If you are in the business of buying or selling chemicals under contract, you probably understand the merit of a force majeure clause in the contract. Literally meaning “greater force”, force majeure is essentially a declaration that a term, usually delivery, is not going to be met in an agreement owing to an “act of god” or other influence that is well beyond control or prediction. It’s not unheard of for a force majeure clause to be omitted in a supply contract. Both buyer and seller can benefit from this escape hatch when the sky falls.

Companies declaring force majeure in 2010 include Chevron Phillips on US olefins (ethylene cracker outage), Ineos on certain polyolefins (outage due to agglomeration in the reactor), Shell Chemicals on is Moerdijk styrene (ethylene supply problems), AkzoNobel on its Perkadox 14 line in Belgium (explosion & fire), Dow on phenol in the Americas (broken heat exchanger), Domo on its nylon 6 (feedstock supply shortage), Sasol on chemicals out of its Germiston, SA, plant (fire), Olin Corp. on its McIntosh, Alabama, Chlor-Alkalai plant (equipment failure), Cristal Global on its Stallingborough, UK, TiO2 operations (unspecified malfunction), BASF on acrilonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) at its Tamaulipas, Mexico, site (butadiene shortage). Diethyl ether is also in short supply, but I am aware of no specific reason.

A few of these force majeure interruptions have been lifted already. Point is, it is always good to have multiple suppliers on line to provide supply of feedstocks. In regard to the olefin/polyolefin force majeure declarations, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a bit of foot dragging that lead to a shortfall in capacity. Why keep all of your crackers in operation during the Great Recession?

The scale-up of a chemical process is an excercise in many subdisciplines. The bench chemist has to do his/her magic in finding a suitable reaction and purification scheme. Process R&D managers must exercise managerial art in shepherding people through a timely execution of the project. Purchasing managers must arrange for just-in-time arrival of raw materials and inventory managers must see to it that they are properly staged.

Technical writers must have a batch record written and signed off. Process hazards and EH&S folks must have procedures to evaluate for safety and regulatory compliance. Regulatory affairs people must have submitted forms for TSCA compliance. PSM processes must have all of the requirements in line for OSHA compliance. Air and water permits must be in place as well as provisions for capturing VOC’s and shipping of waste. Procedures for handling  liquid waste streams and filter cakes must be in place. Successful kilo lab and pilot plant validation of the process must be signed and passed along. The analytical department must have procedures for raw material validation, in-process checks, and final analysis for certification.

In order to go forward, a sales person must have already worked out acceptable price and shipping terms. The customer must issue a purchase order and the terms must be accepted by the manufacturer. Production management must then schedule a production run once the scale-up effort is complete. The QA/QC  folks must have acceptable specifications by which to issue a document certifying conformance to the specifications.

Once the PO has arrived, it’s show time.

I received an email from a good friend and colleague who made some fine points relating to my comments on business experience for chemists.  Since he is shy about posting the comment to the blog, I’ll put it here. I’m sure he’ll forgive me.

The younger folks never heard that this has all happened before. My orgo prof talked about chemists driving trucks during the 70’s. During the Carter years things weren’t too pretty either.

Most of my colleagues seem to feel that you have to recruit to the field – since we already are a small fraction of the pre-med group and the success rate for chemists is low – but I am unsure of what an honest appraisal is. I don’t recruit, but I also don’t want to scare them away.

I agree that a few business courses are essential. But, I have a colleague who got an MBA after he started teaching here – I think that was not very useful. Unless he opens a business….

As I mentioned to my friend, I think that if a chemist wants to experience the business side of chemistry, then he/she must go to the business side with 100 % commitment. If you want to be on the business side of chemistry, then you must commit to competition with all of the cats & dogs on the other side of the science fence.  If you want to be a business person, then you have to BE A BUSINESS PERSON.  You cannot keep one foot in the lab and the other rubbing the customers ankle under the table. Ya gotta be all in or forget it.

A pure business person does not care if he is selling “As Seen on TV” widgets or pallets of triphenylphosphine. Someone with a chemistry background will almost certainly want to be in a familiar space, and so will gravitate to chemicals. But to get into chemical sales, you have to penetrate the veil of obscurity that covers most of this field. You have to find out who is manufacturing bulk chemicals and locate the name of the sales VP or manager. Entry through the scientific end is tighter than a fishes asshole and is the wrong approach.

To be a successful business person in chemistry (or anything) you must have a total commitment to better living through cash flow. Cash is both King and Life.  And cash comes from Selling!!!!!!  A successful business person wakes up thinking about sales and falls asleep that night thinking about sales for the next day.  Like with chemistry, it is a form of mania.

Frankly, if a person with a lengthy history of chemcial R&D approaches a VP of sales for a job, they’re likely to think there is something wrong with them. What the …? This is where the strength of your personality comes into play. You’re very first “deal” will be with the sales or business development manager who would hire you. And you better make it good. I would dial in 90 % substance and 10 % bullshit for full schmooze configuration.  Remember, you’re trying to impress professional schmoozers.  It is not uncommon for a schmoozer to be quite susceptable to it themselves.

Yes, I am aware that Dante Aligheri witnessed the ring of hell set aside for flatterers, but you’ll have to make amends later.

There is a key item to put on the table. It is called the value proposition and it is a crucial part of any sales pitch. You have to convince a potential employer that you bring things to the table that will benefit or increase sales. Before one can seriously go out and find a job in sales, ones personal value in the proposition must be sorted out and rehearsed for automatic release during conversation.

My friends colleague with the MBA will probably retire with an unused business degree if he does not get out there and mix it up.  But maybe sales is not his thing.

Perhaps he is more interested in procurement. This is the true dark side of business. Procurement managers are some of the most powerful people (mad dogs, actually) in business and everyone fears them. Procurement managers are the people who select vendors and authorize the release of vast streams of cash through an instrument called a purchase order (PO). A PO is a highly sought after item and represents the culmination of a courtship of sorts.

Chemists can be extremely useful in the procurement of chemicals.  A procurement manager with a chemistry degree is basically a necessity in much of the chemical industry.  Chemists speak the language and are able to keep an eye on specifications and make sure that the right R&D people or engineers connect with the vendor if there is a quality or timing upset.

There are jobs in the chemical industry that may be available to chemists who are willing to step away from research. But it does require putting on a different cap and assembling a different resume package.

One of my department manager duties is to review resumes sent to colleagues in other departments. HR gets them and records them and distributes them for review. Earlier in the 1st quarter we had to review a large stack of resumes from well qualified people. Perhaps 4/5 of them were from people in industry who had been let go. For the most part the applicants were chemists from the pharma field. Most had quite impressive backgrounds with lots of publications, patents, and responsibilities. More than a few could have been my boss. It was a sobering experience to see so many good professionals on the street.

I have been in such a position in the past. It is disorienting and deeply distressing to be let go. It is not unlike a death in the family. When you are a highly educated specialist, your ego is unavoidably tied into your career. Your career is who you are. No professional job, no value. No worth.  Even more maddening, it is difficult to stay connected with the profession when you are unemployed. You are off the train and standing there looking at it while it rolls into the distance. And chemistry is not a field of endeavor for the unaffiliated.

I still think of my lowest point between chemistry jobs.  I was working in construction and had spent the day in a  dirt crawl space pulling wire for a remodel job. It was up high in the mountains in the winter and it was very cold.  At the end of the day I drove down the canyon into Boulder and stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some cold medicine for my kid. I had to ask the pharmacist a question, so I stood there in dirty coveralls and muddy boots and asked about the dosing of the cold med for a 2 year old.

The pharmacist seemed exasperated for a moment, but then composed herself and spoke to me slowly while enunciating her words clearly. Her, the supermarket pharmacist, standing there on the raised platform in her white smock. Speaking slowly, so I’d understand. Simple words so I wouldn’t be confused. Me, standing there in Osh-Kosh coveralls and a filthy insulated work shirt draped over my aching body after a long day of labor in the dirt. I was a 40 year old apprentice electrician with a chemistry PhD who had hit the bottom of the ego pit. Or, so I thought.

I accepted her advice politely. I paid for the med and walked out to my pickup truck. What resonated so deeply was the realization of how it is that we judge people by their appearance. My grubby appearance had caused someone to presume that I was slow witted and in need of being patronized.

I had supposed that after this dose of humility there was no where else to go but up.  But I guessed wrong. There was much more to come.  When your ego has been roughed up, it can become inflamed and hypersensitive. Your sense of proportion can be lost.

Being discharged from your place of employment is one of lifes big shit sandwiches. While most people will learn and improve from it, it will always remain a sensitive spot in your psyche. You never forget the circumstances. Being called to a conference room only to find HR there with a table full of handouts and forms to sign. The metallic tang in your mouth as it dawns on you what is happening. The grim warning that your termination “package” is valid only if you agree not to sue or publically criticize your ex-employer.  But you sit there with tunnel vision and listening impairment. You’re nervous system is electrically charged with panic and the instant, crushing worry about how you’re going to keep your family fed and in shelter. As you take the last drive home you’re mind is numb.

Behind most every resume I read is a story of long term success and a recent setback. For those freshly out of work, the contrast between the emotional high and low is staggering.  I understand somewhat of the plight and angst they are feeling. But, like someone once said, the only way out is through. You have to be willing to start over down the pecking order to recover your career. Sometimes further down than you want. The cherished notion of seniority is one that will have to be reconsidered.

I am starting to believe that this chemical unemployment wave is different. I think that we are seeing a phase change in how the chemical industry does business. The acceptability of outsourcing R&D is the reason for my pessimistic view. It has become axiomatic in many organizations now that R&D must be outsourced to countries where the overhead rate is substantially lower. And the outsourcing of R&D can only be bad for US chemists.