Digital Transformation in the Global Chemicals Industry

Digital Transformation in the Global Chemicals Industry

Across various industrial sectors, digitalization has rapidly developed, utilizing several existing and emerging digital technologies, including AI, Big Data analytics (BDA), IoT, machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), robotics, and automation. While the chemicals industry was relatively slow to adopt these technologies, the transformation rate in the industry has increased considerably in the past 5 years.

The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation in the industry to enable companies to rapidly address remote and hybrid working practices, prolonged and sometimes broken supply chains, and changing end-user demands.

Frost & Sullivan, in its March 2018 study, Impact of Digitization on the Chemical Industry, identified 7 domains of digital transformation and provided an overview of enabling digital technologies.

This new study analyzes the market using 6 emerging themes: Digitalization for Sustainability, Empowered Workforce, Digitalization for Innovation, Enhanced Customer Experience, Digital Transformation of Supply Chain, and Transformation because of Emerging Technologies.

Each theme will cover 1 or more of the 7 domains. While attaining operational excellence is at the core of digitalization strategies of larger petrochemicals, chemicals, and formulation companies in this industry, there is a general rise in awareness among organizations about the importance of adopting a holistic approach by placing their internal workforce and end customers at the core of this transformation as well.