Overview

28th Feb / 1st March 2011 - ABION Spreebogen Waterside Hotel, Berlin

Strategic challenges in chemical production | Operational excellence for increasing productivity | Intelligent manufacturing systems, automation & BI | Reducing energy consumption

The crisis of 2009 has structured the chemical sector in Europe from scratch. The resulting increase in inventory levels, costs and savings, and the massive pressure from Asian competitors requires a thorough discussion of methods and tools to implement a strategic and sustainable production management in the chemical industry under the impact of global shifts in the market.

Inside the chemical industry, manufacturers are facing immense product differentiation, fast moving technological requirements, strong environmental and health awareness, and stringent regulations. Therefore chemical manufacturers must adopt new technology, innovate effectively and produce in a cost efficient manner, respecting product and environmental safety.

As chemical companies continue to focus on attaining the next level of operational excellence, more and more are adopting or expanding their use of Lean or Lean Six Sigma across their organisation.  As this adoption matures, companies are looking for ways to standardise their improvement processes, accelerate their time-to-value in these programmes and find better ways to measure and monitor the value they are getting for their investments.  Operational excellence can be a highly effective approach for a maximum of ROI. OPEX is prerequisite to succeed by using minimum energy consumption, high product yield and high system availability in global competition. New OPEX concepts link methodological expertise with technology innovations to secure operational process efficiency. Issues such as OPEX, Lean, OEE, TPM or continuous improvement are just some issues that will play a significant role in the future of chemical production. These tools help to rationalise and standardise production processes for cost savings in terms of manufacturing efficiency, quality and energy and raw material consumption.

One of the most effective ways to realise this value is by using software for example with manufacturing execution systems (MES).  Product data integration and harmonisation facilitates innovation with sustainable, high-tech products, and reconciles short production and product life cycles with production efficiency. For the chemical industry, MES functionalities leverage existing business system investments and infrastructure while accelerating manufacturing visibility and control. This allows production and logistics processes to be synchronised so that, at any time, products are quickly and cost efficiently delivered which contributes to maintaining a competitive edge

Another effective tool is, for example, business intelligence (BI). BI in chemical manufacturing environments is emerging as a worthwhile investment for many savvy companies. These firms are starting to realise that the gap between manufacturing intelligence designed to keep assembly lines running smoothly and their traditional BI systems is more like a chasm. If companies with significant chemical manufacturing operations want to beam light into the dark, they have to make a case for implementing BI that is capable of creating meaning from manufacturing activity.

Today, the proportion of the chemical industry's total sales of the manufacturing sector in Europe is over 10%. In addition to the internationalisation of the value chain, primarily the requirements of the customers, like price, availability and quality of the products are the most difficult challenges chemical companies are facing. The economic crisis had a particularly strong effect on the chemical industry in Europe, since large areas of the industry have been affected (especially automotive coatings industry) and chemical composition of business especially commissioned break-ins.
Now, most chemical companies have reduced their stock excess capacity. It is now strategically aligned and new production set-ups are ready for a new, changed market. The European chemical industry has to focus on new challenges in a rapidly changing market. The “European Chemical Manufacturing Masters 2011” will discuss challenges and solutions for chemical manufacturers across all over Europe!