Published in Chemical Industry Digest. – March 2024 issue
Vinod Paremal (Engineer, MBA) is the Regional President for Evonik in the Indian Subcontinent. Previously Paremal was in charge of marketing and sales for performance foams in the business line high performance polymers for Evonik in Darmstadt. He has experience in Evonik across various verticals – Business Lines High Performance Polymers, Oil Additives, Care Solutions, Comfort and Insulation, and at the Evonik Corporate Centre. Over the last fifteen years, he has led Marketing, Strategic Projects, Sales and Production teams, having worked in Germany, Singapore, the UAE and the UK.
In the chemical industry, changing regional landscapes are prompting companies to reconsider their long-term plans. Concerns about supply chain risks, driven by factors like energy market volatility, regional policies, and disruptions, are leading some chemical companies to reassess their assets and supply chain models. India could benefit from this shift in supply chain strategies and maintain its growth in 2024.
It is Important to understand what the future unfolds for the industry and economy. The world is at an inflexion point with several digitally driven technologies converging that are expected to be not just transformative, but could create undreamt of paradigm shifts that could result even in civilizational upliftments, unachievable before. Here we reproduce the responses of Vinod Paremal, Regional President and Managing Director, Evonik India Subcontinent.
CID: How do you foresee both global and domestic economic situ-ations evolving, its impact on industry and the industry trends you feel will shape the course of your industry in 2024?
AG: It is believed that the global industrial automa-tion market is growing at a CAGR of 8.2%. The market “Increased usage of Industrial Digitalization, AI-ML based Manufacturing Excellence Systems:Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already transform-ing the factory automation industry, with ma-chine learning algorithms that can analyzevast amounts of data, provide superlative deci-sion-support,optimize the manufacturing process and work-flow, thereby orchestrating the best outcomes.”
size is expected to be US$ 323 billion in 2023. As India transcends to become a US$5 trillion economy, there lies a compelling opportunity for the industrial auto-
mation business to grow. India is already witnessing a surge in manufacturing activities across diverse sec-tors with the Government of India’s “Make in India”and these further boosts automation for industrial cus-tomers. India’s Industrial Automation Market is pro-
jected to grow from USD 13.23 billion in 2023 to US$ 25.76 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 14.26%. The ris-ing awareness of Industry 4.0 concepts and the increas-ing emphasis on digital transformation provides fer-tile ground for the integration of advanced automation
technologies as we move ahead.
AI/ML based automation technologies will havea transformative impact on automation solutions.Honeywell combines automation and AI to make man-ufacturing plants safer, smarter, and sustainable. Wealso improve employee experience by automating the
repetitive tasks. Honeywell is creating better solutions,adopting robotics and automation technologies for re-petitive manual processes that limit productibility and scalability, enhancing employee safety by providing real-time decision-making aids.
CID: Chemical Industry Digest (CID): What would you say are two or three of the most important trends of the last year that has impacted Indian business and industry, and more particularly, your industry?
VP: In 2023, India’s economy showed resilience despite the global slowdown. The main contributors to India’s growth were strong domestic spending and government investments in infrastructure. The automotive industry performed well, indicating increased spending, particularly by the middle and higher income groups. The government’s focus on entrepreneurship with initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, and ‘Start-up India’ also played a role in the country’s economic growth.
The chemical industry globally and in India faced challenges last year especially the export-based businesses. However, there were positive trends in India, such as rising focus on sustainability. Evonik’s solutions for fuel efficiency, carbon emissions reduction, and lightweight options gained popularity in the Indian automotive sector. Additionally, increased investments in renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power, are positive developments for Evonik.
CID: How do you foresee both global and domestic economic situations evolving, their impact on industry and the industry trends you feel will shape the course of your industry in 2024?
VP: The global economy is experiencing variations, with industries closely monitoring signals for improvement in demand. The pace of global growth depends on the revival of demand in key markets like China and the Western countries. Inflation is slowing down, but remains above the target, and some pressures persist.
In the chemical industry, changing regional landscapes are prompting companies to reconsider their long-term plans. Concerns about supply chain risks, driven by factors like energy market volatility, regional policies, and disruptions, are leading some chemical companies to reassess their assets and supply chain models. India could benefit from this shift in supply chain strategies and maintain its growth in 2024.
Despite global economic uncertainties, the Indian economy is showing resilience. However, there are ongoing concerns about food inflation and slow growth in rural output and services.
CID: Digitalisation is inescapable. What is the progress that you have made in your company in the digitalization of your operations? What benefits have accrued so far? How are you proceeding with reskilling your workforce on digitalization?
VP: In Evonik, our focus on digitalization revolves around meaningful interaction, continuous networking, and smart use of data. We have several key aspects:
- Industry 4.0 or Smart Operations: This is about making our production and supply chain more efficient.
- Digital Business: We aim to enhance customer and user experiences, forming the foundation for new business models.
- Cognitive Solutions: We leverage artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, across all areas, with a special focus on research, development, and application technology.
- Digital Work or Human Work: We believe that people are central to digitization, emphasizing that human involvement is crucial.
In simpler terms, when it comes to marketing and sales, our digitalization efforts are all about creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging valuable offerings for our customers. We’ve structured this through our Digital Customer Experience Framework, known as DCX.
CID: As you know Artificial Intelligence (AI) together with voluminous data management and analytics is bringing innovative paradigm-changing transformations for business and industry. What are your plans and strategies to incorporate AI in your business?
VP: Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is like the go-to tool in today’s digital age. Within Evonik, we have devised a strategy known as the Cognitive Solutions Agenda to maximize its potential.
The goal here is to get everyone at Evonik on board with AI. We are doing this by informing, inspiring, and educating our team through a step-by-step training program. This program covers basic awareness to advanced data analytics and science courses including structure determination and material compositions in the lab, classifying knowledge such as patents, managing information for high-performance polymers, creating a virtual assistant called COATINO for the paint and coatings industry, and predicting the purchase prices of raw materials.
In the world of industrial AI applications, we have partnered with MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab to develop a new technique, which will make it easier for machine learning algorithms to understand chemical compounds, helping us predict their properties more effectively.
CID: It is a high-tech world we are in, as never before. Those who hold the levers of technology will dart forward, driving business fortunes; This means for those companies investing in result-oriented R & D. To what extent is this perception held dear, and to what extent is your R&D and innovation driving your business?
VP: our innovation growth fields by 2025. Looking ahead to 2030, we plan to invest over €3 billion in Next Generation Solutions, which are products designed with sustainability as a focus.
We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint significantly. With the help of Next Generation Technologies, we aim to cut our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from production and processing by 25% by 2030.
To support these goals, we’re getting into venture capital with a new Sustainability Tech Fund, bringing in a total investment of €150 million. This fund will boost our sustainability targets by investing in innovative technologies and business models, focusing on those that reduce CO2 emissions and align well with our Next Generation Solutions.
In India, our efforts will be concentrated at the new Evonik India Research Hub in Mumbai, starting from April 2024. The hub will be dedicated to advancing Next-Gen Solutions, emphasizing our commitment to sustainability.
