While the impact of Covid-19 is an extreme example, supply chain disruptions happen all the time. Natural and man-made disasters, geopolitical ructions, or simply a supplier going out of business can all result in costly disruptions. Sudden positive changes in customer behavior can also put pressure on supplies as seen by the UK’s current shortage in foam used in furniture.
Having “Plan B” in your back pocket
Traditionally developing a recipe for a new material or chemical would be resource intensive and take months or years, which could result in costly losses due to backlogged inventory if an ingredient is suddenly unavailable. With AI-guided Sequential Learning, multiple research directions can be explored and many suitable candidate materials or chemical recipes can be identified quickly (in weeks, not years).
This has two effects:
- You can compare the options and understand trade-offs between cost and performance and discuss these with your customer.
- Recipes not used now can be held in reserve as your back-up plan.
Generating “Plan C”
Of course, there’s always a worst-case scenario where a key ingredient used across a product line is unavailable due to regulation or supply chain disruptions. This is where Citrine’s patent pending technology to explore formulation recipes with new ingredients comes into play. Over time, Citrine’s Platform stores a bank of reusable digital assets for your company. The AI model used to create “Plan B” can be reused to investigate new ingredients. The Citrine Platform highlights which characteristics of the missing ingredient had the most effect on the target properties. New ingredients can be compared to these, generating a quantified probability that the new ingredient will hit your formulation’s performance targets.
New ingredients can now be systematically ranked before anyone hits the lab to test them.
Agility is key
With an AI-guided workflow, R&D can rapidly respond when disruption happens, either by accessing a ready-made bank of AI-generated recipes or by leveraging the knowledge captured in the Citrine Platform. . Change is the new normal. Agility is key to stay ahead of the competition.
