The chemical industry is faced with two major challenges: aging facility infrastructure and a workforce with fewer experienced workers thanks to a wave of retirees. These issues have an impact on productivity and a company’s ability to respond to market changes. Competition is fierce, not just for feedstocks, but also for customers. This means facilities need to operate at peak performance for long periods of time, with minimal safety or environmental incidents. Many new competitors based outside the United States—primarily in China and India—are able to respond more quickly to market demands because they are using newer equipment, have newer process designs and have a more modern infrastructure. In some areas of the world, plants might be directly supported by their governments (where facilities are wholly or partially government-owned), which means they may have more capital to work with. With more capital, they may be more agile in response to global changes. The problem of aging infrastructure in older plants in the U.S. is particularly tied to the prevalence of legacy two-wire metering equipment. There is also a considerable number of plant employees reaching retirement age who will take with them the skills honed over years of dealing with this existing equipment. The next generation of workers will not have the same level of skills or experiences, and they will expect to work with newer equipment.
Newer parts help reduce cost and bring more stability.
Emerson
10/04/2019
Image 1. Examples of potential cost savings (Image courtesy of Emerson)