CARGOCONNECT-APRIL2026 - Flipbook - Page 67
CHEMCONNECT 2026
“Infrastructure development
within the supply chain ecosystem is progressing rapidly.
Modern warehouses equipped
with advanced technologies
are enhancing operational
efficiency, strengthening
control mechanisms and
improving real-time visibility
through tracking systems and
automation. However, regulatory compliance remains a critical factor, particularly when working closely
with logistics and warehousing partners. Ensuring that partners possess
the required skills, capabilities and training is essential for maintaining
consistent service standards. One e昀昀ective approach is to conduct periodic
joint reviews with warehousing and transportation partners and organise
collaborative training programmes to identify operational gaps and implement
corrective measures that bene昀椀t all stakeholders. In addition, customer
requirements often vary signi昀椀cantly across locations and facilities. Clearly
identifying these requirements and communicating them in a structured
manner to transporters and warehouse partners helps ensure alignment
with service expectations. Documenting and sharing these requirements
strengthen overall supply chain performance.”
“Over the past few years, there
has been a strong emphasis
across industries on cost
optimisation and extracting
e昀케ciencies from every aspect
of the supply chain. Traditionally, supply chain agility
and cost e昀케ciency were often
viewed as competing priorities,
with organisations attempting
to balance responsiveness with
tight cost control. At the same time, customer expectations continue to remain
high, creating additional pressure to maintain service levels while managing
costs e昀昀ectively. Therefore, there is now a growing need to move toward
stronger partnership-driven problem solving. While 昀氀exibility in contracts and
operational systems is frequently discussed at a strategic level, these bene昀椀ts
are often not fully realised during execution. One key reason is the misalignment
of success metrics between organisations and their supply chain partners. To
address this challenge, supply chain teams must increasingly rely on deeper
collaboration, shared objectives and joint decision-making frameworks. Only
greater alignment through continuous dialogue and coordinated planning
enables organisations and their partners to work together more e昀昀ectively
in addressing operational challenges.”
“First, innovation plays a central role in
responding to rapidly evolving customer
expectations and market conditions. Companies must continuously develop products
that are not only eco-friendly but also capable
of being customised to specific customer
requirements and produced within shorter
lead times. Second, agility has become a key
enabler of supply chain responsiveness, and
in today’s environment it is closely linked
to digital enablement, which signi昀椀cantly
strengthens organisational responsiveness. Third, competitiveness remains
closely tied to pricing e昀케ciency, particularly in the chemical industry where
raw material price volatility continues to be a major challenge. Organisations
can address this volatility through long-term supplier agreements, diversi昀椀ed
sourcing strategies and reduced dependence on single suppliers. In recent years,
especially following the disruptions caused by the pandemic and changes in
global trade dynamics, continuous collaboration between commercial and
supply chain teams has become essential to ensure that market intelligence
is captured and communicated e昀昀ectively across the organisation.”
“Today, many specialty chemical and process
manufacturing companies are investing in
multipurpose manufacturing facilities to
enhance responsiveness to market shifts.
These facilities enable organisations to
switch quickly between product lines when
demand patterns change, thereby improving
turnaround time and strengthening market
alignment. Similarly, continuous process
plants are increasingly being designed with
昀氀exibility in mind through the adoption of
swing plant capabilities. They play an important role in enabling manufacturers to respond quickly to 昀氀uctuations in product demand by allowing
production shifts across di昀昀erent output streams. Another important aspect
of production agility relates to optimising output ratios in multi-product
processes. Through focussed research and development and improvements
in catalytic processes, organisations are now able to adjust output ratios
more 昀氀exibly to match evolving demand patterns. Production shutdown
planning has also evolved signi昀椀cantly. While safety remains the top priority,
organisations are aligning maintenance shutdown schedules more closely
with demand cycles to minimise disruptions to supply continuity.”
SANJAY VARMA, National Logistics Manager, Evonik India
ANKUSH KOTAWAR, Demand Planning Manager– Engineered
Polymers (EMEAI), The Lubrizol Corporation
ANIL GOYAL, VP– Head of Direct Procurement, Aarti Industries
PRASAD JOGLEKAR, President– Commercial & SC, Deepak Fertilisers
and Petrochemicals Corp.
“While organisations must strictly follow
SOPs, compliance requirements must be
balanced with the need to maintain delivery
timelines. Logistics functions therefore
operate within a framework where adherence
to SOPs and regulatory compliance must
coexist with execution agility. However,
there is still scope for improvement at the
ecosystem level. Today, organisations are
moving beyond cost-per-unit metrics and
focussing instead on overall landed cost
optimisation. Logistics partners have played an important role in supporting these expectations by contributing to more e昀케cient and integrated
execution aligned with organisational objectives. For logistics professionals,
adaptability remains critical, as change is constant across the supply chain
environment. Over the years, government initiatives have supported the
consolidation and simpli昀椀cation of several documentation processes, which
has been a positive development for logistics operations. While platforms
such as ICEGATE, DGFT, and banking interfaces are available, they are
not yet fully integrated. Greater alignment between these systems would
signi昀椀cantly improve process e昀케ciency and reduce coordination gaps across
the EXIM value chain.”
RAJNI SAKPAL, Head– EXIM, Harman Finochem
CARGOCONNECT APRIL 2026 | 67
