R&D Solutions for Chemicals

WHITE PAPER

Industry 4.0: Top Challenges for Chemical Manufacturing

Introduction
Industry 4.0 is transforming chemical manufacturing. Companies are adapting
to the digital world, recognizing the power of “connection” among products,
production equipment and personnel. But transformation entails challenges.
Some are specific to organizations, depending on where they are with regard to
technology, operations and resources. Others, such as meeting standards and
implementing best practices, are challenges that confront all companies, and
are key to maximizing partnerships and collaborations.
 Industry 4.0 involves combining both physical
and digital technologies to streamline business
operations and promote growth.

Summary
Within the past couple of years, the manufacturing world has catapulted into “Industry
4.0.” Industry 2.0 was about focusing on mass production and improving processes
through tools such as Six Sigma. Industry 3.0 drove automation and the push to centralize
data across departments within a company to make product development more efficient,
improve quality and reduce costs.

Start of 1800s Start of 1900s Start of 1970s 2014+

Industry 1.0 Industry 2.0 Industry 3.0 Industry 4.0

Mechanical Mass production Introduction of Production based
production facilities based on division of electronics and IT for on cyber-physical
powered by water labor and powered by further automation systems.
and steam. electrical energy of production.

Also referred to as “the fourth industrial revolution,” Industry 4.0 involves combining both
physical and digital technologies to streamline business operations and promote growth.
Driven largely by the advent of “smart” factories, underpinned by the Internet of Things
(IoT), Industry 4.0 describes the movement by manufacturers to not only connect up
all parts of their organization, but also to reach out and connect globally with suppliers,
customers and new partners—especially technology firms. It is arguably the most
transformative era yet for chemical manufacturing.
A recent report, Industry 4.0 at McKinsey’s Model Factories, describes the new era as “a
confluence of disruptive digital technologies that are set to change the manufacturing
sector beyond recognition: driven by the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational
power, and connectivity; by the emergence of advanced analytics and business intelligence
capabilities; by new forms of human-machine interaction, such as touch interfaces and
augmented-reality systems; by improvements in the transfer of digital instructions to the
physical world, such as in advanced robotics and 3-D printing.”
Exciting, but also potentially overwhelming. What does it mean specifically for chemical
manufacturing? Where do organizations who want to keep pace begin to focus their efforts?
This white paper presents three major 4.0 challenges that chemical manufacturers need to
address right now to stay competitive.

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Internet of Things (IoT) The early adoption of these innovations
Simply put, the IoT—also referred to as should make the prospect of increasing
the “Internet of everything”—involves such connectedness exponentially—e.g.,
the use of technology to connect people, developing “smart” factories and initiating
processes, assets and products in both other production and operational
the physical and digital worlds. enhancements—less daunting.

In 2012, the Global Standards Initiative on As a major player in almost every

the Internet of Things defined it more manufactured product, with more than 20
officially as “a global infrastructure for the million people employed and annual sales
information society, enabling advanced of $5 trillion, the chemicals industry is
services by interconnecting (physical the “backbone” of many other industries,
and virtual) things based on existing and and so changes there are likely to have
evolving interoperable information and a “ripple effect,” according to a recent
communication technologies.” Deloitte report. Overall, widespread
adoption of Industry 4.0 concepts and
According to the IoT Institute, by 2020, technologies will promote strategic
30 billion devices will be connected growth, build efficiency and reduce
globally. “These connected objects will waste across all stakeholders, including
automate processes, find and self-correct customers and suppliers.
problems, and record and send data to
central servers,” where it can be analyzed “Industry 4.0 is fundamentally an all-
to modify and improve both products encompassing ‘no silos’ way of doing
and processes. business,” said Christina Valimaki, Senior
Director, Chemicals Industry at Elsevier.
The IoT is driving Industry 4.0 “Chemical manufacturing is in an ideal
innovations. This includes “smart” position to lead the way in connectivity
products, with sensors and RFID tags and integration, bringing everyone and
embedded in packaging, which are everything it touches—both within
being used to create integrated supply organizations and globally—along with it.”
chains, enabling product tracking, tracing
and authentication. Some chemical
manufacturers have begun to use
embedded sensors to enable predictive
maintenance, whereby machines send
signals if something is about to go awry.

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“Data is not useful unless it is processed in a
way that provides context and meaning that
can be understood by the right personnel.”
—Experts at the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center

Actionable data meaning that can be understood by

Industry 4.0’s reliance on the IoT the right personnel. Just connecting
essentially means that every single sensors to a machine or connecting a
component of a chemical manufacturing machine to another machine will not
organization—equipment, products give users the insights needed to make
and personnel—will be spewing forth better decisions,” say experts at the NSF
huge amounts of data. Storage firm Industry/University Cooperative Research
EMC predicts that by 2020, more than Center on Intelligent Maintenance
44 zettabytes of data will be created by Systems at the University of Cincinnati.
seven billion people with multiple devices To transform data into actionable
connected to the Internet. information requires both the right
A sizeable portion of that data is being technologies and the right people. The
amassed by manufacturers and will right technologies include systems with
need to be converted into actionable analytical and visualization capabilities
information. That means the data that enable predictive manufacturing,
must be properly acquired, stored, technical problem solving, process design
analyzed and shared. To accomplish and hazard analysis, environmental
this, chemical manufacturers will need impact mitigation as well as energy
to invest in integrated cloud- or cyber- efficiency and safety.
based acquisition and storage platforms, The right people, on the one hand, are
advanced analytics systems, and multiple suppliers—providers of hardware, software,
communication tools and protocols to sensors, applications, telematics and
produce secure, readily usable output— mobile devices—who, according to the
i.e., a constantly evolving knowledge base. IoT Institute, are now best thought of as
“Data is not useful unless it is processed “strategic partners,” as the capabilities they
in a way that provides context and offer are becoming part of doing business.

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On the other hand, every chemical Germany stresses that “employees need to
manufacturer’s workforce also needs become enabled to take on more strategic,
the right people. “You need people coordinating and creative activities” to cope
who can take a bird’s eye view at the with knowledge and competence challenges
department level and pull relevant data in the IoT environment.
together to inform department-level
“Simple and monotonous processes are
decisions,” said Elsevier’s Valimaki. “And
being automated, while other processes
you also need people who can take a
become more complex and intertwined,”
global view, making informed decisions
they note. “The number of workspaces
across departments and often, across
with a high level of complexity will
entities that are collaborating on major
increase,” resulting in the need to hire
projects. That calls for a transdisciplinary
people with higher level skills and/or train
team whose members are skilled not
current employees to deal with more
only in their specific areas of expertise,
complicated processes, thereby ensuring
such as operations or R&D, but also in
retention in a shifting work environment.
sharing and communicating digitally-
derived insights seamlessly across the
organization and its partners.”
“Holistic human resource management”
was the term used by presenters at the 6th
CIRP Conference on Learning Factories
held recently in Norway. In the conference
proceedings, Fabian Hecklau of the
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems
and Design Technology IPK in Berlin,

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Standards and best practices for all players.” The authors show an
The National Institute of Standards and Industry 4.0 standard structure that
Technology (NIST) refers to IoT-enabled includes “basic common standards” (e.g.,
manufacturing as “smart manufacturing security, detection and evaluation) and “key
systems (SMS),” characterized by technology” standards (e.g., smart factory,
digitization to enhance interoperability industrial software and big data)—10
and productivity; use of connected devices categories in all, likely with multiple
and distributed intelligence; collaborative standards within each.
and rapidly responsive supply chain Standards bodies such as the ISO and IEC
management; integrated decision making have joined together to form a working
for energy and resource efficiency; and, as group for the IoT. NIST has created a
highlighted in this white paper, advanced Smart Manufacturing Systems Design and
sensors and big data analytics throughout. Analysis Program to “deliver measurement
Standards—the building blocks that enable science, standards and protocols, and tools
repeatable processes—will maximize the needed to design and analyze SMS…”
possibilities of Industry 4.0 across the Various consortia and open-source
chemical manufacturing sector. But we’re organizations also are developing
not there yet. NIST has devoted an entire standards and best practices for SMS, as
publication to the Current Standards are professional societies and trade groups.
Landscape for Smart Manufacturing
Systems. In it, the Institute notes that Just as embedding machines with sensors
existing standards provide instructions for won’t ensure decision making, the
designers, engineers, builders, operators existence of all these standards doesn’t
and decision makers within their own ensure adoption, especially given their
domains (i.e., silos), only occasionally diversity. Standards harmonization is key
facilitating much-needed communication to implementation, yet some experts
among stakeholders across domains. predict it will take at least another decade
to create Industry 4.0-specific standards.
The sheer volume of regional, national and Meanwhile, to help ensure quality control
international standards for manufacturing and security, each partner in a chemical
is mind-boggling. Echoing NIST, a recent manufacturing endeavor needs to ensure
review published in Advanced Engineering that standards relevant to their particular
Informatics noted, “Equipment, suppliers, domains are met.
factories, production lines, products and
customers are integrated under Industry
4.0. Therefore, there are specific standards

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Conclusion
The challenges presented here can also be viewed as opportunities—to grow, connect,
streamline and build your chemical manufacturing value chain. This white paper is
intended to raise awareness of some of the key components of Industry 4.0 so that
chemical manufacturers can take stock of their current status and create a strategy to
move forward. Our next white paper provides a look at pilot projects and evidence-
based examples of what some companies are doing to take advantage of Industry 4.0
opportunities, and to survive and thrive in coming years.

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Elsevier’s R&D Solutions is a portfolio of tools that integrate data, analytics and
technology capabilities to help chemical companies more quickly design, test, and
train staff to achieve a safe, compliant, and efficient production line.

LEARN MORE
To learn more about Elsevier’s R&D Solutions, visit
elsevier.com/rd-solutions/chemicals-and-materials
or contact your nearest Elsevier office.

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Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

March 2017
ELSV 12731 CHEM MAN WP Industry 4.0 Top