Eastman CIO speaks on digitalization
By Robert Sorrell
Aldo Noseda sees four trends in chemical industry
Aldo Noseda, chief information officer at Eastman Chemical Company, sees four trends in digitalization for the chemical industry, including automation, analytics, the concept of reach and enhanced services.
Noseda provided remarks Thursday morning, April 21, during eChemExpo 2022 at the MeadowView Convention Center in Kingsport TN. The vice president oversees Eastman’s digital programs.
He noted that the chemical industry is seeing a similar concept that the financial industry and the consumer industry saw years ago.
I see a lot more push in the digital environment, and we are all part of it. -Aldo Noseda
Four trends in the industry
Noseda shared the four trends that he sees happening in the industry regarding digitalization.
“We are seeing processes across our companies that are again resolved through the use of information technology or robotics, to eliminate redundant repetitive tasks, and allow our people to focus on more important matters,” Noseda said. “Automation had started years ago and has continued to evolve.”
On analytics, Noseda said there has been a lot of discussion about the amount of data flowing in the industry and how it is analyzed.
“Today, we are seeing the intersection of computing power and mathematics, giving us insights and predictions that we never saw before,” he said. “Today, companies are discovering information that were impossible to be seen in the past.”
The industry has the opportunity to take advantage of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other techniques in order to bring insights to the organization that were not previously available.
Noseda said companies are now thinking more about their reach and how they are part of a bigger ecosystem, which he identified as the third trend. Information technology, he said, is bringing companies the ability to connect to suppliers, customers, and companies, like it has during the COVID-19 pandemic. He expects this trend to continue into the next century.
The chemical industry is also realizing that customers need top services to go along with products.
“In today’s world, those services come in the hands of digital, many, many times,” Noseda said.
He added that due to these four trends, the chemical industry is “reshaping the world in many, many industries.”
Today, we are seeing the intersection of computing power and mathematics, giving us insights and predictions that we never saw before. Today, companies are discovering information that were impossible to be seen in the past. -Aldo Noseda
CORE and FLUID GENIUS
Noseda shared two examples of how Eastman has contributed to the world of digitalization.
“CORE” was developed to assist with its automotive film cutting program.
“CORE offers time-saving features and a pattern verification process for more accuracy and efficiency than ever before, going beyond film-cutting software to serve as your base of operations,” according to Eastman marketing materials on CORE. Today, about 3,000 customers use CORE, Noseda said.
Noseda also spoke on “FLUID GENIUS”, a new program that “equips engineers and operations managers with predictive insights to optimize heat transfer fluid performance.” About 1,000 customers use FLUID GENIUS, he said.
“I have the opportunity to interact with many CIOs of the chemical industry, like myself, and we are all seeing the train and impact that is coming. This is just the beginning,” Noseda said.
Cybersecurity concerns
With digitalization in mind, one attendee asked Noseda whether he is concerned about cybersecurity. He said it’s at the top of the agenda. He added that Eastman has a “very aggressive” program on cybersecurity.
“We believe that companies that provide us services in the cloud, are very, very well equipped to tackle the challenges on cybersecurity,” Noseda said. “So our position, my perspective is, in many cases a shift. And we have done a lot of software as a service, actually a lot of platform as a service, in our environment, not for everything. But many of the digital products that you saw today in the video, are running in cloud environments. And we believe that gives us flexibility. We believe that gives us energy and a speed and gives us a very reasonable cost position. But it also gives us a very strong security footprint.”
