During the 11th edition of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Supply Chain Conference held from 15-17 April 2019 at the InterContinental Festival City Hotel, Dubai, UAE speaker said that the chemical industry prepare themselves for the new challenges and opportunities due to the digitization and producers should start adapting the new market reality.
As there is global pressure on the chemical players to improve their productivity and efficiency there is a new technological advancement that took place- Supply Chain 4.0. It will affect the way by which organization generate revenue, acquire material and how they handle their logistics. The theme of the conference was ‘Getting Ready for the Future: Supply Chain 4.0’, where all the speakers discussed how enable successful supply chain transformation through collaboration, sales and operation, planning etc. According to Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, Secretary General, GPCA; the industry should start adapting the latest technologies and innovation so that they can create more responsive and intelligent supply chain. This new technologies will not only increase the productivity but also will help them to improve their performance and better to make better decisions.
Ahmed Al-Shamsi, SVP, Regional MEAE, Borouge, and Chairman, GPCA Supply Chain Committee started the conference and was continued by Fayez Al Malki, VP, Global Supply Chain, SABIC said that chemical industry should start adopting technologies like Advanced Analytics, Internet of Things, Robotics, Digital Supply Chain etc. and address the effects these technologies having on existing supply chain and in the future.
Abdulaziz Mohammed Almohawes, Head, Authorized Economic Operator, Saudi Customs, also discussed about the Saudi Authorized Economic Operator Program which is a new facility to make the import and export simple and faster. Eng. Ali A. Al-Omeir, Business Development Director, MODON also discussed the program the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones so that they can encourage the use of smart technology which can help the country to generate new revenue and investments. He also added that chemical industry should create new services for their customers and should get the goods and services from their region so that they can encourage their local content and should support the growth of SMEs. It’s high time that the player should focus more on value rather than just efficiency.
This conference was attended by large number of students from different universities and a special seminar was arranged where the presentation and interactive session was done by the City Cement Company, Borouge and TASNEE, so that they can provide real knowledge to the participants and their peers.
