Rd&m-403690-06/08
NEWS ANALYSIS
Ageing plant: Avoiding
the point of no returns
Dr Julian Hought
highlights the need for
regular business
risk reviews to ensure
that assets are
refreshed before they
pass the point of
economic upgrade
A staggering 400 million tonnes of
chemicals are produced by the UK
chemical industry every year, making it
the UK’s largest manufacturing sector.
Collectively it employs over 400,000
people and generates an estimated
turnover of £41 billion. However, it still
falls far short of Asia, which remains the
industry leader in terms of plant size
and turnover, with the EU in a close
second place.
Many UK chemical companies are
facing increasing pressure on margins
as a result of overseas competition and
in a mature market, with rising labour
Always competing in the same class?
costs, the knock-on effect, for some, is
that it is becoming increasingly difficult
to justify investment in new plant
and equipment.
The decision of whether to invest,
modernise or improve the efficiency of
existing processes can be a difficult
one. Clearly there are competing
issues: the lifetime of the product
being manufactured, the efficiency of
the process, the technology used, and
the needs of the customer all have to
be considered.
The decision process is further
complicated when the operation
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