The Chemical Business Association (CBA) represents the chemical supply chain. Many CBA members are SMEs and include manufacturers, distributors, traders, warehouse operators, logistics and transport companies, as well as service providers and suppliers.
Collectively, they are the main chemical industry interfaces, providing products and services to virtually every sector.
The chemicals and pharmaceutical industry is the UK’s second-biggest industry and the nation’s number-one manufacturing exporter. CBA members contribute in excess of £4 billion to the UK economy and employ over 10,000 people nationwide. They handle in excess of 27 million tonnes and make over 2.25 million deliveries of chemicals each year.
Tim Doggett is the CEO of the Chemical Business Association where he advocates for the sector in the UK and across the world.
Can you tell our readers about yourself and your role at the CBA?
Doggett: My background is in supply chain logistics. I've worked in the UK and in different countries. I've owned or started businesses in places like Germany and been lucky enough to work at many places. The reason why that's a bit odd is that I didn't go to university. I didn't do a degree. I started off brushing a warehouse floor, so you can say I worked my way up.
I'm not an activist or a propagandist I'm just a realist. Chemicals are all around us. I'm very keen that the the public are informed of what it actually means, what are the challenges, the things that we can improve, how do we move to a more sustainable life?
My role is fascinating. I work with people ranging from membership, of course, through to many stakeholders, the UK Government and foreign governments, and lots of incredible organisations like Interpol or the FBI or the Metropolitan Police, and also the also the military.
So what is the role that digital tools play in the chemical industry?
Doggett: Globalisation goes about 1000s of years, if not tens of 1000s, as humans started to migrate around the planet. If you go back and think about things like the Silk Road, globalisation is the movement of people, services or goods, and it's been happening forever, as far as people are concerned. But in the last 25 years, we've seen a rapid increase in globalisation due to digital technology.
Digitalisation has transformed everybody's life, and we're living in a rapid acceleration of digital technology. Things like generative AI have had a transformational effect. Today, digitalisation means that you can operate chemical plants from the other side of the world because you can communicate with people anywhere.
In terms of digitalisation is the movement of transport and freight. A big factor in globalisation over the last 25 years has been containerisation. But then, if you think about digitalisation, what's important now is in the planning and operations of shipping lanes and of infrastructure like aircraft or air cargo and the optimisation of this infrastructre.
If you look at the infrastructure for the internet, and how many trillions of transactions and messages have carried on that, apart from being vast, we're so reliant on it.It could be the physical application of what people are doing in terms of running the plant, which could be 6000 miles away, with a control room in a different continent, or the optimisation of those facilities. From the the optimisation of manufacturing to logistics,it's a true digital revolution.
What challenges do organisations face when adopting digital technologies?
Doggett: One of the key factors, and it's not the digitisation itself, it's the challenges businesses face. There are a plethora of challenges, just to stay in business is challenging at the moment. One of the big issues relating to this conversation is seizing the opportunity that AI and digital transformation presents because other factors take up a lot of time and bandwidth.
If I quickly jump onto a lot or an advocacy point of view. When we talk about growth, it's about removing barriers. There are many barriers to investing in this type of technology. Another challenge is that there's so much choice out there, so it can be very difficult to make informed choices that will make a difference.
The other thing is that technology is moving so quickly that it often becomes obsolete or out of date almost as quickly as people implement it. This is also a concern for SMEs. If you look at a typical SME, are those business owners aware of the opportunities or have the infrastructure and in-house skills to properly take advantage of the opportunity? How can smaller chemical businesses or suppliers leverage digital transformation when they don't necessarily have the same resources as larger corporations, right?
Do organisations need to strike a balance between traditional and digital lab operations?
Doggett: Ultimately, people buy off people, so you can never remove that people element. I don't think in many aspects that is going to change. With the widespread adoption of digital technologies, there's a huge consideration, as well as data security and risk. Only as things have developed, the risk of IP loss or theft has become so critical.
For example, if you run a plant that's 6000 miles away then you are not always in physical control of the site. There could be war or conflict, there could be data issues, or a malicious attack on the infrastructure. All of these scenarios pose a risk to IP, because you lose some element of control.
Orgnisations need to think carefully about which technologies are going to make the biggest impact, the biggest ROI or value to the business. Adopt technology where it can make an impact, but be careful not to expose the organisation to unnecessary risk.
How can the CBA help SMEs compete against global companies?
Ultimately, I suppose what will make a positive difference for that SME, and how much of a difference will it make versus the cost of investment and the return on investment? One of the things that we try to do as a membership or to support people is to have best practice workshops and online clinics. We don't endorse any software or specific supplier, but we have things like that.
To give a range of examples, we could work with a National Cyber Security Center to deliver a best practice workshop, which might be all about the expectations and risks and things to be aware of and also give them a point of contact should they be hacked or exploited. An online clinic might aim to pose specific challenges; you need to be aware of a specific hack on a specific technology, or it could be as broad as email phishing.
However, every company and business owner have a different perspective. We can inform them as often as possible about what might be out there, including the vulnerabilities of these technologies. It's not some magic that you plug in somewhere, and then your whole business will be transformed. It's another tool that you should be thinking about taking advantage of.
Tim Doggett is the Chief Executive Officer of Chemical Business Association.
