The Covid-9 pandemic taught us to think differently, restrategize the entire value chain and innovate to develop products that match user perspectives and needs. “Sustainability has to be looked at from a user perspective as well in terms of innovation. It is important that for an expanded manufacturing base, we must do research in India and also build a skilled workforce here in India," said Bhavana Bindra, Managing Director – India, Middle East and Africa, The Lubrizol Corporation in her address at the 4th Edition of NextGen Chemical and Petrochemical Summit 2024 organized by the Indian Chemical News in Mumbai last month. 

Bindra spoke about the need for the concerted efforts across the value chain including user perspective, supply chain, forex etc. and not just the innovation level at the inaugural session, ‘Making India a Global Manufacturing Hub: Opportunities & Challenges’. 

"India has been a bright spot irrespective of the sectors and the scope in the chemical space is fairly wide. There have been a lot of challenges from a supply chain perspective. The freight rates for instance and in terms of availability there's a lot of dependence from a raw material feedstock perspective. That obviously turns into something on the bottom line for companies which are looking to make it happen because the aspirations are big and we definitely want to make a mark in the space. From specialty chemicals perspective, innovation is at the core of it. We have to make this fit for market and it means whatever we have got let us try and drive it with a lower cost and that would definitely drive the growth. I think that's one part of it and we have to think across the value chain, especially given the recent challenges in a post covid situation. We all have faced it and must prepare from a material substitution perspective especially early on in the value chain," Bindra opined. 

Sharing her thoughts about the innovation and sustainability, Bindra said: "While there is a lot of the innovation, we need to also focus on the application. One example is our usage pattern from a household perspective. At home, we use detergent bars that easily disintegrate in water. From an application perspective, we are talking about what can prevent this from happening just to make it more efficient for the user. We touch upon sustainability from the users' perspective. We have also looked at replacing palm oil derivatives. It is a kind of a win-win from the both user as well as from a sustainability perspective,” she said.  She urged industry to make products engines and systems more efficient from a fuel efficiency perspective.  

Talking about the need for a well-defined R&D strategy, Bindra mentioned, "As a set of organizations, we are looking to make it big in this nation. For this, we need to think from a functional excellence perspective across each and every area. We are thinking in the Japanese way in each aspect of our functions and our working, whether it's on procurement or on managing our forex or managing our supply chains. It needs to be a concerted effort. Innovation doesn’t happen only in R&D but across the value chain and we need to start thinking how we need to start driving our whole thought process from a functional excellence standpoint." 

Outlining the way forward, Bindra asked, "Why just make in India and why not also research in India? We look at India as a hub with the skill set and high-end products. A lot of times especially larger organizations are focused on high value products but we can't just focus on high value products but also high volume products. The market awaits innovation and a thrust from countries like ours, also on the high volume side. The skill set needs to tie in a similar way end to end as we cannot focus just on one part of the value chain. One part is functional excellence and other is skill set that needs to be thought through because if this has to be made to happen, there has to be collaboration between industry, academia and government.” 

She added that the government has a lot of policies and programs in place to facilitate the industry but “there is a need for quick environmental clearances whether it is for a new facility or it is about adding a product”. “The thinking must be across the board and across functions and skill sets. That is where we can make the difference by not just being focused on one aspect of it but we have got to make a presence felt with a double- digit participation in this space globally."