From 2006 to 2015, the global chemical industry grew healthy at an average rate of 6%. However, China contributed most of the growth in chemical companies, with an average annual growth rate of 18%. As a result, its share of global chemical production has increased from 13% to 37%. Capital investment in the global chemical industry is fully consistent with this trend. In 2013, 73% of the investment was deployed in the Asia-Pacific region, which was higher than the 54% that was dominant in 2006. China’s rise in the chemical The future of the industry in the world is of great significance.
Although China’s growth has always been concentrated in low-margin commodity sub-sectors, recent evidence shows that China is climbing the technological ladder and increasing in high-tech, traditionally profitable sub-sectors, such as technical polymers and battery materials. Its market share. China's chemical manufacturing industry has become increasingly dominant, putting excessive pressure on the balance of the global chemical industry. As shown in Figure 1, innovation and efficiency-seeking organizational restructuring have become key drivers in the global chemical value chain.
The chemical industry obtains inputs from various sources, uses various processes, and shows a long, often highly globalized and increasingly commoditized value chain. It provides integrated inputs to many sectors (and end markets) from automobiles to agriculture, construction, and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, in terms of the complexity and length of the chemical value chain itself, as well as the multiple sectors and end markets that the chemical value chain usually serves, the scope of digital damage in the chemical industry is wide.
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There has not been a major digital disruption in the chemical value chain, and there are no short-term signs of such disruption. Therefore, the status of the chemical industry seems to be very different from that of digitally disruptive service industries such as banking and entertainment; or other manufacturing industries, such as automobiles and retail-oriented clothing and textile industries, which seem to be in the industry 4.0 belt. In the early throes of the major subversion that came.
To a certain extent, the scale requirements, diversity and interconnected nature of the industry, and internal technology-intensive processes have and will continue to protect the chemical industry from new entrants and business models. However, although examples of creating and sharing value in very different ways within the chemical value chain are isolated, there are more and more examples. These examples may cause more fundamental damage in specific subsectors and end markets. "Chemicals as a service" is one such example. There are also breakthrough manufacturing methods, such as digital light synthesis in additive manufacturing, and through the application of the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as the related use of big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, which significantly enhance supply chain coordination and optimization.
Nanotechnology and chemical technology go hand in hand, and nanotechnology is increasingly being used to optimize chemical manufacturing processes. Swiss scientists "have found a way to build a catalytic model system that is accurate to one nanometer-that is, an experimental device-and then track the chemical reactions of individual nanoparticles [4]."
Continuous product innovation, with the continuous changes in chemical innovation, has promoted the progress of products in the downstream industry. For example, the prosperity of consumer electronics has largely benefited from advanced plastics, adhesives, and other products that make screens larger, smarter, and thinner; Driven by the advancement of plastic technology, the automotive and aerospace industries are turning to lightweight. Although the speed of innovation may accelerate due to Industry 4.0, process and product innovation is the core of the chemical industry, and it is not expected to fundamentally subvert it.
