UK's DTI offers £80 million in investment aid

Filtration Industry Analyst

January 2005

Filtration Company Index ACWa Services

6

Addison Products Co

4

AFS

2

Ahlstrom

5,10

Alfa Laval

13

Amersham

6

Andritz

5,10

Anhydro Group

6

Asahi Kasei

11

Baldwin Filters

13

Barneby Sutcliffe

6

BBA Fiberweb

7

BBA Group

4

Benchem

5

Bentec Scientific

4

BHA Group Holdings

5

BWT Best Water Technology

5

Calgon Carbon Corp

6

Ceco Environmental

14,15

NEWS

Ciphergen Biosystems Clarcor

4 5,15,16

Crane

15

Crown Andersen

15

Culligan International

5

Cummins

11,15

Cuno

5,8,15

Dana Corp

4

Danaher Corp

4

Davey Products

5

DelStar Technologies Technologies6 Domnick Hunter Donaldson

5,13,15 3,6,14,15

Donaldson Membranes

7,13

Environmental Elements Corp

14

Esco Technologies

5

Everpure

6

Fedders

4,15

Fibra Ltd

1

Filtration Group Technical Media 5 Filtrair Flanders

5 12,15

Fleetguard Emission Solutions Flowmatic

3 6

General Electric

15

GE Energy

5,7

GE Healthcare GE Water Graver Technologies H2O Innovation

6 1,4 6 15

Hodge Separators

2

Hollinee

5

Hollingsworth & Vose

7

ICEX Holdings

4

Ionics ITT Industries

continued on page 14...

2

4,6,15 6,15

USFILTER AND WILO/EMU END SALES RELATIONSHIP Wilo Ag and USFilter Corp have terminated their agreement to market Wilo’s EMU line of pumps and mixers in North America through USFilter sales channels, as of 31 December 2004. The USFilter/EMU relationship stretches back more than 25 years, and the agreement gave USFilter the right to exclusively market EMU products in the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico. Wilo acquired EMU in January 2003. The decision to end the long-standing relationship with USFilter was driven by EMU’s ongoing business strategy to have a uniform sales distribution for the Wilo and EMU products globally, according to Terry Rouse, chief executive officer of WiloEMU LLC. • Sales, marketing, service and warranty support for new and existing customers of EMU pumps and mixers in North America, will now be supported by Wilo-EMU USA based in Thomasville, Georgia.

UK’s DTI OFFERS £80 MILLION IN INVESTMENT AID The UK’s Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has offered £80 million investment to British businesses for research and development into the “latest world-beating innovative technologies.” The announcement comes as a result of the DTI’s recently-published five-year programme – Creating Wealth from Knowledge. The award emphasises the DTI’s new industrial policy, which sees it positioned as a champion of

science, innovation and technology. Among the nine highpriority technology areas identified by the body as eligible for the award – and of potential interest to filter makers and filter media manufacturers – are micro and nanotechnology; waste management and minimisation; smart materials; as well as bio-based industrial products.

SARTORIUS WINS FROST & SULLIVAN AWARD Sartorius Ag, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supplier, has received the Product Differentiation Innovation Award 2004 from international consulting company Frost & Sullivan, for its “innovative business model in the Biotechnology Division.” During its market research, analysts at Frost & Sullivan conducted interviews with customers and users, studied competitors’ product strategies and analysed secondary sources. Companies were evaluated according to criteria that included; positive impact on sales directly related to product differentiation strategy; benefit to end users due to product uniqueness; and effect of product differentiation on ease of adaptability for new end-user applications. In its judgement, Frost & Sullivan praised Sartorius’ evolution from a filtration specialist into a provider of complete process solutions, as well as its philosophy of providing the biopharmaceutical industry with an integrated portfolio of process technology products. “Particularly impressive have been Sartorius’ developments of new technologies for downstream processing and for purification of monoclonal antibodies and human vaccines,” a statement read.

MAIN MICRODYNNADIR SITE MOVES TO WIESBADEN Microdyn-Nadir, a membrane manufacturer specialising in liquid separation, is to consolidate its two sites in Wuppertal and Wiesbaden. Starting in January 2005, the company’s main site will be located in the “KalleAlbert” industrial park in Wiesbaden, Germany.

HODGE SEPARATORS’ INDUSTRIAL DIVISION SOLD Stetfield Separators Ltd has been formed from the sale of the Industrial Division of Hodge Separators Ltd, as part of a management buyout. The agreement passes the forward order book and all outstanding quotations for industrial products, along with all industrial product design rights, to Stetfield Separators. Hodge Separators will now concentrate on manufacturing Marine Bilge Water Separators and Biological Systems.

‘SIX SIGMA’ A SUCCESS STORY, SAYS REPORT Six Sigma is “thriving across all sectors,” according to research released by Celerant Consulting, a Lean & Six Sigma specialist. Celerant’s survey questioned managers across all business sectors and for the majority, Six Sigma is growing in importance and receiving greater management and board level attention. However, despite raised awareness, there remains a lack of skilled resources allocated to projects and a robust project selection approach. These are identified