ANDREW RUTTER
rutterdesign

Abstract

This is a time of change for makers of chemicals; a mixture of political, economic, and ecosystem pressure is creating stresses on the way complex chemical products are made for society. News feeds provide a daily reminder of how climate change, growing resource scarcity, and supply issues are challenging and creating shortages in the supply of important products like medicines….

This is a time of change for makers of chemicals; a mixture of political, economic, and ecosystem pressure is creating stresses on the way complex chemical products are made for society. News feeds provide a daily reminder of how climate change, growing resource scarcity, and supply issues are challenging and creating shortages in the supply of important products like medicines.

My personal belief is that manufacturing will be radically different in 30 years’ time. We will have made significant progress to address the imbalances in our ecosystems. First, we will have reduced consumption demand by embracing products that are durable and in medicine by moving towards cures. Where we do consume, production will be increasing circular with integrated up and down cycling common place.

Second, production will be at worst regionalised but typically localised to the city scale, reducing transportation, and becoming responsive to demand. The use of AI in a future state that is more responsive is described by Dr Anil Kane in his commentary article, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Pharma Supply Chain, Logistics, and more”. Further, autom ...