An Industry in Transformation
Santiago Advisors – Strategy, Organization & Transformation for Chemical Companies
The chemical industry is one of Europe’s most important industrial sectors. It serves as the backbone of industrial value creation and drives innovation across a wide range of industries. Its products and technologies enable modern mobility, the energy transition, advanced electronics, and medical innovation. Today, virtually every industry relies on the capabilities and contributions of the chemical sector.
At the same time, the industry is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its recent history: Structurally higher energy costs, shifting global supply chains and trade flows, expanding production capacities in Asia and the Middle East, increasing geopolitical volatility, and ambitious sustainability targets are converging with rising capital costs and a growing shortage of skilled talent. In this environment, success is no longer defined by scale and market position alone. Companies must sharpen their portfolios, reposition manufacturing sites, and build organizations that can respond faster and execute more effectively.
This is where we make the difference. Santiago Advisors is the trusted partner for chemical companies navigating uncertainty and transformation, working alongside executive leadership teams, business unit leaders, and site management. From defining a clear target picture and identifying the most impactful value levers to driving disciplined implementation across plants, business units, and integrated production networks, we help organizations turn strategic ambition into measurable results.
Deep chemical industry expertise combined with decision-making excellence
Since our founding in 2008, we have worked with companies across base chemicals, specialty chemicals, electronic chemicals, and the catalyst industry, supporting both DAX-listed corporations and family-owned global market leaders. Our teams combine extensive consulting experience with a deep understanding of chemical value chains, integrated production sites, business units, corporate structures, and operating models. We place particular emphasis on value-oriented and pragmatic solutions that can be successfully integrated into our clients’ day-to-day operations.
Together with CHEManager, we have been responsible for CHEMonitor, Germany’s leading trend barometer for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, since 2007. Since 2019, Santiago Advisors has also been recognized annually in brand eins’ ranking of Germany’s top consulting firms.
A partnership model built for lasting impact
Sustainable change happens when both sides work as partners, from the first workshop to the final implementation decision. We work alongside our clients in integrated project teams, with clear roles, short decision paths, and shared accountability for results.
Our projects are designed to embed knowledge within the organization. We strengthen capabilities, empower teams, and create the conditions for progress to continue long after the project has ended. Clients can expect a clear target picture, robust analyses, the willingness to ask difficult questions at the right time, and an implementation roadmap that stands up to day-to-day business realities.
Across corporate functions, business units, integrated production networks, and R&D, we provide the critical link that many transformations lack. The result is lasting impact that helps our clients move forward with confidence.
The results of the current CHEMonitor paint a mixed picture: expectations are improving slightly, while the assessment of Germany as a location remains at a historically low level.
We support chemical companies across the entire value chain, from developing new businesses and driving innovation to optimizing manufacturing, supply chain operations, production sites, and corporate functions.
In a market shaped by structural change, higher capital costs, and shifting competitive dynamics, a focused portfolio has become a critical driver of long-term success. We help executive teams and business unit leaders make informed portfolio decisions: Where should we invest? Where should we concentrate resources? And which activities should we divest?
From portfolio strategy and carve-outs to acquisitions and post-merger integration, we support the entire transformation journey. Operating models, site footprints, and corporate functions are considered from the outset to ensure strategic decisions translate into operational success.
As strategies evolve, so do organizational requirements. We design target operating models that align with today’s strategic priorities and the need for greater speed and decision-making effectiveness: clearer roles across corporate, regional, and business unit levels, leaner governance structures, empowered decision-making bodies, and a deliberately streamlined corporate center.
By combining organizational analytics, lean governance principles, and AI-enabled design approaches, we help organizations evaluate alternatives rigorously and create a solid foundation for successful implementation.
As technological innovation accelerates, chemical companies face growing pressure to prioritize opportunities and convert innovation into profitable growth. We help organizations focus resources on the most promising technologies, applications, and markets.
Our support includes refining innovation strategies, establishing data-driven evaluation and stage-gate processes, redesigning R&D organizations, and strengthening cross-functional collaboration between research, application development, and business units. Through our AI venture adago, we also help accelerate early-stage development activities.
Manufacturing is at the core of every chemical company and often the largest lever for competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience. We work with site leadership teams, corporate manufacturing organizations, and CAPEX leaders to develop integrated network strategies, redefine site roles, implement digital-first operating models, and establish AI-enabled performance management systems that work in the realities of plants, shifts, and integrated production networks.
Chemical supply chains must navigate volatile raw material and energy markets, complex production networks, and growing demands for service reliability and sustainability. We help companies redesign network structures, implement scenario-based planning, and deploy AI-supported decision-making processes.
Through our venture adago, we provide manufacturing-focused solutions such as IntelliTwin, the Healthy Inventory Tool, and Resilience Simulation, delivering proven results including more than 15% lower logistics costs, over 20% improved forecast accuracy, and approximately 25% fewer lost sales in client applications.
In an environment of increasing price pressure and rapidly changing customer requirements, commercial excellence is a key determinant of profitability and market share. We help organizations refine commercial strategies around priority end markets, align marketing, sales, and application engineering functions, and establish performance management systems that actively optimize price, volume, and product mix. Where appropriate, we enhance these efforts with data-driven solutions from adago, ranging from next-best-action recommendations to channel optimization.
At integrated chemical sites and standalone plants, indirect functions play a critical role in determining operational reliability, cost efficiency, and production safety while often accounting for 20% to 35% of total site costs. We help site managers, manufacturing organizations, and site service leaders redesign engineering and maintenance, facility management, site logistics, analytical services, and technical support functions. This includes defining clear service commitments and SLAs, making sustainable insourcing and outsourcing decisions, implementing modern maintenance strategies, and consolidating activities across sites where scale advantages exist. We systematically assess service performance, cost structures, and organizational effectiveness to develop a robust transformation roadmap.
As cost pressures intensify, corporate functions are increasingly in focus while also playing a decisive role in enabling transformation. We support HR, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and other corporate functions in redefining their role through clear service propositions, effective delivery models, modern role profiles, and stronger integration with the business. This way you generate a support organization that enables growth while significantly reducing complexity and cost.
The future competitiveness of Europe’s chemical industry will be determined site by site. Through the Santiago Site Review, we assess manufacturing sites against 30 success factors across six internal and three external dimensions, covering production capabilities, infrastructure, innovation, sustainability, and the surrounding ecosystem.
Building on an outside-in benchmark and a comprehensive site fact base, we define a robust strategic positioning and translate it into a tailored transformation approach. This may include open innovation models, modular plant concepts, value chain integration, circularity initiatives, and the redesign of shared services. The outcome is a compelling vision for each site, supported by a transformation roadmap that is both ambitious and practical to implement.
Whether you are reshaping your portfolio, evaluating site investments, launching a cost transformation program, defining an AI roadmap, or managing a post-merger integration, we provide the clarity needed to make confident decisions and the execution support required to turn those decisions into measurable results. If you are looking for a consulting partner that combines deep chemical industry expertise with a practical understanding of complex business decisions, we look forward to starting the conversation.
+49 2156 4966 910
juan.rigall@santiago-advisors.com
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