Chemical manufacturers today face continually evolving industry challenges. Those who want to get ahead in the field must stay on top of the latest trends and changes in regulation to remain compliant, scale their business, and consistently impress clients.
Unfortunately, too many manufacturers make avoidable mistakes along the way, hindering their chances of success.
Here’s a list of the four biggest mistakes chemical manufactures make – and how to solve them if you’ve found yourself in a similar predicament.
1. Delivering products instead of business outcomes
Sure, the products you sell are your main source of business revenue. But far too many companies are relying on their products as the only way to improve their bottom line when it’s simply not true.
In trying to cut costs and boost your bottom line, you may find some ideas for improvement within your own supply chain.
Think deeply about your supply chain and ask where you can have the greatest influence. The truth is that managing your supply chain efficiently can impact your bottom line just as much as sales can. If you’re misclassifying the chemicals in your products, you could be paying too much for shipping or incurring compliance fines. This adds up quickly.
With SDS software, you can avoid these gaps or mistakes in the supply chain by automating safety data sheets with accurate, quick authoring. With a more streamlined supply chain, you’ll be able to improve your numbers without necessarily having to increase product sales.
2. Costly errors from operations
New technologies have improved upon chemical manufacturing processes in many ways, helping companies achieve operational excellence. While these advancements have certainly minimized the need for human intervention, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still opportunities for human error – especially when it comes to safety data sheet classification.
But with safety data sheets, there’s very little margin for error. Over-classification can lead to lost sales and excessive costs from shipping, training, and compliance fees. Under-classification may pose safety risks, incorrect occupational risk assessments, and inadequate remediation.
If you’re tired of cleaning up the mess of costly operational errors, you can lean on programs like GSM’s SDS authoring software to remove the risk of human error or misclassification. Using this automated authoring system can also help you avoid regulatory fines accrued from misclassification mistakes.
3. Failing to evolve into an intelligent enterprise
It takes time for large chemical manufacturers to evolve into intelligent enterprises. However, today, chemical industry trends add a layer of urgency to this evolution.
Digital transformation is no longer an item to cross off a “to-do” list to keep up with industry trends, but chemical manufacturers are still making this mistake.
Forward-thinking companies understand that digital adoption is the means to becoming a truly intelligent enterprise.
If you want to modernize and keep up with the times, you have to be agile. Leveraging technology that makes your back-end processes smoother can allow you to pivot quickly when necessary, saving both time and money.
4. Ignoring Jurisdictional Regulations
So many companies are still under the impression that you can have one SDS document that can be used internationally. But the truth is that each jurisdiction (and sometimes, the regions within them) have different regulations that have to be addressed.
“But, can’t I have one document for the US and Canada combined?”
“Can’t I just have one global SDS?”
The short answer is “no.” If you’re aiming for simplicity and ignoring jurisdictional regulations, you’re sure to face compliance complications like fines, citations, or penalties against your company.
The solution is a system that makes it easy to create compliant SDSs for every jurisdiction without time-intensive research to understand the regulations for each jurisdiction. It may sound too good to be true, but it’s not.
Using an SDS authoring program like GSM’s TotalSDS can provide the peace of mind that your products are compliant while allowing you to enter new markets and continue scaling your operation around the globe.
Operate, Evolve, and Scale Successfully With SDS Automation
While mistakes are part of life, that doesn’t mean that all mistakes are unavoidable. If your goal is to grow and scale your chemical manufacturing operation into an intelligent enterprise, you may be making mistakes that are standing directly in the way of your success.
The good news is that most of these common mistakes are avoidable with the help of SDS automation. GSM’s patent-pending SDS software, TotalSDS, takes the guessing out of product compliance and makes it easy to create and distribute compliant, accurate documents in minutes.
With the help of TotalSDS, you can efficiently manage your supply chain to boost your bottom line, avoid costly human errors, remain compliant across multiple jurisdictions, and evolve into the intelligent enterprise you’re aiming for.
Learn more about how TotalSDS could improve your operation by contacting one of our experts today.
