Operational Excellence: EHS Best Practices for Chemical Manufacturers

Find solutions to challenges facing operations and compliance professionals in the specialty chemical industry. Join SOCMA for sessions covering a wide range of topics critical to enhancing operations, with a focus on practical strategies and ideas that attendees can take back to their facilities, including:

• Worker health and safety
• Environmental and chemical regulations.

Target Audience
Plant Manager/Director, Plant Supervisor, Environmental Engineer, EHS Manager/Director, EHS Specialist, Operations Manager/Director, Regulatory Affairs Managers, Regulatory Manager/Director, Technical Manager/Director, Safety Manager/Director

Supply Chain: Trends in Logistics, Trade and Procurement

Get the latest intel on timely supply chain, procurement, and trade topics. These sessions feature:

• A deep dive on specific topics
• Wider overview of current trends
• Forward-looking analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing the specialty chemical industry.

Target Audience
Supply Chain Manager, Sourcing Manager, Procurement Manager, Materials Manager, Trade Compliance Manager, Logistics Manager.

Translating Sustainability to EHS: How Corporate Goals Influence Operations 

Explore the impact of corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals on the business operations of specialty chemical manufacturers. Whether it is the goals set by downstream industries and customers, or the company’s own ESG goals, these sessions explore practical implications for the specialty chemical industry.

Target Audience
Sustainability Officers, EHS Manager/Director/Specialist, Operations Manager/Director. 

Executive Decision Making 

This track will provide leaders with a forum to share their experiences in managing companies and business units in today’s volatile environment. From labor shortages to economic shifts to changes in customer relationships, executives will walk away from these sessions with actionable intelligence and peer-provided ideas to better their business.

Target Audience
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, President, Executive/Senior/Vice President, Business Unit Head.

Fostering a Safety Culture Roundtable
Learn and share with industry peers new and innovative ways to continually improve and foster a culture of plant safety.

With hurdles and delays in equipment procurement, keeping equipment operating in top shape is more important than ever. Hear from experts on best practices for tracking, maintaining, and improving system integrity and mechanical reliability, and extending the operational lifespan of your equipment.

ESG certification requirements and private supplier codes of conduct are becoming a necessary cost of doing business. This session will provide helpful insights into the drivers behind these requirements in the supply chain, difficulties and opportunities arising from such requirements, and practical tips to help you to meet these challenges.

Join us for a variety of “quick hits” on current topics in the regulatory space, including:

• 11:00am - EPA's Proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule
• 11:15am - Challenges with Enforcement of the Manfacturing Process Unit (MPU) Exculsion
• 11:30am - Discrepencies with EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) Datebase
• 11:45am - Cutting Property Tax with Raily Designation

What expectations does the next generation have, and are you prepared to deliver on them? With the persistence of a shrinking labor pool, business leaders are rethinking their growth strategies. Participate in a facilitated dialogue with your colleagues on innovative solutions companies are using to overcome these challenges.

Sustainability and ESG initiatives have increasingly moved into the spotlight with customers, investors and regulators. But what does this mean for the specialty and contract chemical sector? Hear about one company’s journey and first-hand experience with implementing an ESG program, and how that experience aligns with other manufacturers surveyed through SOCMA’s benchmarking study.

No one knows what the future holds, but investors and executives still must make long term decisions. Some choose to extrapolate the past. In retrospect, major economic events like the dot com recession, the housing bubble, and the COVID crisis proved experts wrong. More recent geopolitical events took an already strained situation to a whole different level. These are the signals of a less globalized economy. We will explore what this means for the specialty and fine chemical sector and propose ways to deal with the coming change from an operational and M&A perspective.

Discover ways to responsibly remarket waste, by-product and reclaimed materials into viable products. Panelists will cover the compliance requirements, from extraction to shipping to bringing a product to market.

In the post-COVID world, the manufacturing landscape has shifted. Continued disruptions in China and an energy crisis across Europe has presented opportunities for North American manufacturers. But will this be short-lived? Hear forward-looking analysis of the evolving dynamics for the specialty chemical sector in the decade to come.