Industry 4.0 part of the plan for Dow and Covestro

Materials leaders Dow Inc. and Covestro LLC are working with Industry 4.0 — both internally and with the plastics processors that use their products.

Industry 4.0 is generally described as the fourth industrial revolution, one that uses smart factories, automation, integration and the Internet of Things. For Dow, Industry 4.0 "is a good opportunity to improve our customer experience and employ our expertise," according to Billy Bardin, global digitalization director with the Midland, Mich.-based firm.

Dow, a major supplier of polyethylene and specialty resins, is using Industry 4.0 methods to improve market integration, anticipate market needs and improve customers' ordering experience, Bardin added in a recent interview with Plastics News.

"We can engage in online product selection with customers and customers' customers in the value chain," he said.

Industry 4.0 also can apply to operations via product safety and "can touch all aspects of customer interaction," he added. "If we can anticipate what the market needs, we can target those needs and improve our tech service and manufacturing."

At Covestro, a Pittsburgh-based materials firm that's a unit of Covestro AG of Leverkusen, Germany, the approach to Industry 4.0 revolves around three pillars: operations, interaction with customers and how to enable through digital technology, according to innovation management head Currie Crookston.

"Across the spectrum, [Industry 4.0] can bring a lot of changes to operations by gathering a lot of data," he said in a recent interview. "We can then use that data to improve how we operate; we can avoid shutdowns and improve yields."

On the customer side, Crookston said that Industry 4.0 has allowed Covestro to create digital trading platforms — no-touch ordering systems that he said "can handle some complexity." One Covestro platform recently incorporated a new app for polycarbonate resin that can help customers assess different types of materials.

As with many newer initiatives, Industry 4.0 sometimes can have a learning curve for customers at both Dow and Covestro. "Ultimately, you have to compete with everything else for resources, people and cash," said Bardin at Dow.

He described customers' reactions to Industry 4.0 efforts so far as mixed. "We have some customers that are heavily engaged in the digital experience — larger players who adopt technology to speed their processes and product development.

"But it depends on the size of the organization and how much resources they have. It's about how to best serve their needs," he added. "Most manufacturers now have a chief digital officer or a close equivalent. They look at technology as a way to drive improvements from a manufacturing perspective. They can look at their own productivity and cost savings and potential for production growth."

At Covestro, Crookston said that some of the firm's customers "are on the same journey as we are with technology, and they expect more from us, but others aren't ready to do all of that.

"And investments are always a challenge, as well as the time associated with it," he added.

But those conversations can change once suppliers and their customers see payoffs resulting from Industry 4.0.

"These strategies can help give producers and manufacturers additional capacity when the market demands it," Dow's Bardin said. "They get more reactor uptime instead of downtime. They can meet safety and sustainability goals and have better tracking while reducing production time."

The Industry 4.0 process "provides greater insights, and what you do with those affects your business," he added. "Digital Dow is a key pillar of our senior leadership and corporate strategy. It's a business enabler. We really want to see businesses with a digital component that's tied to business outcomes."

For Covestro's customers, Industry 4.0 can allow them to improve conditions and reduce their scrap rates, according to Crookston.

Industry 4.0 practices also can broaden what's considered drop-in technology if a processor is considering a new grade of material, he added. It's also "a way to capture knowledge with our workforce aging out."

"When a guy walks out the door, you don't want all that knowledge going with him," Crookston said.