2017 is the longest recorded year and the best in a decade for the global chemical organization. Oil demand remains strong, but price volatility is below previous levels. With the development of shale technology, natural gas can meet the global power demand and chemical production at any time. New regulations and new mobile trends are expected to affect demand for refined products. Record M & A activities continue to reshape the competition pattern. For the rest of the decade, the chemical industry is expected to reach the top of a rising cycle, approaching a potential peak in the next decade

Despite the favorable conditions, it depends largely on whether the chemical organization is ready to stand in the digital age. In order to keep the current development sustainable and profitable at the speed determined by the market, it is essential for chemical companies to understand the global forces that drive change, including technological progress, raw material inventory and product supply, demand volatility and sustainability factors. Then, these companies must take action to adapt quickly and improve the experience of customers and employees by investing in operational flexibility and flexibility. They must also strive to manage costs by improving asset reliability and optimizing supply chains.

Both external and internal factors are putting pressure on chemical companies to build demand driven supply chain. From an external perspective, strengthening the review of recall and return requires traceability of products from procurement to manufacturing to finished products. It must be possible to address rapidly price fluctuations due to changes in the energy market (such as raw materials) and consumer markets (such as construction, automobiles, packaging and agriculture). With the increase of competition and the decrease of differentiation, innovation and the ability to quickly enter the market and transform from suppliers to solution providers are crucial. Supply chain also needs to manage supply and demand disruption due to different suppliers, regulations, geopolitical factors and cost pressures.

From the internal perspective, demand change is the direct result of the changes in the consumer industry (such as B2B), and different participation models are needed to reduce the impact on the supply chain. The supply chain also needs to address operational challenges caused by the lack of integration among the raw material quality and availability, scheduling and plant maintenance constraints, R & D schedules, and business units such as sales and marketing, R & D and production. In addition, the lack of supply chain visibility (including in transit inventory) often leads to poor optimization.

With the maturity of new market and the popularity of new material formula, the organizations of chemical industry find that they need flexible supply chain technology to meet the growing performance standards. At least, this means deploying predictive supply chain analysis systems and dynamic pricing systems. Next generation supply chain solutions may require automatic optimization and decision-making capabilities.

There is a gap in the effectiveness of the most important supply chain demand in chemical companies, which aggravates these demands. For example, two thirds of the 460 chemical Respondents involved in our survey said that increasing the use of analysis in supply chain data and costs is crucial. Only half of us, however, have told us that their supply chain functions are effective in this regard. chemical companies believe that the importance of advancing priorities (such as managing transport disruption, managing material quality and risk, improving demand forecasting, integrating financial, sales and operational plans) is far from their current proficiency in implementing these priorities. Of these ten requirements, the average efficiency gap is 11 per cent.