How a digital, operational, and skills transformation took Jubilant Ingrevia’s business to the next level

In 2023, specialty chemicals faced significant headwinds: geopolitics, commodity fluctuations, and inflation drove volumes down by as much as 10 percent year-over-year. Jubilant Ingrevia Limited, a Jubilant Bhartia Group company and leading global organization in specialty chemicals serving pharma, nutrition, and agriculture, was no exception and was confronted with stagnation, shrinking demand, and volatility.

To stay fit for the future, the company needed to reinvent its operations and way of working—no small task in turbulent times.

“We were going through a critical juncture in the life cycle of Ingrevia,” explains Deepak Jain, CEO and managing director. “The onus on me was to define a new roadmap for the company and for it to be transformative in every possible way.”

To deliver breakthrough impact and future-proof its operations, Jubilant partnered with McKinsey to weave digital and analytics into its DNA.

“They had a truly bold aspiration,” says Amit V Gupta, a senior partner at McKinsey. “Not only did they want to completely transform and tech-enable their organization, they wanted to become a leading manufacturer and set a powerful example for others.”

The transformation began with immersive diagnostics: site visits, operator interviews, and process observations that revealed three critical areas for change: manufacturing, procurement, and sales.

A thorough diagnostic of these areas based on the initial assessment was conducted, drawing on the expertise of McKinsey and QuantumBlack, the firm’s AI arm. Data scientists worked side by side with plant operators for four months to build a deep understanding of processes and maturity levels across sub-plants.

“Profitable growth was a key challenge for Jubilant Ingrevia,” says Surbhi Kalia, a McKinsey associate partner. “For the transformation to be truly sustainable and profitable, we had to change ways of working and empower employees from the plant floor up to the CXO level.”

Key initiatives included

Manufacturing

A unified digital dashboard enabled even the most remote plant operators to track data, monitor equipment in real time, and prevent breakdowns.

Procurement

Category-specific experts improved e-auctions for pumps, motors, and commodities. Dynamic baselining for volatile categories like logistics and chemicals boosted bargaining power and delivered significant savings.

Supply chain

Algorithms optimized logistics, reduced lead times, and improved resilience and customer satisfaction.

Sales

A cross-industry digital lead funnel uncovered 200 qualified leads from a pool of 800 across five business units.

“With the digital platform in place, we are able to analyze data using different tools like golden batch analysis, digital twins, or even advanced processor analytics,” says Vijay Srivastava, Jubilant Ingrevia’s COO. “We also saw significant improvement in our safety culture.”

But new systems alone weren’t enough. The people needed to be ready. “We invested heavily in upskilling our team,” says Vijay. “We saw that our employees have started believing that they are not just operating the plant; they are the co-creators of success, creating a success story for the company.”

Employees learned data science fundamentals to apply in their daily tasks

Capability building included:

• A center of excellence: Establishing a 25-person team tasked with sustaining transformation and innovation after McKinsey’s engagement.
• A “citizen data scientist” program: Training 40+ employees in data science basics to apply in daily work.
• A “train the trainer” model: Creating internal champions to cascade and embed a culture of data-driven decision-making.

“Of course there was great measurable impact,” says Avinash Goyal, Asia leader of McKinsey’s Chemicals & Agriculture Practice. “But what I’m most proud of is the mindset shift. People across the organization adopted a new way of working and became truly empowered to take data-driven decisions.”

A center of excellence was created to sustain the transformation

Jubilant Ingrevia has achieved its financial goal and will be accruing an impact of $13.6 million over a period of 36 months. At its Bharuch facility, Jubilant optimized processes and significantly reduced carbon emissions, cutting power consumption by 10 percent and natural gas use by 6 percent through targeted energy optimization projects.

In one of the company’s products, downstream processes accounted for 70 percent of energy consumption. By leveraging Internet of Things solutions, including deploying 120 sensors and four technologies, steam consumption was reduced by 20 percent. Similarly, scope 1 emissions were reduced by 20 percent and liquid waste by 100 percent.

New ways of working were established thanks to the capability-building initiatives, and ~100 employees have been reskilled to date across Ingrevia. These efforts have not only helped improve yield and throughput for Jubilant Ingrevia, but they have also had a ripple effect, inspiring the broader Bhartia Group as they took note of the organization’s digital-driven transformation and success.

Furthermore, these changes enabled Jubilant Ingrevia Limited to become the first Asian specialty chemicals company to earn the WEF Lighthouse certification, a distinction that recognizes leaders in technology-driven transformation and allows them to share their expertise with other organizations.

“Receiving the World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Award positioned us as a progressive company in the eyes of the customer,” says Deepak. “Customers see us as a company which is willing to invest ahead of the curve, innovate, and bring the best and newest technologies to meet their requirements. That message went out loud and clear—not just to our customers but to our suppliers, partners, stakeholders—that this is a new Ingrevia bringing a very different kind of value proposition to the table.”