What does digitization mean for the chemicals industry?

In partnership with consulting firm EY, Speciality Chemicals Magazine is launching a survey of the state of digtalization in the chemicals industry. And we need your help! It is entirely confidential, based on mainly multiple choice questions and should only take 5 minutes to complete. Please click here to participate, or continue scrolling to the bottom of this page to complete it there.

The future is digital. New advances in robotics and 3D printing have transformed how products are manufactured. Blockchain can revolutionise global transactions. Machine learning will do some of the more mundane thinking for us. 

Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution – is here and it will radically transform how goods are made, bought and sold. But to what extent will it affect the chemicals industry? That is a top-of-mind question for the leadership of EY, a leading global professional services organisation serving the sector. It is certainly on the minds of chemicals companies too. 

At every industry event, digitization is described as one of the megatrends that will affect everyone and everything in the industry, and those it serves downstream. Yet, at the same time, for many, it is far from clear what digitization really means and this highly technical, but often quite traditional, manufacturing industry is often behind the curve when it comes to adapting to transformational technologies. 

To examine who the chemicals industry is dealing with the challenge, EY and Speciality Chemicals Magazine (SCM) are conducting the Digitization in Chemical Industry Survey, which is intended to measure the benefits and current implementation status of digitization in the industry. The survey is largely focused on projects planned, completed and under way, and their level of success. 

A previous study by EY in the Germany, Switzerland & Austria region showed that digitization is a high priority for companies in the industry. However, it also found that the top three areas of focus were ones that are not generally driven by cost reduction goals. The most transformative digitization initiatives – smart factory, 3D printing and blockchain – ranked in the bottom three. In addition, there is a question on how digitization is perceived in terms of job growth or cuts.

We hope we get as much participation from the SCM readership as possible, particularly from the senior and other executives. The Digitization in Chemical Industry Survey is completely confidential and involves fewer than 20 questions, which are mostly multiple choice. They should not take more than five minutes to answer and we will publish the highlights of the survey in the next issue. Please either complete the survey below or click here to open it in a new browser window.