70
CLOSE UP REPORT • THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED THE PETROCHEMICAL SUPPLY CHAIN ALL AROUND THE WORLD. GPCA’S LEARNINGS ARE RELEVANT TO ALL PLAYERS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC of the past 15 months has demonstrated the acute importance of collaboration to build more agile, resilient and responsive supply chains. That was the message given loud and clear by industry leaders speaking at the 12th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Supply Chain Conference, which was held virtually this past 26 and 27 May. More than 1,300 people attended the event, representing some 450 companies from 62 countries. They heard from senior executives from across the chemical and petrochemical value chain, including logistics service providers and shipping operators, who urged them to capitalise on the lessons learned during the pandemic and act on them in the future, whether that be the need to collaborate more closely with the regulators, their customers and strategic partners, to drive better supply chain visibility and invest in digitisation, to build their workforce capabilities, or to focus on sustainability in the supply chain. In the keynote address to the conference, Hamad Alterkait, chairman of Kuwait-based PIC, encouraged chemical leaders to engage in supply chain collaboration even with their competitors and keep their inventory in close customer proximity to improve their reliability and better serve their end markets. He told attendees at the virtual event: “Regional chemical producers must diversify their supply base even if it means incurring higher costs in order to cushion the impact from any future crisis. Companies must also explore out-of-
PIC CHAIRMAN HAMAD ALTERKAIT WAS FIRM THAT THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY MUST LOOK AT NEW WAYS OF WORKING
HCB MONTHLY | JULY/AUGUST 2021
the-box supply chain solutions, using different scenarios, which may aid in addressing important challenges at a critical time.” Echoing Alterkait’s remarks on the importance of collaboration were Hosam Al-Zamil, vice-president of global supply chain
“REGIONAL CHEMICAL PRODUCERS MUST DIVERSIFY THEIR SUPPLY BASE IN ORDER TO CUSHION THE IMPACT FROM ANY FUTURE CRISIS”
at SABIC; Ahmed Abdulla Al-Salahi, CCO of Q-Chem; and Ahmed Al-Katheeri, senior vice-president of supply chain management at Borouge. In the conference’s inaugural panel on the future of chemical supply chains they agreed that the Covid-19 pandemic was a test to the resilience of chemical supply chains, as it demonstrated that the world is one global community. “The future will not be the moving of our products; it will be the moving of data which will help enable responsiveness and agility and drive customer centricity to stay competitive. However, we cannot achieve this by working in silos. The chemical industry is just one part of the supply chain and we must work together to build a more resilient future,” Al-Katheeri stressed. RESULTS CONFIRMED A recent GPCA survey confirms the insights shared by speakers. It found that chemical supply chain operations have been the single most impacted business function within downstream organisations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the past 15 months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the path to recovery, chemical companies must focus on supply chain digitisation, sustainability, trade facilitation and regulatory engagement. Within these trends, carbon neutrality, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will be the key segments to focus on to drive the greatest impact on businesses’ supply chains today, the survey found. Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of GPCA, comments: “I was pleased to welcome the regional and global chemical industry to the virtual edition of the 12th GPCA Supply Chain Conference and gain first-hand insight into the challenges associated with the pandemic on their chemical supply chain and operations. The audience was left with a message of positivity on what’s to come next and provided with a range of practical tips on how to address the uncertainty and any new crisis in the future. I hope delegates enjoyed attending the event and thank all our sponsors and partners for making this edition possible.” www.gpcasupplychain.com
