Industrial AI for PTA-PET polyester complexes
A vertically integrated PTA-PET complex is unlike any other factory. There are no lots starting and stopping every shift: there is a continuous process that, once stabilized, must not be interrupted. And there is no line B — a trip on the main air compression train does not stop oxidation, it stops the entire complex, because downstream runs out of feedstock within hours.
That reorders priorities from top to bottom. The capital pain of this sub-sector is not occasional quality: it is the unplanned shutdown, and its twin sister, incident risk at start-up. And when a shutdown is analyzed afterwards, the root cause is almost never a complete surprise: it is a symptom that was visible somewhere — on a round sheet, in a vibration trend, on a utility panel, in a corridor remark — and that did not reach the person who could act, in time.
This page holds the twelve cases with which an IRIS system attacks that problem in a PTA and PET plant: the five Connect capture modes, the two ERP integrations with direct license savings, the stitching of condition monitoring into maintenance management, the Edge vision cases on the line and at start-up, and the agentic case that coordinates all of them against unplanned downtime. None of them proposes replacing anyone: the human signature stays human in every single one.
Capture without changing habits: photo, voice, email, integrations
Paperless preservation rounds
Payback 3-8 months · from weeks of lag to second zero
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The utility panel starts talking
Payback 4-10 months · integration CAPEX avoided per unit
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The supply alert, read in time
Payback 3-7 months · orderly rate reduction instead of a trip
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The maintenance lead, hands free
Payback 4-9 months · KPI reports that fill themselves in
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Nothing enters without a signature
No standalone payback · enabling piece under PSM
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The lab sheet reaches the ERP
Payback 3-6 months · from 6 quality licenses to 1
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Receiving with the certificate on the tag
Payback 4-8 months · from 4 warehouse licenses to 1
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Vibration raises the work order
Payback 5-10 months · detection to action in minutes
See the case →Machine vision on the line, in real time
Agents that plan, document and coordinate
More cases from this series
- Findings come from the gaps, not from the workFindings come from documentation gaps, not from the work. Every intervention generates its evidence and…
- There is no line B: four rings against unplanned downtimeWith no line B, a PTA stop halts the whole complex. Four coordinated verification rings around critical…
- The person with the most context can type the leastThe person with the most plant context is the one who can type the least. One earpiece, and the…
- The spreadsheet that rules no longer needs a transcriber4-CBA, intrinsic viscosity, acetaldehyde: the spreadsheet that rules. iLEAN reads it on save and posts…
- Utilities stop being islands, without touching their PLCDesalination, nitrogen, instrument air: vendor islands holding vital data. An external camera reads them…
- The human signature is not automated. It is supportedIn a plant under process safety management, the human signature is the legal mechanism. iLEAN's…
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