Innovating with AI in the special chemicals industry
For specialty chemicals manufacturer Lubrizol, digital transformation is all about giving researchers the tools to test ideas faster, make better-informed decisions, and develop more sustainable materials without compromising performance.
- Scaling production while meeting performance expectations, regulatory requirements, and financial constraints is still a tightrope walk, but AI’s ability to model multiple variables could help teams navigate those competing demands.
- I think it’s the combination of all of these, and it’ll be the ability to connect all these processes that are going to generate tremendous amounts of data.” This webcast is produced in partnership with Infosys.
- But, Rao emphasizes, “it’s not about replacing scientific judgment; it is about giving our scientists better tools.” Scientists, data scientists, and IT teams approach problems from different perspectives, prioritizing experimental validity, model performance, and platform security and scalability, respectively.
As companies look to accelerate innovation with artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and advanced modeling, the primary challenge is connecting new technologies to reliable data, scientific expertise, and the practical realities of bringing products to market.
- “Once the trust is built between the team members and they know what value they’re about to create,” Rao says, “things go a lot better.” Cloud infrastructure also gives the company flexibility to access computing resources and modern tools without making the substantial investments required to build and maintain its own data centers.
- Looking to the future, Rao expects AI, automation, advanced modeling, digital twins, and connected data to converge as laboratories become more intelligent and manufacturing plants more efficient.
- Their goal is to combine decades of accumulated technical data with the deep expertise of chemists and engineers who understand customer needs as well as the physical constraints of their work.
- Digital modeling can help researchers evaluate more formulations, explore materials such as starch and corn-based alternatives, and assess trade-offs across a product’s life cycle.
- By bringing these groups together in “fusion teams,” Lubrizol aligns them around shared objectives, starting with small pilots to build trust.
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