The demise of the British Chemical Industry?

 I do hope not, but it is worrying.

Special report from Ed Conway of Sky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3hT8tqZgo

IChemE - Restarting Supply Chains - 5th August 2020

Whatever we think about the current pandemic  - whether concerns are overblown, whether it will be over soon, or whether it is serious and we are stuck with it for months - it is clear that there has been major disruption to supply chains.   We can hope that everything will very quickly get back to normal - but there is an element of wishful thinking there.

You might think that this is a great chance to restructure your supply chains - or that things will quickly revert to exactly what they were before.

With IChemE we are running an online seminar that helps to cover all of these topics, and will help you to think through your options and choices.  And we hope to cover the possible disruptions caused by the UK leaving the EU REACH regime a bit too.

As with any disruption, you can wish and hope - or you can plan and organise.  We hope to help you with your planning.

There is a guest speaker that we are not quite able to announce - watch this space.

Full details and booking arrangements are here.

IChemE webinar series: Engineering Procurement January 2018 - part 2

We have run the first module of four and the next one is on Tuesday 23rd January 2018 at 9am and 4pm.  These are 2 different sessions so that we can pick the best recording and make it available for purchase on line.

So if you missed the first one you can still catch up by buying the course, and then joining in.  I am happy to take questions as we go along, or at the end - which of course you cannot do unless you are joining the live sessions.

The first session was Introduction to Engineering Procurement.

The next one is about Supplier Positioning - how we segment what we spend, and how we get the right relationships with our suppliers.

Full details of the courses (or the recordings) is here.

Engineering Procurement

Check your diaries and book ahead, I shall be running a one day course for IChemE on Engineering Procurement on Wednesday 23rd September 2013.  Yes, next year not this year (2012).  So you have more than a year to wait.

This course will of course focus on the procurement for the Chemicals industry, in particular for Chemical Engineers.  It is new enough that it is not yet advertised on the IChemE website, and I shall let you know when it is.  Booking is through the IChemE, and the price should be about £500 +VAT for IChemE members, £600+VAT for non-IChemE members (but don't hold me to that).

OECD: Innovation and Trade in Pharmaceuticals

The OECD has just published a document on the links between Trade and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry. I was an (unnamed) contributor to the study, which I think is quite interesting. The study was not able to take account of the developments in the industry in the past quarter (the closing of a number of UK based R&D facilities), but highlights the UKs strong position in pharmaceuticals, and the dominance of the developed world. Although India is growing strongly, this is still an industry based in, and for, the "west".

Over time this will surely change, but for the moment the question for Western economies must be how do we build on and maintain this advantage?

The paper can be found here.

A previous study I was involved with looked at Chemicals. It is possible that a revised document will bring together both of these studies later in the year.

Risk

One of the most important elements in business is risk. It is a commonplace that there is no profit without risk, and that every decision is risky (which is why some people avoid making decisions at all). In the standard Kraljic model of procurment one access is about money, and the other is about supply risk. Unfortunately, human beings are particularly bad at correctly accessing and understanding risk. Even when we have correctly assessed the risk, we often then fail to address it in the appropriate manner. As simple examples, many people are scared of flying when statistically the most dangerous part of the journey is driving to the airport. Having worked in the chemical industry, it is also a fact that despite eye catching disasters such as Bopal and Flixborough, again the most dangerous thing in the chemical industry is driving to work. We all also react irrationally to circumstances. We base our assessment of risk on previous experience. So we may drive too fast thinking it is safe because we have never had an accident. Or put in new security systems because we feel the neighbourhood is unsafe after being burgled. In both cases the actual risk is the same before and after - but we perceive it differently, and react accordingly. (actually there is a slightly increased risk of being burgled again, because some burglers wait for you to replace all your stuff on insurance and then rob you again...). These are unconsious attitudes - partly hardwired, and partly based on experience. But they do affect our ability to be successful in business. The BBC has an interesting experiment that takes about 20 minutes here. It not only gives you some feedback on your personal attitude to risk, but also provides data for a study that will help academics at the University of Cambridge. Well worth the time.

Your Flat screen is fat

I recently attended an event organised by Chemicals NorthWest on Printable electronics. You may not have heard much about this emerging technology, but it is going to change a lot of the world around us. The sector covers quite a broad range of activities, but the key factor is (as you might expect) electronic components that can be printed on surfaces in a similar way to printing newspapers on paper. Or perhaps slightly closer, printed wallpaper.
There are a myriad of related issues and concepts, such as organic polymer batteries, light sources and the like, but essentially when this technology comes through we can expect to have our televisions as wallpaper in our living rooms – or potentially on the windows. And our energy produced by thin films of photocells on our roof or any other surface (flat or not)

One of the nice things about this is that it is an area where British companies are in with a good chance of establishing a strong position. This is a disruptive technology, so all the companies trying to develop it are pretty much starting from the same position. Ultimately the devices might be assembled in the far east, which is a shame for UK manufacturing, but the real money could be in the design and manufacture of raw materials and components, and the use of design of the end product. In these areas UK businesses are well placed.
Although I was aware of the technology, I was not aware of how advanced it is until this conference. We were shown a Sony OLED TV – which had better colours than most HD TVs, and was at most half the thickness of an IPod. And this dates from about 3 years ago.
The world will look more like Minority Reports than many of us expected, and it will be with us far sooner than I expected. This is expected to be a market worth hundreds of Billions by the end of the decade.
Of course, at the moment it is all quite staggeringly expensive – but that can change over time. And with it will come an even more futuristic world than we can imagine. Of course, when it does arrive we will take it for granted in about six months.
The opportunities for British business are significant. Dr. Chris Drew of Soris compared the state of this industry to that of pharmaceuticals in the 1950s – fast paced, very high specifications, very technical, great potential, still largely undeveloped. The UK was able to take advantage of that – let’s hope we can do the same again.

Twittering Meetings

I was talking to a colleague who described a recent meeting between two rather traditional multi-national organisations. On the face of it there was an imbalance in the meeting between the host company who had 6 people in the meeting, and the visitor who only had 4. You would expect therefore that, allowing for individual skill and experience levels, that the hosts would be in the stronger position – being in their own offices and having greater resources available.

In fact the opposite applied. The reason? The visitors were live twitter feeding the meeting back to their colleagues in offices across Europe. So while the hosts were drawing on the 6 people in the room, the visitors were able to draw the experience and knowledge of about 20 people all across Europe.

Now, there are a number of issues raised by this. One is a certain level of politeness, because while the hosts were talking the visitors were busy tapping away on Blackberries sharing information with other people (and no doubt doing other things). This could certainly be seen as rude. But then again I am of a certain generation, and I am told that to people in their 20s this is actually perfectly normal. There is also a question of whether the visitors were paying due attention to the discussion going on around them while they fiddled with their technology.

Another issue is about security, and whether confidential information about a high level meeting was accessible to third parties if they were in some way able to access the feed. An important issue, but one that is increasingly common anyway as use of ICT becomes ever more prevalent.

Certainly the consequence of the meeting was that the visitors were able to draw on evidence not actually available to the people in the room, and were able to have suggestions and ideas tested live by a wide community of people who would be effected by the decisions. In previous times, the decisions would have been made in the room, carved in tablets of stone (or at least memos), and then distributed to the masses. Now the people involved could have an input and course correct the meeting as it happened, without having to take time out from their daily activities. As a result, not only will the decisions made be more robust and tested, they are also more likely to be implemented because the people delivering them have been involved in their construction. Action started the moment the meeting wrapped up, rather than sometime after the minutes were written, circulated and then forced through by the project leader.

Now this is in a staid, traditional industry – not media, ICT or creative industries. As my colleague said, one party was in the 1980s, one party was in the 21st century. There are issues to be worked out, but I think we are going to see a lot more of this style of working. Of course one of the drawbacks is that only the people in the room were able to go on the post meeting celebratory bar crawl….

Course: Market Research in the Chemicals Industry

We are due to run the above course on Monday at the Heath in Runcorn.
We have been asked by potential delegates to consider an additional date - 10th May 2010.
If anyone would be interested, please could they let me know. The content and timings would be as advertised, but the venue is not yet fixed.

Research into Innovation

PAWA consulting have been asked by UKTI Northwest to provide an independent evaluation of an project supporting innovative R&D based companies to export. The aim of this project has been to stimulate both exports and further R&D in the UK.

Having just completed a study into links between Innovation and trade (about which we sadly cannot give details), it is clear that in technology industries it is essential that UK companies continue to develop their R&D in order to maintain the commercial advantages we still have over developing regions. The UK has a real advantage because of the existing knowledge base within the country, which we can retain if we continue to innovate.

Chemical Industry Purchasing & Supply chain course 2012

Rob Milner Associates and PAWA Consulting are running the above course at the Heath Runcorn in February 2010. More details in the flier.

Market Research - open training course 2010

Rob Milner Associates and PAWA Consulting are pleased to announce that we are running a course on Market research, focussing on the Chemicals industry at the Heath in Runcorn in February.
Details in the attachment.

YCF Conference - Buying in Uncertain Times

Here is the presentation I gave 14th October 2009 at the Yorkshire Chemical Focus annual Conference in Bradford. Any questions or comments please fire away. Sorry, I can't seem to find an easier way of putting the powerpoint slides in the blog.

2009/10 Training programmes

We are delighted to announce that we shall be running our own training programmes in 2010, starting on 22nd February with Market Research for the Chemical Industry, at The Heath Runcorn (with Robert Milner Associates).
The next day 23rd February 2010 we shall be running Chemical Industry Purchasing and suppy Chain Management, also at the Heath.

At a date to be arranged we shall be running "Beat the Buyer" a half day course focussing on sales and purchasing negotiations (in conjunction with NBA4Business).

In the remainder of this year we have;
Purchasing, Negotiation and Cost control 19-23rd October 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, and
Professional Purchasing Skills, 8th-12th October 2009 in Dubai, and
Complete Course in Purchasing Management, 13th - 17th December 09 in Cairo.

In addition we have a full programme of international training programmes in 2010.

The Complete Course on Purchasing Management
15 - 19 February Kuala Lumpur
The Complete Course on Purchasing Management
16 - 20 May Cairo
Purchasing Management Master Class (Certified Purchasing Professional)
5 - 9 July Vienna
The Complete Course on Purchasing Management
26 - 30 July London
Purchasing Management Master Class (Certified Purchasing Professional)
2 - 6 August Geneva
Purchasing Management Master Class (Certified Purchasing Professional)
1 - 5 November London
The Complete Course on Purchasing Management
29 Nov - 3 Dec Kuala Lumpur
Purchasing Management Master Class (Certified Purchasing Professional)
20 - 24 December Kuala Lumpur

Details of YCF Seminars 14th Oct 2009

PAWA at YCF 14th October 2009

I shall be presenting at the Yorkshire Chemical Focus Annual Conference on 14th October 2009 in Bradford. Time should be late afternoon, and the venue will be the Cedar Court Hotel at the top of the M606.

Chemical Business Networking Group

The CBNG (or just CBN) is exactly what it says - a networking group for people in the UK Chemical Business. The membership is drawn from across the whole range of business, but historically draws most strongly from the Chemicals Manufacturing sector. Membership costs nothing, but is by invitation and limited to 140 members. Meetings are 3 times per year and consist of nothing more elaborate than an opportunity to mingle, a pay your own way lunch, and then a chat across the tables. Occassionally we have a guest speaker. The meetings alternate between Manchester, York and London.

This year I have the honour of being co-chairman with Roger Anderson of Griffin Management - a recruitment consultancy specialising in the chemical industry. If you would like to attend then please drop me a line at info@pawa.co.uk, and I will be happy to chat about it. I am particularly keen to continue to attract further members of the manufacturing base, so the we don't end up with too many "enablers" and too few "do-ers" like some networking groups.

Further details of Chemical Industry Purchasing Course

For more information please contact either Paul or Rob.

Further details of Market Research Course

For futher information please contact either Paul or Rob.

Chemical Industry Purchasing in a Downturn

Fuller details of the course can now be found in the following attachment.

Please contact me directly if you need any more information.