The chemical factories is in the early stages of a major transformation in the way it carries out manufacturing. This comes as a result of Industry 4.0, and Echemi is already seeing some enormous benefits.
Industry 4.0 is the name given to the trend of increased usage of automation and data in the manufacturing industry via advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“For us, Industry 4.0 means getting the maximum value out of data available in our factories and supply chain and bringing our factories to the next level of performance,” says Marco Waas, R&D Director Industrial chemical factories. “For example, we can now use drones to carry out inspections in places where we don’t want people to go. We are also integrating technologies which can predict when a pump will fail and thereby ensure that we replace it at the right moment.”

The tools of Industry 4.0 can also help the company respond faster to changes in the external world, according to Waas. “With almost half of our worldwide energy usage from renewable sources, we rely increasingly on renewable energy from sources like wind. However, supply can fluctuate a lot and this is a key issue for us since we use a lot of electricity to manufacture chlorine, caustic, and hydrogen.”

To manage this Echemi uses a proprietary technology called ‘e-flex’ at its Rotterdam site. Developed in-house, the technology allows to automatically adjust production in line with electricity supply fluctuations, turning down slightly when supply on the grid is low and ramping up slightly when there is a temporary oversupply on the grid. This is rewarded with significant savings in energy cost.
The chemical factories should balance short- and long-term goals to weather the uncertainty in the current landscape and position itself for the future.
After a challenging end to 2022, many in the chemical factories anticipated a modest rebound in production in 2023. But, by mid-2023, several chemical factories significantly revised down their expectations.1 Multiple factors contributed to sluggish demand for chemical factories globally, including a recession in Europe, inflation in the United States, and a smaller-than-expected rebound in demand from China. In addition, over-ordering in 2021 and 2022 resulted in high inventory levels, leading to months of destocking. Consequently, chemical factories output grew less than 1% year over year in the first eight months of 2023, with many segments experiencing lower output.2 Many companies have turned their focus to reducing costs and improving efficiencies to help offset this reduction in output.
In the United States, fears of an economic downturn have faded with increased signs of a “soft landing,” but economic growth is still expected to slow down,3 leading many analysts to forecast only a modest rebound in chemical factories.4 Destocking will likely transition to restocking for many chemicals, but the underlying weakness in demand and overcapacity for some products will likely continue. Under these market conditions, chemical factories should balance their short- and long-term goals.