Sales growth boosts optimism in UK manufacturing

industrial news Filtration plant set to boost fresh water aquifer Plans have been approved for the construction of a US$292 million filtration plant that will protect and replenish a vast underground supply of fresh water in Orange County, California, USA. The plant, which will process treated sewage before it is injected into the reservoir, is designed to increase supplies of clean water for the county’s groundwater basin and halt, or even push back, the advancing ocean that threatens to contaminate the resource. For decades, the basin has been plagued by salt water that flows in as fresh water is pumped from underground reservoirs along the coast. The condition can be checked and reduced by pumping treated water back into the ground to act as a shield. Fed by rain and run-off from the Santa Ana river watershed, the groundwater basin provides about half the water needs of 2.3 million people in central, northern and coastal Orange County. Basin supplies are pumped from the ground, filtered and distributed by the Orange County Water District. With a capacity of about 325 million litres a day, the new plant in Fountain Valley will take treated sewage and filter it further until it is similar in quality to distilled water. The system relies on 270 million microfilters that are designed to remove bacteria and viruses. The water also passes through another series of membranes to remove chemicals, carcinogens, fertilizers, pesticides, toxic metals and minerals, before it is disinfected and pumped into the groundwater basin, where it is further cleansed as it percolates through the earth to various depths up to 300 m. The district plans to pump about 150 million litres a day into the county’s salt-water intrusion barrier through a string of 26 wells in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach. Another 120 million litres a day will be piped to the groundwater recharge basin in Anaheim. The water will be used to meet future demand as the county reduces its reliance on outside sources, such as the Colorado river. The treatment plant represents the heart of a $486 million project to overhaul and expand the county’s outdated groundwater replenishment system.

Testori to supply filter bags to aluminium plant in Bahrain Testori Group, the Italian leader in industrial filtration production, is supplying Solios Environnement, which specializes in dry scrubbing systems for primary aluminium smelters, with 14 100 filter bags. Fratelli Testori, the holding of the Italian Group, and its French subsidiary, TTL France, will produce the filter bags to equip the fume treatment centre at the Alba Bahrain aluminium plant. The bags will be made of a specially treated polyester material and will have a total filtration surface of 38 000 m2. Contact: Fratelli Testori SpA, Largo Testori 5, Novate Milanese (MI), Italy. Tel: +39 35231; Fax: +39 02 3523.230; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.testori.it

8 June 2004

Donaldson sells Ohio operation US-based Donaldson Co Inc is to sell its manufacturing plant and operation in Stow, Ohio, to Falls Filtration Technology Inc, a private group led by the plant management team. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The operation, which produces low-volume and speciality filters, posted revenues of about US$5 million in fiscal 2003. Donaldson purchased the plant and operation as part of its acquisition of AirMaze Corp during 1999. AirMaze was a privately held supplier of heavy duty air and liquid filters, air/oil separators and high purity air filter products. The remaining operations from the AirMaze deal are not affected by the sale, and the company does not expect the move to have a major effect on its results for third quarter or full twelve months of the current fiscal year. Contact: Donaldson Co Inc, PO Box 1299, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1299, USA. Tel: +1 952 887 3131; Fax: +1 952 887 3155; Website: www.donaldson.com

Sales growth boosts optimism in UK manufacturing Close to half of UK manufacturers experienced sales growth in this quarter, an increase of 10% on the previous quarter’s results, and the majority (81%) expect to see performance in their industry sector improve or remain the same over the next 12 months. The sales increase, revealed in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) recent Quarterly Survey, is not consistent across the regions however, with the North of England, the Midlands and Scotland showing the biggest increases in sales compared to the previous quarter (20%, 19% and 18%, respectively). Conversely, since the last quarter Welsh manufacturers recorded a decrease in sales from 13% to 33%. Optimism remains high across all regions however, with manufacturers in the South West (88%), Scotland (87%) and Wales (87%) being the most optimistic and expecting performance to improve or remain the same. Northern Ireland is the most pessimistic with just under a third expecting manufacturing to decline. John Ling, IMechE technical manager, comments: “The results prove that UK manufacturing is not all doom and gloom. The sales increase comes in stark contrast to many economists’ pronouncements earlier in May that the sector was technically back in recession. However, it remains to be seen what impact the hike in fuel prices, increased interest rates and the enlargement of the EU will have on UK manufacturing. It is likely that the full impact of these factors will not be felt until later in the year.” The results of the Quarterly Survey were gathered in the second quarter of 2004 from 410 senior IMechE members, who are chartered engineers working at CEO and senior management level within the UK manufacturing industry. The results from the next Quarterly Manufacturing Survey will be released in August 2004. The IMechE has 77 000 members worldwide, and represents mechanical engineers involved in a diversity of fields. www.filtsep.com