The good news for manufacturers in the chemical industry are that feedstock prices have been low, in part due to the global COVID pandemic. But with hydrocarbon and other feedstock prices climbing recently, the need to drive higher process efficiencies and cost savings throughout the chemical value chain grows in importance.

Emerson’s Michael Machuca alerted me to a series of chemical industry webinars beginning later this month. Michael, Marty McDonough and Andrew Cureton will host one or more of these webinars. They include:

• Achieving Repeatable Golden Batch Outcomes: Feb 23, 10-10:45am CST; Mar 4, 2-2:45pm CST
• Golden Batch Application Best Practices to Achieve Higher Margins: Mar 16, 2-2:45pm CST; Mar 25, 10-10:45am CST
• Reducing Risk and Product Transfer Errors in Chemical Loading & Unloading Operations: Apr 8, 2-2:45pm CST; Apr 13, 10-10:45am CST
• Work More Safely and Free Up Operational Resources by Automating Your Operator Rounds: Apr 27, 2-2:45pm CST; May 6, 10-10:45am CST
• Innovations for Personnel and Process Safety in Chemical Plants: May 18, 10-10:45am CST; May 26, 2-2:45pm CST

Batch operations for specialty chemical producers are the subject of the first two webinars. They are challenged in consistently meeting their “right the first time” targets.

Unlike commodity chemical producers, specialty chemical producers often differentiate on more than cost. Quality can be a key differentiator. These producers require just-in-time (JIT) and flexible manufacturing operations, face stiff global competition, must contend with loss of expertise from retirements, and comply with ever stricter regulations.

Michael notes that some specialty chemical manufacturers report a right-the-first-time KPI of 40-70%. That means a lot of rework or scrap. This creates a lot of non-value staff work and lower plant availability.

In these first two webinars you’ll learn more about ways to reduce and predict batch cycle times, reduce or eliminate out of spec batches, and avoid or better manage abnormal situations if/when they develop.

Register today with the hyperlinks above for one or more of the webinars in the series on ways you can drive improved process efficiencies and reduce costs.

Visit the Chemical industry section on Emerson.com for more on the technologies and solutions to drive top quartile performance.