CARGOCONNECT-APRIL2025 - Flipbook - Page 72
PANEL 3
ACCELERATING DIGITALISATION IN CHEMICAL
SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS
“Digitisation and digital transformation have been dominant
topics across industries in recent
years, and it's not just limited
to the chemical sector. Here, a
critical point to explore is whether
this focus on transformation is
merely driven by hype or if it’s
a genuine response to the fear
of missing out. Alternatively, we
need to question whether there
are real, fundamental changes happening in the background that are
driving these transformations. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the
emergence of concepts like arti昀椀cial intelligence, which was initially
difficult to grasp but has now become more widely understood and
applied. We’ve also been introduced to terms like Joint Neural Networks
(JNN), digital twins, control towers, and Blockchain—each representing
a signi昀椀cant shift in how industries are approaching their operations
and process advancements. It’s important to understand whether these
technologies are simply trends or if they are reshaping the way industries
function at a deeper level.”
ROHIT ANAND, Head– Supply Chain Planning,
Valvoline Cummins India (MODERATOR)
“Companies are now shifting
towards more proactive and predictive approaches. Take BASF as an
example. Before 2019, we managed
around 400 shipments manually,
relying on an access-based system.
This meant that employees were
physically present in the o昀케ce to
enter data and then hand over
documents to customer brokers,
who had to re-enter them into their
own systems. Recognising this challenge, BASF implemented an o昀昀-taking
system integrated with SAP. The system was designed to automate data
entry and streamline the entire process. When a purchase order is created
in SAP, and when goods are issued and the shipment is completed, the
data is automatically transferred to the o昀昀-taking system. This eliminates
human error and signi昀椀cantly improves e昀케ciency. The o昀昀-taking system
operates on a maker-checker principle, where requests are validated before
being passed on to the next stage. Our control tower for international SCM
has greatly improved shipment processing times. We now clear over 95%
of shipments within 36 hours, with the goal of reducing that to 24 hours.”
MAYUR KAPASI, Head– Customs and Foreign Trade Operations,
BASF India
72 | CARGOCONNECT APRIL 2025
