The Amazon of chemicals
Elemica claims to simplify the chemical supply chain through software. We spoke with chief innovation officer Arun Samuga
Software company Elemica claims that it“ powers the leading digital supply chain network built to simplify how the world’ s largest manufacturers and logistics providers buy, sell and deliver”. Its platforms seek to automate the flow of goods, data and capital from fulfilment to real-time shipment visibility. Chemical industry customers include BASF, Dow, Dupont, Lanxess, Wacker Chemie, Arkema and Syensqo.
The company makes a number of bold claims but saying that it delivers an“ Amazon-like experience” stands out because the chemical industry is totally different to the consumer market. What does it mean to use the B2C customer experience of finding products, placing orders, tracking shipments and ultimately enabling a seamless delivery in the B2B context?“ When you try to map it into a B2B landscape, we are fundamentally referring to a seamless, intelligent and highly responsive digital experience across the entire order-to-cash lifecycle, including fulfilment,” says Arun Samuga, chief innovation officer at Elemica.
“ It’ s not a consumer-style market, but buyers still expect intuitive interfaces, real-time visibility for the products that they ordered and effortless interactions. Touchless order rates are extremely important. You can imagine the need for having critical master data that comes into play in terms of synchronising customer demand.”
Automation & prediction
Elemica, Samuga says,“ brings to life the automation of transactions”, including order creation, order response, shipping notice, invoices and then a transport order, a transport order response, a bill of lading, a freight invoice and shipment statuses between shipper and carrier. All of these are correlated through a network platform“ to provide end-to-end shipment and order status transparency”.
The platform also enables predictive insights for proactive ETA transmission and updates, then simplifying collaboration between suppliers, logistics service providers and customers in case issues arise. And, of course, they always do, most obviously when it comes to the transportation of hazardous goods.
“ Much like Amazon redefined these things in consumer commerce, we are transforming the B2B experience in chemicals by removing friction, reducing manual effort and ultimately driving trust through data,” Samuga says.
Unlike Amazon, though, Elemica uses a multi-channel strategy. This can include direct connections from companies’ ERP systems to
Figure 1- Order management in the Elemica system
54 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981