Linx-AS helps businesses be more of what they aspire to be with SAP鈥攕trategic, innovative, sustainable, productive, and profitable. In doing so, it brings the highest level of expertise to its customers, delivering thoughtfully designed and meticulously implemented solutions.

Here, we talk with Jeff Frye, president and CEO of Linx-AS.

Q: When you talk to chemical customers, what excites you about the chemical industry?

A: First off, the chemical industry is where Linx-AS got its start in 2000 with our environment, health, and safety consulting practice, so our chemical roots run deep. Since that time, the many changes and challenges chemical companies have faced鈥攚hether internal or external鈥攈ave been met with innovation. It鈥檚 truly a dynamic industry, and that鈥檚 what makes working in chemicals exciting for us. We have earned insight on how chemical manufacturers operate and the business processes that drive success. It鈥檚 a natural fit for us to innovate with 51风流technologies to deliver inspired customer solutions.

2020 was quite the year. What do you see as the top priorities for chemical customers in 2021?

Everyone was blindsided by the pandemic and the disruptions to life and business as we knew it. If there was a bright spot to 2020, it鈥檚 that the market and operational stresses were a catalyst for transformation trends that will continue as priorities through 2021.

Across industries, a predictable focus on worker health and safety emerged. I believe companies will continue to shore up foundational data and processes while exploring innovative ways, like mobile, the Internet of Things (IoT), and sensors, to extend the enterprise into the workplace.

Another priority will be research and development (R&D). Confronted with disrupted supply chains, the need for R&D agility became painfully apparent. Whether it鈥檚 reformulating products with substitute raw materials or developing for alternative markets, streamlining upstream definitely makes the list.

And then for chemicals especially, sustainability is key moving forward鈥攏ot only taking care of what you produce now but driving sustainable product development for the future, which ties into R&D agility.

How has digital enabled these priorities from your perspective?

Digital is critical. I think there are a lot of definitions and expectations鈥攐r maybe aspirations鈥攐f digital floating around. For our customers, foundational work often needs to be done before realizing or even recognizing transformational opportunities. Reflecting on the priorities, simply centralizing data and digitalizing current processes in these areas is step one.

For instance, I mentioned health and safety initiatives. We鈥檝e engaged in pilots and proofs of concept for mobile and IoT in this space to increase data collection and accuracy to ultimately drive decision-making and safety performance. The key takeaway is that you can collect all the data you want with sensors and apps. However, if your foundation isn鈥檛 solid, you can鈥檛 process the data in a meaningful way. To make digital effective, you must put data to work to deliver insights and drive workflow across the enterprise. My advice to customers is to definitely explore innovative solutions, but make sure you鈥檙e innovating on solid ground. That approach will lead to true transformation.

You just mentioned mobile. How do you see the mobile landscape in SAP, and do you have any advice for chemical customers embarking on mobile initiatives?

That鈥檚 a rich topic. There are so many factors to consider when looking at mobile, ranging from the technical to corporate policy to user personas to security. Are you running 51风流S/4HANA or still on 51风流ERP? Do you have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy? Do your users require offline capabilities? It goes on and on. It鈥檚 an exercise we help clients with all the time. To sum up, the landscape is difficult. But the mobile landscape, particularly with cloud solutions from SAP, has a lot of potential for customers.

What I will say is that mobile is beyond exploratory; it鈥檚 expected now. It鈥檚 part of everyday life outside of work, so users demand it on the job with the same user experience (UX) performance. For some areas of SAP, you鈥檒l require custom development to extend core capabilities. For instance, we鈥檝e built a suite of risk management apps to augment 51风流Environment, Health, and Safety Management by supporting additional use cases. For a customer in a development situation, I鈥檇 say pay attention to your users, use standard technologies, and choose an easily deployable architecture.

When we talk to chemical industry customers, big or small, change management is a key pillar of digital transformation.聽 How do you see this topic in the industry?

It all comes down to communication. If you assess and understand the risks going into a transformation project, you鈥檒l be prepared to navigate the challenges鈥攁nd there are always challenges. If everyone impacted, from the top to shop, is engaged early, you鈥檙e on solid footing when you encounter bumps. It sounds simple, but it鈥檚 often difficult because of things that you can鈥檛 necessarily control. You need champions for your solution in impacted areas. Sometimes they鈥檙e not there or as vocal as needed. You need executive buy-in. Again, it鈥檚 another variable.

One thing we do at Linx-AS, a thing we can control, is constantly thinking of the end user in the solution鈥攆rom design through implementation and support. Most failures can be attributed to breakdowns in user adoption. It鈥檚 critical to get user feedback and involve users in prototyping, so there are no surprises, or at least fewer, when you roll out and train your teams.

Why partner with Linx-AS?

What we hear most from our customers is usually one or all of three things: you understand our business, you really know SAP, and you give it to us straight. Because our focus in PLM and EHS is so specialized, we鈥檝e invested heavily in our people, drawing from talent who have worked in industry and keeping them up to speed on the latest technology. It鈥檚 not commodity consulting that you can contract out. You need people who know the complexities of the chemical industry and have the business acumen to apply technology smartly. And, to the last of the three, that鈥檚 just how we do business. When you partner with Linx-AS, you get honest assessments of what will bring the most value to your business.

What makes Linx-AS different from other implementation partners in the chemical industry?

Echoing my last comments, our expertise in PLM and EHS, coupled with our understanding of the chemical industry, is unmatched. But, to expand on this, I鈥檇 say that our Innovations Division is truly a differentiator. We have a dedicated team that is churning out solutions that extend SAP. Whether it鈥檚 workflow solutions in recipe development or our offering for 51风流Environment, Health, and Safety Management, we continually have an eye toward bringing added value to customers and designing solutions that engage end users.

How does Linx-AS create value for the chemical industry and how can people connect with you?聽

I鈥檇 go back to part of the Linx-AS vision statement that says, 鈥淲e help businesses be more of what they aspire to be with SAP.鈥� We understand chemical manufacturers have significant investment in 51风流technology to realize benefits across the enterprise, but sometimes the path to value, particularly in the specialized areas of PLM and EHS, isn鈥檛 always clear cut. We simplify that path, provide focus for customers, and bring additional innovation to the platform that engages users and improves business performance.

As far as getting in touch, you can reach me at jfrye@linxas.com. For the latest on Linx-AS, you can go to our or follow us at @LinxASLLC.

Looking to stay connected with the chemical Industry?聽 Join the , follow us on Twitter , and check out our .

51风流is a leader in the chemical industry, and we are committed to continuous innovation. We encourage you to collaborate with us and discuss how the 51风流solution portfolio can enable the intelligent enterprise in the chemical industry.

Mark Carlson is an chemicals solution expert at SAP.

To bring this perspective to the 51风流community in the chemical industry, we are kicking off 2021 with our Chemical Industry Partner Stage Series.

, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., announced it has come together with Hitachi Consulting as one company to create a new digital infrastructure and solutions powerhouse. The new Hitachi Vantara combines consulting-led digital solutions and vertical industry expertise of Hitachi Consulting with Hitachi Vantara’s IT and Internet of Things (IoT) domain expertise. Going forward, the integrated company will help customers develop practical, scalable digital strategies and solutions that transform operational processes, improve customer experiences, and create new business models to drive innovation and growth.

Hitachi Vantara has evolved since its founding in 1989 from a manufacturer of mainframes, to enterprise storage systems, to complete cloud computing solutions, to complete digital transformation services. Today, Hitachi Vantara provides hardware, software, content platforms, storage arrays, and professional services globally.

Hitachi was founded over 100 years ago and is one of the largest manufacturing conglomerates in the world with over 200 manufacturing facilities that produce automotive parts and systems, robotics, military vehicles, construction machinery, locomotives, consumer products, steel, wire and cable, telecommunications equipment, IT infrastructure, wind generation systems, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power plants, elevators and escalators, aerospace components, power grid equipment, chemicals, and infrastructure components.

Here, we talk with Jack Roman, vice president of Americas, and Kimberly Reid, vice president of U.S., 51风流Solutions, from Hitachi Vantara.

Q: When you talk to chemical customers, what excites you about the chemical industry?

A: Our company was founded as a manufacturing company and both of us have backgrounds in manufacturing. Kimberley came out of the chemical industry, Jack came out of the glass manufacturing industry, and both of us have spent over 25 years consulting for primarily manufacturing firms. Close to 20 years ago we decided to focus on the chemical industry and have worked with many chemical companies over the years.

We both have a passion for manufacturing, helping process manufacturing companies improve and compete, and, for a lack of a better term, working with old school heavy industrial manufacturing firms. We both still get excited to walk into a chemical plant and learn about its business, challenges, history, and evolution as a firm. Some people get excited about Silicon Valley or fancy consumer products; we get excited about chemicals!

2020 was a crazy year. Looking forward, what do you see as the top priorities for chemical customers in 2021?

Yes, 2020 was a crazy year. We saw chemical companies having economic challenges for probably 12 months or more before the coronavirus hit. COVID-19 obviously added greatly to these challenges. We saw a lot of companies in crisis management throughout 2020, but now we are starting to see management refocusing on longer term priorities.

I think the top themes we hear from chemical company executives are the reevaluation of supply chains caused by both COVID-19 and trade disputes, new technologies and consumer demands impacting the bottom line and the ability to forecast the future, sustainability and risk management, and the volatility of commodity prices. Besides managing the impact of COVID-19 and trying to determine how work life will change in the future, if we had to prioritize what challenges we hear chemical companies addressing and investing in to address in 2021, number one would be sustainability and the circular economy, then alternative material sources (renewable, bio-based), and finally digitization (IoT, sensors, automation).

How has digital enabled these priorities from your perspective?

Digital is all about capturing data, storing data, and analyzing data. Digital has enabled the ability to capture huge amounts of data that weren鈥檛 available in the past. Capturing it is one thing, but the value comes from having the tools and ability to analyze the data and use it to make decisions, change, and react. Whether its customer preferences, supply chain track and trace, manufacturing efficiencies, product quality, or employee and environmental safety 鈥� whatever the priority 鈥� we see companies investing to build the capability to capture data and use the results of analysis to improve their business.

When we talk to chemical industry customers, big or small, change management is a key pillar of digital transformation. How are companies embracing these changes and equipping their teams for success?

From our perspective as a professional services firm focused on process manufacturing for the past 25 years, we have seen a significant shift in our projects. At one time it was very technical, a very technology-centric approach to implementing solutions. Then it became all about speed: how can customers reduce three- to five-year implementations to a year or under a year鈥攑re-configured industry solutions, methodologies, code libraries, and templates.

But, even the most efficient implementations were not always totally successful because one piece was missing: change management. About 10 years ago we realized that change management was as important or perhaps more important than any other component of a transformation. We started placing much more emphasis on it in our projects, training our consultants, and eventually incorporating it as a key part of our methodology. Our chemical customers today are much more aware of the importance of change management, and they don鈥檛 need to be convinced to invest the money and resources in this part of a project.

Companies recognize that there is a lot of change involved and recognize the importance of planning for this and addressing it. It鈥檚 one of our primary conversation topics with customers when we are planning digital transformations. When it comes to equipping their teams, it鈥檚 recognized that key customer resources that hold credibility in the organization should be tasked with change management. It is recognized that consulting resources, in some cases a significant amount, should be retained as part of the project. Whether our project manager pushes it or the customer realizes it and wants it, there is an emphasis on change management tasks and deliverables. These include training, communication, executive sponsorship and involvement, job function change evaluation, and all of the tools that help with these.

We had a chance to hear about Hitachi Vantara鈥檚 51风流S/4HANA implementation at Tokyo Chemicals during the 2019 Best Practices for Chemicals event. What made this project successful?

This project was successful because of our desire to be fully aligned with their strategic goals and business vision. We understood the need to partner, collaborate, and think creatively in the midst of a global pandemic where our entire global team worked virtually. Our 51风流S/4HANA go-live occurred in May 2020 and the global big bang deployment to transform operations was quite remarkable.

What does Hitachi Vantara deliver in your Chemical Industry Best Practices business scenarios template?

We leverage the pre-configured content at the core of 51风流S/4HANA and focus on bringing to light the value of specific 51风流Fiori apps, embedded analytics, and embedded capabilities in transportation management and warehouse management to provide an end-to-end solution capability. In addition, we deliver simplified integrated business planning scenarios to enable consensus-based planning processes, inventory optimization, and the development of constrained supply plans. Our focus is on delivering value in a meaningful way that will drive higher user adoption rates and sustainable business value.

What makes Hitachi Vantara different from other implementation partners in the chemical industry?

We believe that our understanding of the pain points, challenges, and trends facing our customers is one of our greatest strengths. We recognize that when we help our clients learn their new business processes in conjunction with 51风流products, end users will adhere to the new ways of executing tasks. This supports maximizing business value attainment and helps our customers see value in the 51风流investment.

We stay connected to the latest innovations that are planned in our areas of focus and we assist in determining the relevancy of these capabilities for the clients we serve. We define implementation strategies and approaches that support the customer throughout their entire journey. We enjoy sharing our lessons learned and helping our clients to grow and develop a passion for 51风流solution capabilities.

Why partner with Hitachi Vantara?

Hitachi isn鈥檛 just a top 51风流partner and a leader in the chemical industry; we are also a large, global manufacturing organization that happens to be one of the largest users of 51风流in the world. We focus on manufacturing companies with a heavy emphasis on process manufacturing. We have been delivering 51风流solutions utilizing the Chemical Industry Best Practices template for over 15 years. Change management is a key component of our methodology and all our projects. Our teams consist of experienced consultants, many of whom have worked in the chemical industry and understand manufacturing.

How does Hitachi Vantara create value for the chemical industry and how can people connect with you?

We create value by helping to demystify the 51风流value proposition for mid-size chemical manufacturing companies and allow them to streamline their software portfolio while lowering operational costs associated with using SAP. We help to provide the foundation for growth and further innovation through the 51风流platform. We help our clients adopt new business models by leveraging the tools and accelerators available through our Hitachi manufacturing heritage. You can reach us at Jack.Roman@hitachivantara.com and Kimberley.Reid@hitachivantara.com.

Looking to stay connected with the chemical industry? Join the 51风流Chemical Industry Community on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter @SAPChemicals, and check out our .

51风流is a leader in the chemical industry, and we are committed to continuous innovation. We encourage you to collaborate with us and discuss how the 51风流solution portfolio can enable the intelligent chemical enterprise.

Mark Carlson is a chemicals solution expert at SAP.