Simon Hardy - there is no excuse for not digitising everything where there is obvious value and the returns outweigh the costs

Optimising unknown processes can have surprising benefits , writes Simon Hardy , business digital network evangelist at Elemica

Paperless

What we have not done , up until now , is try to get rid of the paper . The European Cleaning Document ( ECD ) is used during the process ; it is a robust document that clearly details what has occurred . The ECD is a standardised document which details that the vessel was properly cleaned with the proper type of chemicals . The document travels from place to place along with the tank and is presented upon arrival at the next location for review . You can imagine the state of the document after being handled by 3-5 people or more , but it is a necessary piece of paper for ensuring that the wrong product will not be put in the wrong tank . There is now an exciting new initiative to create an electronic version , the eECD . To be fair , the topic has been discussed for a number of years . Some very large chemical producers looked at doing this about 10 years ago , however , they shelved it , wanting an industry-wide initiative . By using an electronic version of the ECD , you can feed the information into back-end systems for record keeping . Now you have begun to transform your supply chain digitally by eliminating paper processes . Digitising the supply chain leads to added revenues . A recent McKinsey research report highlighted that companies that aggressively digitise their supply chains can expect to boost annual growth of earnings before interest and taxes by 3.2 percent — the largest increase from digitising any specific business area — and annual revenue growth by 2.3 percent . That is significant to shareholders . With electronic records instead of paper , information is made more visible to more parties within the supply chain . The eECD can provide information on the tank cars throughout its entire lifecycle , allowing you to track and trace where the car has been , who used it , when it was used , what chemicals were in it , what was used to clean it and when was it last cleaned . Most importantly , with electronic records you could look at what chemicals had been in the car three or four batches ago , which makes a difference to some chemicals and shippers . With the eECD you have an accurate source of information that allows you to build trust with customers .

Fake docs

One of the risks in tank cleaning is counterfeit paperwork , which is where electronic records would help . As tank cleaning is expensive , some vendors , who are not reputable , could pretend to clean the tanks while providing fake documents . Electronic records would eliminate that risk . For companies that are moving chemicals , this is what makes this attempt destined for success . It is an industry initiative . It is a combination of EFTCO ( European Federation of Tank Cleaning Operators ), ECTA ( European Chemical Transport Association ) and Essenscia ( the Belgian Chemical Industry group ). They are working together as a consortium . They also have an excellent advocate in Peter Devos , the managing director of ECTA , who is working with the communities to make it successful . This consortium worked together to come up with a platform that can support the eECD ; they are just wanting the industry to pick it up . The good news is that companies are already asking to get this data from the new platform . At the moment , it is a trickle , but the flood will come . Once companies do some simple due diligence , they will realise they can get benefits quickly and without too much fuss . A digital supply network for process industries that connects all supply chain trading partners is the perfect platform to handle this electronic documentation . Trading partners share information that is visible to all parties on the network , regardless of size or technical capability . Communications are improved with the availability of more information , and this visibility allows you to collaborate with your customers from a holistic end-to-end perspective . Leveraging a digital supply network drives better customer engagement and facilitates enhanced relationships between trading partners . The due diligence question that chemical producers need to ask themselves is , “ How can I benefit from this opportunity ”. As with so many things in the automation area , there are two main things to consider . The first is , “ What is the process as-is and what is the tobe situation ” and the second element is , “ What change management will be required across the stakeholders in the supply chain ”. This sounds like an opportunity to pull in a collection of expensive consultants , but reality is far simpler than this .

Let ’ s change

If we look at the second element , the change management , in this situation it should be simple . The people in and around the process will not need to change things too much and most importantly , the end customer will not even see the difference . If customers are involved , it should be purely through a marketing communication process , showing how the new initiative automates a manual process and that shippers now have the data at their fingertips . It will show how shippers are on a digital journey and that in a few years ’ time this may lead to a completely touchless process in the tank cleaning area . It is an area that robotics and artificial intelligence solutions may support in the next decade . This is all complimentary to the other messages about visibility in the supply chain and making it digitally easy ‘ to do business ’. Going back to the process , this will take more thinking from your supply chain team . The chemical company ‘ shippers ’ will need to think who is providing the data to them . For the members of EFTCO and ECTA it is easy , they transfer the information between themselves at the moment through pieces of paper , therefore they can just automate it in the future . For the shipper there are some more decision points ; do they demand it from their carrier community ; do they just want to know that it exists ; or do they want a copy from the consortium platform ? All three options are viable . The service provider to the shipper is often the carrier and the tank cleaning is more than often done as part of the delivery process . For others , tanks are cleaned ahead of time by the EFTCO members , then the equipment is requested for use through the carrier . Shippers will need to involve the process mapping teams and look at it from a continuous improvement perspective . If they are requesting it directly , or through the carriers , they will need to understand where they will store the documents ( or data ) and what document lifecycle management they will need . So far , this is not being provided by third parties , so it will need to be a shipper decision .

History lesson

What is not currently in place , but is on the roadmap , is historic information . With historical data you will know what was in the car four or five loads ago , which can be important for certain chemicals . You can also monitor trends that can be shared around the organization , providing value to many operations . You can create key performance indicators for suppliers and vendors , sharing which company cleaned cars better than others , etc . The bottom line is the industry should congratulate the people who are focusing on the untrendy , non-visible , processes . Automating tank cleaning will save time , money and ensure that customers get the product they expect with no contamination . All shippers should put this on their roadmap of initiatives . There are companies who understand what needs to happen and can support the internal reviews . Find one of these and get going . The sooner you automate the process , the sooner you will be able to show the enhancements to your customers . As a result , the customer experience will be exceptional , building loyalty and repeat business .

Simon Hardy studied Chemical Engineering at University College London and has been working in the Chemical Industry for 25 years . For the past 18 it has been in eBusiness and in Digital Transformation . He took the learnings from his 14 years at Air Products and Chemicals Inc and applied it to the rest of the industry when he joined Elemica in 2006 . In his opinion , there is no excuse for not digitising everything where there is obvious value and the returns outweigh the costs .