How the global trends are driving a sustainable supply chain in chemicals

Posted: May 25, 2021

Global trends are impacting the chemicals industry. There's a demographic change due to the emerging economies in Asia that started several years ago and could be even accelerated in the post-pandemic scenario. The sustainability drivers are pushing waste reduction, the development of new sustainable and innovative products, and the increased pressure for recycling, driving the circular economy. And, finally, the COVID-19 pandemic brought massive disruption to the supply chains, drastic changes in consumer behavior affecting the demand for different chemical products, and also caused a significant impact on the way we work.  In such a turbulent scenario, chemical manufacturers are facing several different challenges that need to be coordinated:

• The pressure for quality accuracy with minimal waste and emissions;
• Reaching the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) targets;
• The demand higher agility, collaboration, and resilience;
• Ensuring maximum profitability.

To overcome those challenges in the current dynamic environment, chemical companies need to focus on specific areas for continuous improvement: empower employees, optimize operations, engage customers and transform offerings. By applying the rights effort and digital technology to the value chain, significant benefits can be achieved.

Isolated solutions can provide limited value, so to reach the maximum return from your value chain, you need to build a digital roadmap including all the elements of your operations and supply chain. To optimize your value chain, three dimensions need to be considered:

1. Ensure a reliable execution of integrated sales & operations plan, with responsiveness to take advantage of market opportunities;
2. Eliminate value leaks across the value chain, managing costs across waste, emissions and energy consumption;
3. Implement digital technology under an Industry 4.0 approach to be able to plan, execute and optimize across all the functional areas of your business and operations.

The success of your Value Chain Optimization depends on how well your digital roadmap will be designed. It must be tailored to your plant´s and organization´s digital maturity level, and, also, the specific goals and needs. Agility and resilience are no longer optional. Value Chain Optimization can provide the needed visibility and insights to drive business outcomes though integrated planning, optimized production, and continuous improvement.

Watch the webinar “Value Chain Optimization to drive a Circular Economy” to learn more about how to build a digital roadmap to optimize your value chain.