Building resilience: A chemical manufacturer’ s AI-driven supply chain planning transformation
Robbert de Looff, chemicals industry commercial lead at OMP, explains how Solvay improved resilience and agility by transforming its supply chain planning and execution
Chemical supply chains are frequently caught between the uncertainties of global demand and the push effects resulting from continuous production flows. Indeed, the industry has seen significant fluctuation in demand over the past few years.
While the sharp decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by a modest rebound, additional regional uncertainties have arisen due to geopolitical events, price volatility, labour shortages and a cascade of regulatory and economic policy changes which is likely to grow even more intense in the years to come.( Sustainability regulations will give green chemistry a boost but import tariffs could severely disrupt demand and supply across the globe.)
Navigating this environment means balancing complex trade-offs to maximise asset utilisation, minimise waste and assure margins. This has led to a critical need for end-to-end supply chain visibility and agility.
Chemical companies must be able to move quickly and make the right decisions in the face of shortages in raw material, oscillating product prices and events disrupting transport. The future belongs to faster, smarter decisions powered by human-AI synergy.
Solvay’ s approach
Solvay currently operates 43 production sites across 41 countries with approximately 8,400 employees,
One of Solvay ' s network of 43 sites
reporting € 4.3 billion in net sales for 2025. Its core business revolves around manufacturing essential chemicals that serve a wide variety of industries, including automotive, building and construction, consumer goods, healthcare, electronics, food and agriculture.
The company’ s supply chain strategy spans the three key areas of advanced digital planning, strict sustainability standards and smart B2B collaborations. Internally, it is actively transforming its supply chain planning capabilities to transition away from disconnected, manual spreadsheets. This approach is rooted in three main principles to build resilience and agility:
• Starting focused: Solvay prioritises a clear scope and out-of-thebox capabilities to build a solid operational foundation
• Integrating planning end-to-end: Solvay connects demand, tactical, operational and scheduling data into a single unified model to enable faster, impact-driven decision-making
• Building visibility before adding AI: The company establishes full endto-end visibility, all the way down
52 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981