How To Be A Successful Chemical Processing Manufacturer

Transcription

1 Presse-Information Press release Information de presse DECHEMA e.v. Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25 D Frankfurt am Main Telefon (069) Telefax (069) ACHEMA th International Exhibition-Congress on Chemical Engineering, Environmental Protection and Biotechnology Frankfurt am Main, May 2009 Kontakt/Contact: Dr. Kathrin Rübberdt Tel (0) 69 / Fax ++49 (0) 69 / presse@dechema.de 10 May 2009 Opening Press Conference Frankfurt am Main, DECHEMA-Haus 10 May 2009, a.m. Check against delivery. Werner Schwarzmeier Linde AG, Munich ACHEMA 2009 Positive signals despite challenging prospects On behalf of all the companies exhibiting at ACHEMA 2009 and Dr. Belloni, Chair of the ACHEMA Committee, who unfortunately has been called away today at short notice, may I extend a warm welcome to you at today s press reception. The 29th ACHEMA takes place in an environment dominated by an unfavorable economic outlook, the likes of which we have not witnessed for a long time. So it is all the more pleasing that, despite this difficult environment, ACHEMA is able to announce that demand from exhibitors has been consistently steady. With just under 134,000 m² of exhibition space sold, ACHEMA takes to the stage in 2009 at virtually precisely same size as three years ago was a year already significantly impacted by economic decline for the chemical industry, the main ACHEMA exhibitor target group. This period of weakness has continued into the first quarter of this year, and at this current point in time it remains

2 unclear when the economic trough will actually bottom out, even though a low level of stabilization is now becoming apparent. One thing, though, is for sure: in the mid-term, we will only have any chance of a new upward trend if we collectively and that means the whole chemical processing industry standing shoulder-to-shoulder with its supplier industries return to our strengths. These strengths lie in the triangular coordinates of innovation, cooperation and interdisciplinarity. They are the constants that characterize our industry in particular when times are good and when times are not so good. But we are not here at ACHEMA to join in the communal lament about the miserable economic situation. We are here: - because we are convinced that we need - and can provide - innovative technologies - because we here in Frankfurt are able to conduct a dialog with our customers from all over the world, and - because we want to embark on a path together with our customers to overcome the present difficult situation not with subsidies, but rather with innovation. From today, Frankfurt is at least for a week the global capital of the chemical and processing industry. Once again, ACHEMA in 2009 is more international than ever before. Official DECHEMA statistics indicate a proportion of more than 46 % of foreign exhibitors which is two percentage points up on three years ago. And it may in fact be considerably more than 50 percent, as a great number of international companies are represented at ACHEMA by their local subsidiaries and consequently show up in the statistics as German businesses. The three-year show cycle of ACHEMA, which we as exhibitors believe mirrors the true pace of innovation in our industry, is proof that plenty of things have actually been happening in the period since the last ACHEMA; that we are able to put on show not just the gradual progress that has been made but also substantial new developments. New developments, incidentally, which underline the fact that technologically the chemical industry is far from running out of steam. Rather, ACHEMA even in 2009 will shed fresh light on just how much potential still resides in strictly established technologies and the room for maneuver available for process optimization that is still waiting to be exploited not to mention the odd technological quantum leap! Let me outline for you in a few bullet points where the technological trendsetters at this ACHEMA are to be found, even though it can only be a quick whirlwind tour, and let me begin with the industry supported by Linde Engineering, whom I myself am representing here:

3 The big plant engineering companies have a number of good to excellent years behind them. We plant engineers have used this time to improve our management processes, methods, equipment and the standardization of our plants so that we are cushioned from the current downward trend - which is connected to the fall in the price of oil and the related reluctance to invest in many regions of the world - with order books that are still healthy. We also anticipate that a raft of projects that were temporarily postponed to the medium term will go ahead after all, since what frequently and not least lies behind this reluctance are investors expectations that product costs will fall due to the downturn. What is interesting from the point of view of technology is that plants are becoming both bigger the buzzword is megaplants, used primarily in the production of basic chemicals and smaller: the buzzword here is microprocessing technology. Advances are also being made in modular concepts which aim to provide flexibility for different process applications, as well as in increasing automation. Process intensification remains an approach for which DECHEMA has also been seen to be flying the flag through one of its subject divisions. Let me continue with a look at the biggest exhibitor group in terms of numbers and exhibition space: manufacturers of Pumps, Compressors, Valves and Fittings. With over 1,000 exhibitors with expertise in this area, this makes ACHEMA almost by default the biggest exhibition of pumps in the world. Energy efficiency and the rigorous optimization of lifecycle costs are taking on an increasingly central role in investment decisions. The pumps which manufacturers supply today provide a degree of efficiency we could only dream of just a few years ago. The statistic is not new and is also just a rough estimate, but with a proportion of some 20 % of the total commercial power consumed exclusively by pump drives in the EU we can begin to have an idea of how great the potential savings might be. Equally of interest to our audience is the Laboratory and Analytical Equipment exhibitor group. With some 700 exhibitors, the laboratory sector remains ACHEMA s second biggest exhibitor group, even without factoring in the process analytics exhibitors in Hall 10. Likewise in laboratory and analytical equipment, the trend is toward the acceleration and automation of entire processes with - increasing flexibility - miniaturization - automation - parallelization - sequencing, and - coupling systems featuring in the specifications which laboratory suppliers are working to.

4 The advance of automation technology in all sectors of the process industry continues inexorably. Emerging as a widespread trend in instrumentation and control technology is the convergence of process and production automation. What that looks like in detail - and for example how far progress in the perennial issue of wireless has actually come in the meantime - will be discussed at the Expert Round Tables laid on once again by NAMUR and ZVEI under the heading of Automation in Dialog. Thermal and mechanical process engineering find their rightful home at ACHEMA like nowhere else. In addition to the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, client industries also include the food and drink industries and the entire life sciences sector. ACHEMA also represents the worldwide flagship event for the pharmaceutical and packaging technology sector. Regardless of the overall economic situation, the pharmaceutical industry continues to be an obvious growth market. We are seeing an increasing integration of previously downstream quality control in the manufacturing process for the production of pharmaceuticals. The industry has coined the abbreviation PAT (Process Analytical Technology) for this concept, which improves control of the manufacturing processes as well as optimizing quality control. Just under 1,000 ACHEMA exhibitors register themselves in the biotechnology sector in its broadest sense. Among them are established equipment manufacturers for whom ACHEMA has been the main platform for many years, as well as the new research-based biotech companies. Industrial or white biotechnology is currently commandeering any number of previously chemicals-dominated processes and receives a boost at this ACHEMA through the Industrial Biotechnology Partnering Conference. With this year s special show, ACHEMA picks up the topic of innovative and sustainable resource use concepts; this is hardly featuring on the agenda for the first time today, of course, but runs like a thread right through all the exhibitor groups. Certainly, there are still a great number of technical as well as political and strategic questions on this topic that currently remain unanswered, but one thing is clear: the key to innovative solutions, starting with electric mobility and biofuels through photovoltaics, lies in the accumulated wisdom of the process industry. The main focus in terms of the special show itself is on Hall 4.2; however, the multidisciplinary nature of the topic means that exhibitors who put this topic right at the top of their list of priorities are to be found in virtually all the halls. In view of the current cost pressure, this hasn t necessarily meant that most exhibitors including our own establishment have booked an additional stand in the special show. We would, however, be delighted to demonstrate to you the value we attach to the

5 sustainable use of resources in our product portfolio at our exhibition stand in Hall 9.1. Ladies and gentlemen, all that I have been able to give you here is just a very brief impression and outline of what awaits you at ACHEMA. As you know, the process of concentration continues unabated in our industry and this current period of economic weakness is capable of producing additional upheavals in the corporate landscape. The fact that in spite of these constraints ACHEMA can point to a virtually constant level of bookings demonstrates on the one hand the stability and vitality of our industry and, on the other, just how relevant the ACHEMA concept continues to be. I am certain that the week ahead of us will once again provide a great number of examples of this vitality and love of innovation. I would like to thank you in advance for the contribution your worldwide reporting makes to bringing the concentration of information we exhibitors make available at ACHEMA to a specialist audience which reaches far beyond the group of participants. Let me close with a thought from Max Frisch which sums it up perfectly: A crisis is an extraordinarily productive state. It just has to be cleansed of the taint of catastrophe. I hope that each and every one of you has a successful ACHEMA week in every respect, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for your attention.