A groundbreaking Sasol Technology innovation, which has led to over $230 million added value to Sasol over the past ten years, has been nominated as a finalist in the prestigious annual Edelman Awards for the practice of Operations Research.
Sasol's use of stochastic simulation models will be pitted against five other international Edelman finalists for the 2010 award. The simulation models are the innovation of Sasol Technology's value chain optimization team and have been an integral component of the company's strategic decision support process since 2000.
The simulation models are able to reflect production variability over time, better than the standard average-based techniques, which are currently available. The models are used to build business cases for gas and liquid production facility changes, to highlight risks and to assist strategic decision making.

The finalist team for the Edelman Award, from left to right (front row): Jaco Joubert, Ebert Cawood, Anette van der Merwe, Esmi Dreyer, Hylton Robinson, Michele Fisher; (back row): Johan Janse van Rensburg, Gerrit Streicher, Marlize Meyer, Ruan Rossouw. Missing from the photo are Hentie van den Berg, Gerkotze Bonthuys, Cecile Wykes and Lorraine van Deventer

The Sasol simulation models and the work of the other finalists in the Edelman competition all use analytical tools employed in Operations Research to make a major impact on an organization and the people that it serves.
"We believe that these simulation models can be applied in wider fuels and chemical industries and represent an innovative step forward for operations research in the chemical engineering discipline. It is difficult to believe we were able to build business cases before we had these exceptional models and the quality data they are able to provide," explained Sasol Technology managing director, Willem Louw.
Sponsored by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®), the purpose of the Edelman competition is to showcase, recognize and reward outstanding examples of Management Science and Operations Research practice in the world.
Sasol has also been nominated for the INFORMS® prize which is awarded annually to the company that makes the most effective use of Operations Research across their business.
The winners of both awards will be announced at a Gala event on 19 April in Orlando, Florida, USA.