Intelligent monitoring of material flow

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to intelligent monitoring of chemical products. Methods, apparatus, systems for monitoring and / or controlling material flow in a distributed chemical production environment to enhance material handling across supply chain operations are disclosed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to intelligent monitoring of chemical products. Methods, devices, and systems are disclosed for monitoring and / or controlling material flows in a distributed chemical production environment to enhance material handling across supply chain operations. Background Art

[0002] Distributed chemical production environments are large-scale networks that produce thousands of chemical products. Managing the material or product flow, from supplying input materials to produce output materials, to providing the produced output materials for further downstream production, is challenging. Chemical environments in particular have high safety standards, and modern technologies can improve the reliability and safety of operations. However, utilizing modern technologies such as natural language processing or large language models in such safety-critical environments requires technology implementations that meet the established high standards. Summary of the invention

[0003] In one aspect, a method for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment is disclosed, the chemical production environment comprising a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, the method comprising the steps of:

[0004] - retrieving operational tracking data associated with tracking of material flows from one or more data storage devices, and / or retrieving updated operational data;

[0005] - retrieving external data associated with external factors of the chemical production environment, wherein the external data relates to factors affecting monitoring and / or control of the chemical production environment;

[0006] - generating one or more alerts based on the external data and the operational tracking data, and generating one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s) based on the generated alerts;

[0007] - providing the one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s).

[0008] In another aspect, an apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment is disclosed, the chemical production environment comprising a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, the apparatus comprising:

[0009] - an internal retrieval interface configured to retrieve operational tracking data associated with tracking of material flows from one or more data storage devices, and / or to retrieve updated operational data;

[0010] - an external search interface, the external search interface being configured to retrieve external data associated with external factors of the chemical production environment, wherein the external data relates to factors affecting monitoring and / or control of the chemical production environment;

[0011] - an alert engine configured to generate one or more alerts based on the external data and the operational tracking data;

[0012] - an action engine configured to generate one or more action instructions for resolving the alert(s) based on the generated alert;

[0013] - an output engine configured to provide the one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s).

[0014] In another aspect, disclosed is the use or corresponding method of using one or more operating instructions generated according to the method disclosed herein or generated by the device disclosed herein for displaying monitoring and / or control instructions to the operator of the chemical production environment and / or to at least one of these distributed systems for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment, and / or for monitoring and / or controlling at least one of these distributed systems for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment.

[0015] In another aspect, a computer element having instructions is disclosed, which when executed by a computing device performs the steps according to the method disclosed herein or as provided by the device disclosed herein.

[0016] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, apparatus, systems, uses, formulations and computer elements listed above and below, and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any embodiment and example are equally applicable to all other embodiments and examples.

[0017] The embodiments of the present disclosure will be summarized below by embodiments and / or examples. It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and / or examples. All terms and definitions used herein are broadly understood and have their general meanings.

[0018] The methods, devices, systems, uses and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient, safe and reliable way to process materials across the supply chain operations of a distributed chemical production environment. The use of external data and alarm rules to generate human-computer interactions allows operators to monitor and / or control the chemical production environment more reliably and efficiently.

[0019] In one embodiment, the operational tracking data is ingested according to a predefined data processing pipeline associated with data structures and / or processing rules.

[0020] In another embodiment, the operational tracking data is provided by a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, wherein the aggregated tracking data is generated by aggregating the operational tracking data over time, by these distributed systems for tracking and / or material flow.

[0021] In another embodiment, the operational tracking data is associated with input materials entering the chemical production environment, production of materials in the chemical production environment, flow of materials within the chemical production environment, and / or output materials exiting the chemical production environment.

[0022] In another embodiment, the operational tracking data includes production data associated with production of at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow.

[0023] In another embodiment, the operational tracking data includes location-specific production data, wherein the one or more alerts are generated based on the external data and the location-specific production data.

[0024] In another embodiment, the external data includes weather data associated with weather conditions, transportation data associated with transportation of materials, and / or traffic data associated with the transportation medium of the materials.

[0025] In another embodiment, the external data includes location-specific data associated with a location of at least one of the distributed systems used to track material flow in the chemical production environment.

[0026] In another embodiment, the external data provides location-specific external conditions, and the location-specific external conditions are mapped to the location of at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment.

[0027] In another embodiment, generation of an alarm is based on alarm rules, wherein the one or more alarm rules are configured to determine whether the (multiple) materials to be provided are affected by external conditions based on the external data, wherein if, based on the external data, the (multiple) materials to be provided are affected by external conditions, one or more alarms are generated.

[0028] In another embodiment, generation of an alarm is based on one or more alarm logics that determine location-specific external conditions and determine the aggregated operation tracking data and, optionally, the production data associated with material(s) to be provided that are affected by these location-specific external conditions based on these location-specific external conditions.

[0029] In another embodiment, generating one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) includes generating user instructions(s) to be provided to a human-machine interface.

[0030] In another embodiment, the one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) involve at least moving input material to enter the chemical production environment, moving material within the chemical production environment, moving output material to exit the chemical production environment, producing material within the chemical production environment, and / or recording the status of materials within the chemical production environment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0032] Figure 1 Examples of intelligent platforms for monitoring and / or controlling material flows in distributed chemical environments are presented.

[0033] Figure 2 Example methods for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment are presented.

[0034] Figure 3 An example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including a distributed system for tracking material flow within the chemical production environment is presented.

[0035] Figure 4 Shows an example user interface including alert and approval screens. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] Figure 1 Examples of intelligent platforms for monitoring and / or controlling material flows in distributed chemical environments are presented.

[0037] The monitoring and / or control platform may include multiple computing layers, including: a system configured to monitor and / or track material flows in a distributed chemical production environment, an operational tracking data pipeline from different systems that monitor material flows in the distributed chemical production environment, a storage device for operational tracking data, a data processing layer configured to provide and / or perform data processing services, and a device monitoring layer configured to provide and / or perform services for monitoring and / or controlling material flows in the distributed chemical production environment. The monitoring and / or control platform may be implemented on a cloud infrastructure configured for distributed computing or cloud computing. "Cloud computing" may refer to a model for implementing on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage devices, applications, and services). When a cloud computing environment is distributed, the cloud computing environment may be distributed internationally within an organization and / or across multiple organizations. In this instance, the distributed cloud computing environment may include the following computing resources: (multiple) mobile devices, operating devices, applications, databases, data storage devices, and (multiple) servers. The cloud computing environment may be deployed as a public cloud, a private cloud, or a hybrid cloud. A private cloud can be owned by an organization and can only be used by members of the organization with appropriate access rights, making the data in the private cloud at least confidential. In contrast, data stored in a public cloud is available to anyone through the Internet. A hybrid cloud can be a combination of both private and public clouds and can make some of the data confidential while other data can be publicly available.

[0038] The system configured to monitor and / or track material flows in a distributed chemical production environment can be configured to monitor and / or track input material flows entering the distributed chemical production environment, material production in the distributed chemical production environment, material flows (such as material transportation and / or storage) in the distributed chemical production environment, and / or output material flows leaving the distributed chemical production environment. The system for input material tracking can be configured to monitor and / or track input material flows entering the distributed chemical production environment. The production system can be configured to monitor and / or track produced intermediate materials and / or output materials. The warehouse system can be configured to monitor and / or track stored input materials, intermediate materials, and / or output materials. The transportation system can be configured to monitor and / or track input material flows, intermediate material flows, and / or output material flows in the distributed chemical production environment. The transportation system can be configured to track output material flows leaving the distributed chemical production environment.

[0039] The system configured to monitor and / or track material flow can be configured to provide operation tracking data associated with the operation performed in association with the distributed chemical production environment. The operation tracking data can be related to the manufacture, storage and / or transportation of materials. The operation tracking data can be related to one or more data points provided by one or more sensors, (multiple) actors and / or (multiple) applications of one or more systems configured to monitor and / or track material flow. The operation tracking data can include unstructured data, such as text provided by a user through an end-user device or an application program monitoring operation associated with a system configured to monitor and / or track. The operation tracking data can include semi-structured data (such as machine-readable text data), which can be provided by an application program associated with a system configured to monitor and / or track. The operation tracking data can include structured data, such as measurement data from sensors or actors that monitor and / or control operations (such as manufacturing).

[0040] Operation tracking data may be provided to (multiple) different types of storage devices, such as a local disk of an end-user device, a database, a data lake, a data warehouse, etc. The source storage device may include any type of storage device suitable for storing data persistently or non-persistently. Operation tracking data may be provided in a structured format, particularly in relation to data acquired and provided by a system configured to monitor and / or track material flows through applications, sensors and / or actors. Operation tracking data may be provided in a structured format with a defined data structure, such as a table that can be stored, retrieved and / or manipulated using one or more standardized database languages, such as SQL or SQL as a service. Operation tracking data may be provided in an unstructured format without a defined data structure or in a semi-structured format with a semi-defined data structure. Data conversion techniques, such as natural language processing, such as an embedding model configured to convert language or string data into numerical data, and pattern detection or clustering techniques, such as K-nearest neighbor algorithms, may be used to convert unstructured or semi-structured data into structured data.

[0041] The operation tracking data may be provided to (multiple) different types of storage devices of different types of systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operation tracking data may be stored in a distributed manner on different storage devices of different systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operation tracking data may be distributed on different storage devices. For large infrastructures (such as manufacturing sites or warehouses), distributed operating equipment (such as an operator's end-user equipment, different manufacturing equipment, different robots, etc.) are spread throughout the operating infrastructure, making it very challenging to analyze the operation tracking data of the distributed operating equipment. In addition, in the event of an error in the operating equipment, it is very cumbersome to perform maintenance or troubleshooting.

[0042] To implement an interactive monitoring and / or control system as disclosed herein, operation tracking data may be provided from a distributed source storage device to (multiple) intermediate storage devices. (Multiple) intermediate storage devices may include object storage devices, block storage devices, and / or file storage devices. Since object storage devices allow dynamic metadata processing associated with each data object, the intermediate storage device may be configured as an object storage device that stores operation tracking data in data objects, the operation tracking data including the data itself, indexes, and / or data directories or metadata.

[0043] Operation tracking data can be processed (e.g., manipulated and / or converted) according to one or more data templates. The data template can include predefined data structures and / or rules for processing (e.g., manipulating and / or converting) raw operation tracking data provided by a distributed system configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The data template can depend on the system configured to monitor and / or track material flows, the operation tracking data type, and / or the type of operation process tracked by the system configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operation process can include supply chain management processes, such as procurement / purchase to payment for providing input materials, orders to cash for providing output materials, plans and inventories for the production and storage of materials, and on-site logistics and transportation management for moving materials within a distributed chemical production environment. The data template can be selected based on the system configured to monitor and / or track material flows, the operation tracking data type, and / or the type of operation process tracked by the system configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The data template can be retrieved from the template storage. The data template can be used to process (e.g., manipulate and / or convert) raw operation tracking data such as provided by a system configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The raw or processed operation tracking data can be further processed, for example, converted into a compressed and / or encoded data storage format (such as Apache Parquet) to enhance the performance of large-scale processing of complex data. The processed operation tracking data can be provided to (multiple) receiver storage devices, such as databases using different storage architectures configured for data marts, online analytical processing (OLAP), online transaction processing (OLTP), predictive analysis, etc. The selection of storage architectures (such as block storage devices, object storage devices, and / or file storage devices) can depend on the latency and performance required to monitor and / or control a distributed chemical production environment. For example, a storage architecture can be selected based on data size and / or data transactions processed per second. The operation tracking data stored in the data receiver can be used to monitor and / or control material flows in a distributed chemical production environment.

[0044] The data source and the data receiver may be associated with storage facilities in different regions. The data source may be associated with a first region, and the data receiver may be associated with a second region. For example, the data source may be associated with multiple regions, collecting data from chemical production environments located in multiple regions. Operation tracking data may be collected from the data source, filtered by region and / or at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, converted and periodically updated by the task scheduler. Further, for example, the data receiver may be associated with a region, collecting data from at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment located in a region. The operation tracking data stored in the data receiver may be periodically updated and synchronized from the data source. The operation tracking data stored in the data receiver may be processed by data aggregation, for example, as in Figure 2 shown in the context of .

[0045] In order to be able to monitor and / or control the material flow in a distributed chemical production environment in a simple, reliable and robust manner, the methods, devices, systems and uses disclosed herein are based on triggering the provision of materials based on monitoring and / or control using manual interaction. The overall operator of the distributed chemical production environment can therefore interact with the operation in a simple and fast manner. This allows the operator to quickly access the state of the operation and trigger the execution of the action if it is considered necessary. In this way, the monitoring and / or control system of the prior art with limited operator interaction possibilities when analyzing and displaying data can enhance the monitoring and / or control of the distributed chemical production environment.

[0046] Figure 2 Example methods for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment are presented.

[0047] One or more receiver identities of one or more data sources having stored operational data may be provided to access, for example, Figure 1Operation tracking data stored as described in the context of . Operation tracking data associated with tracking of material flows can be retrieved from one or more receiver storage devices, and / or updated operation data can be retrieved. The operation tracking data can include time series data providing operation tracking data points at (multiple) time intervals. For example, after initial processing of the operation tracking data provided by a distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows, a data template including a data structure and / or processing rules can be applied to the (semi-)continuously ingested data provided by the distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows. This can include a pipeline of data transformations, such as feature extraction, data transformation (such as cleaning), index creation and / or directory generation. The operation tracking data can be provided from a database associated with the distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows, for example, via batch extract-transform-load (ETL) such as SQL queries or replication. The operation tracking data can be provided from an IoT device associated with the distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows, for example, via a streaming mechanism. The operation tracking data can be provided from an application associated with the distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows, for example, via streaming (such as logs generated when the application is running). The operation tracking data may be provided, for example, via an upload mechanism, from local storage device(s) associated with the distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows. The processed operation tracking data may be stored on receiver (e.g., object) storage devices, including data objects, indexes, and directories. Figure 1 Describes the data structures and / or processing rules in the context of a predefined data processing pipeline to ingest operational trace data.

[0048] Operation tracking data may be provided by a distributed system for tracking material flows in a chemical production environment. Operation tracking data may be associated with input materials entering the chemical production environment, material production in the chemical production environment, material flows within the chemical production environment, and / or output materials leaving the chemical production environment. Operation tracking data may include production data associated with production of at least one distributed system in the distributed system for tracking material flows. Production data may be associated with material production performed by at least one distributed system in the distributed system for tracking material flows. Production data may be associated with time-dependent production of materials. Production data may be associated with production plans for materials, materials that have been produced, and / or materials being produced. Production data may be associated with time-dependent production of materials at a future point in time or time period, materials produced at a past point in time or time period, and / or materials being produced at a current point in time or time period. Operation tracking data may include location-specific production data associated with production of at least one distributed system in the distributed system for tracking material flows.

[0049] Aggregated tracking data may be generated by aggregating operational tracking data over time, by a distributed system for tracking and / or material flow. Operational tracking data (e.g., processed and stored in an object storage device) may be provided for further analysis. For example, aggregated tracking data may be generated by aggregating operational tracking data over time and / or by a distributed system for tracking and / or material flow. For example, operational tracking data may be aggregated by plant, storage facility, material type, etc. Operational tracking data may be aggregated into one or more aggregation types related to material flow and / or one or more stages of one or more operational processes. Examples include requests for providing output materials (orders), quantities of stored materials (inventory), materials stored on a single day (inventory), etc. Examples of aggregated tracking data include requests for output materials (e.g., unfulfilled rush orders) in a time-dependent manner (e.g., within time framed into time intervals), the total amount of materials stored by the distributed chemical production environment (e.g., non-flowing inventory, total inventory quantity TIQ), the total number of days of materials stored by the distributed chemical production environment (e.g., inventory days valuation, DIV), the time required to execute sub-stages of an operational process (e.g., from receipt of a request to provision of output materials), missing data points (e.g., inter-company or customer-related data fields, etc.).

[0050] Aggregate tracking data may be provided to an operator monitoring and / or controlling a distributed chemical production environment. Aggregate tracking data may be provided for display to an operator. Aggregate tracking data may be provided to an operator on an interactive display. The interactive display may provide different data views and filtering options. Aggregate tracking data may be provided for triggering alarms based on predefined or dynamically adjustable alarm rules. Alarms may be represented by one or more thresholds and / or ranges defined for each aggregation type. Depending on the action to be triggered by the alarm, an alarm may be associated with one or more alarm types. Alarms may be provided to an operator monitoring and / or controlling a distributed chemical production environment. Alarms may be provided to a user of a distributed system for monitoring and / or tracking material flows.

[0051] External data associated with factors external to the chemical production environment may be retrieved. The external data may relate to factors that affect the monitoring and / or control of the chemical production environment. The external data may include weather data associated with weather conditions, transportation data associated with material transportation, and / or traffic data associated with the transportation medium of the material. For example, the weather data may represent conditions that may affect the production and / or transportation of the material. Further, for example, the transportation data may represent a type of transportation, such as a ship, air transport, or truck. Further, for example, the traffic data may represent conditions that may affect the transportation of the material. The external data may include location-specific data associated with the location of at least one distributed system in the distributed system for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment. The external data may be analyzed to determine or provide location-specific external conditions. The location-specific external conditions may be mapped to the location of at least one distributed system in the distributed system for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment.

[0052] One or more alarms may be generated based on external data and aggregated tracking data. One or more alarms may be generated based on external data, aggregated tracking data, and / or production data. Alarms may be generated based on alarm rules. One or more alarms may be configured to determine, based on external data, whether the material(s) to be provided are affected or impacted by external conditions. If, based on external data, the material(s) to be provided are affected by external conditions, one or more alarms may be generated. Alarms may be based on one or more alarm logics that determine location-specific external conditions based on or in accordance with external data, and / or determine the material(s) to be provided that are affected by location-specific external conditions based on or in accordance with location-specific external conditions, aggregated operational tracking data, and optionally production data.

[0053] For example, the external data may include transportation data. The transportation data may include time-dependent or current traffic observation data. If a traffic jam or interruption at a particular location is detected in the transportation data, the location-specific operation tracking data may be filtered and an alarm may be triggered. An alarm may be triggered to notify an operator of a delay in the material to be provided. Additionally or alternatively, an operation instruction configured to change the transportation medium (e.g., from air transport to truck) may be generated. Further, for example, the external data may include weather data. The weather data may include time-dependent or current weather observation data. If a monsoon or typhoon at a particular location is detected based on or according to the weather data, the location-specific operation tracking data may be filtered and an alarm may be triggered. For example, an alarm may be triggered to notify an operator of a delay in the material to be provided.

[0054] One or more operational instructions for resolving the generated alarm may be generated. The one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) may include generating user instructions for human-computer interaction. For example, instructions for changing a transport device for a material may be provided to an operator. One or more operational instructions may be provided. The one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) may involve at least moving an input material to enter a chemical production environment, moving a material within a chemical production environment, moving an output material to leave a chemical production environment, producing a material within a chemical production environment, and / or recording a state of a material within a chemical production environment.

[0055] Figure 3 An example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment is presented.

[0056] The device is configured to monitor and / or control a chemical production environment, in particular to perform Figure 2 The steps described in the context of a chemical production environment including a distributed system for tracking material flows in the chemical production environment. The device may include a user interface communicatively coupled to the computing device. The user interface may be configured for human-computer interaction. (Multiple) user instructions may be provided by an operator of the distributed chemical production environment, as described above (e.g., in Figure 2 The computing device may include: an internal data retrieval interface configured to retrieve operational tracking data associated with tracking of material flows from one or more receiver storage devices, and / or retrieve updated operational data; an external data retrieval interface configured to retrieve external data associated with factors external to the chemical production environment; an aggregation engine configured to generate aggregated tracking data by aggregating operational tracking data over time and / or through a distributed system for tracking material flows; an alarm engine configured to generate more alarms based on the external data and the aggregated tracking data; an operation engine configured to generate one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) based on the generated alarms and (multiple) user instructions provided through human-computer interaction; and an output engine configured to provide one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s).

[0057] Figure 4 Shows an example user interface including alert and approval screens.

[0058] exist Figure 4The example in the example shows a status report of the material to be provided. The status report illustrates the different stages of the material to be provided, including sales order creation, confirmation, delivery order creation, transportation planning, and shipment. In the case of weather-based transportation disruptions, such as Figure 4 The alarm shown can be displayed and the operator can be notified. A user instruction can be generated to change the transport medium and the operator can confirm the change.

[0059] The disclosure has also been described in conjunction with various preferred embodiments and examples. However, other variations may be understood and effected by those skilled in the art and those practicing the claimed invention from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the claims.

[0060] Any steps presented herein may be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a particular order of these steps. It is also not required that different steps be performed somewhere or at a certain computing node in the distributed system, i.e., each step may be performed using different devices / data processing at different computing nodes.

[0061] As used herein, "determining" also includes "initiating or causing determination", "generating" also includes "initiating and / or causing generation", and "providing" also includes "initiating or causing determination, generation, selecting, sending and / or receiving". "Initiating or causing performance of an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform a corresponding action.

[0062] In the claims and the description, the word "comprising" or "including" or similar expressions do not exclude other elements or steps and should not be interpreted as being limited to the listed elements or steps. The indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous embodiment or that further elements may be included.

[0063] Providing within the scope of the present disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface (such as a display), and / or a software module interface. Providing may include transmitting data or submitting data to an interface, particularly for display to a user or use by a receiving entity.

[0064] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, systems, devices, apparatus, chemicals, materials, services, uses, computer program elements listed above, and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any embodiment and example are also applicable to all other embodiments and examples, and vice versa.

[0065] All terms and definitions used herein are to be interpreted broadly and have their ordinary meanings.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment, the chemical production environment comprising a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, the method comprising the following steps: - retrieving operational tracking data associated with tracking of material flows from one or more data storage devices, and / or retrieving updated operational data; - retrieving external data associated with external factors of the chemical production environment, wherein the external data relates to factors affecting monitoring and / or control of the chemical production environment; - generating one or more alerts based on the external data and the operational tracking data, and generating one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s) based on the generated alerts; -Providing one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein: The operational tracking data is ingested according to a predefined data processing pipeline associated with data structures and / or processing rules.

3. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The operational tracking data is provided by a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, wherein the aggregated tracking data is generated by aggregating the operational tracking data over time, by the distributed systems for tracking and / or material flow.

4. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The operational tracking data is associated with input materials entering the chemical production environment, production of materials in the chemical production environment, flow of materials within the chemical production environment, and / or output materials exiting the chemical production environment.

5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The operational tracking data includes production data associated with production of at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow.

6. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The operational tracking data includes location-specific production data, wherein the one or more alerts are generated based on the external data and the location-specific production data.

7. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The external data includes weather data associated with weather conditions, transportation data associated with transportation of materials, and / or traffic data associated with the transportation medium of the materials.

8. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein The external data includes location-specific data associated with a location of at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment.

9. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The external data provides location-specific external conditions, and the location-specific external conditions are mapped to the location of at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment.

10. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Generation of an alert is based on alert rules, wherein the one or more alert rules are configured to determine whether the (multiple) materials to be provided are affected by external conditions based on the external data, wherein if, based on the external data, the (multiple) materials to be provided are affected by the external conditions, one or more alerts are generated.

11. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The generation of the alarm is based on one or more alarm logics, which determine location-specific external conditions and determine the aggregated operation tracking data and, optionally, the production data associated with (multiple) materials to be provided that are affected by these location-specific external conditions based on these location-specific external conditions.

12. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: Generating one or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) includes generating user instruction(s) to be provided to a human-machine interface.

13. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: One or more operational instructions for resolving the alarm(s) involve at least moving input material to enter the chemical production environment, moving material within the chemical production environment, moving output material to exit the chemical production environment, producing material within the chemical production environment, and / or recording the status of materials within the chemical production environment.

14. An apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment, the chemical production environment comprising a distributed system for tracking material flow in the chemical production environment, the apparatus comprising: - an internal retrieval interface configured to retrieve operational tracking data associated with tracking of material flows from one or more data storage devices, and / or to retrieve updated operational data; - an external search interface, the external search interface being configured to retrieve external data associated with external factors of the chemical production environment, wherein the external data relates to factors affecting monitoring and / or control of the chemical production environment; - an alert engine configured to generate one or more alerts based on the external data and the operational tracking data; - an action engine configured to generate one or more action instructions for resolving the alert(s) based on the generated alert; - an output engine configured to provide one or more operational instructions for resolving the alert(s).

15. The operating instructions generated by the method described in any one of claims 1 to 13 or generated by the device described in claim 14 are used to display monitoring and / or control instructions to the operator of the chemical production environment and / or to at least one of these distributed systems for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment, and / or are used to monitor and / or control at least one of these distributed systems for tracking the flow of materials in the chemical production environment.

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