that, unlike the many stand-alone web-based solutions which are available, it seamlessly integrates EMCS into the loading and shipping process. By implementing OpenTAS, Total also wanted to make its accounting processes more transparent in accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and introduce a standardised basis for ensuring compliance with safety regulations such as the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR).

Total decided to have the French company Atos Origin implement the system locally. To familiarize the Atos consultants with the many functionalities and special features of OpenTAS, six configuration training sessions took place at Implico’s headquarters in Hamburg.

The refinery in Donges was the pilot for the extensive, tightly scheduled project. After the successful acceptance test in April 2009, during which key users at Total thoroughly tested every functionality, the business simulation took place in May followed by the successful go-live at the end of June 2009. Step by stp, OpenTAS was then launched at the refineries in Flandres, Feyzin, Gargenville/Grandspuits, Provence and Normandy. At all refineries, OpenTAS now handles the loading of tank trucks as well as railroad tank cars, pipelines and ships.

For more information, please visit www.implico.com.