Member Article

Study reveals £3.7bn of Teesside process sector investments

A recent study has revealed that £3.7bn has been invested into Teesside chemistry based businesses since 2005 - confirming that the process sector is always rejuvenating and bringing new investment to the region.

Undertaken by industry cluster NEPIC, the study reveals that 83 companies have invested in businesses on Teesside through the development of new facilities or the update of existing ones.

At the same time, the report also displayed that the number of direct jobs at these companies had decreased – from 10,051 to 9,257.

However, this figure is representative an increasingly modern and automated process sector and on balance, reflects how Teesside’s industry is striving to remain competitive in highly globalised commodity chemical markets.

Dr Stan Higgins CEO NEPIC said of the results: “Teesside’s chemical industry is mostly based on large scale commodity products, such as petrochemicals and polymers. In economic terms these are ageing industries and though they still bring new products to market, economic theory shows that as an industry sector gets older they attract more competition.

Stan continued:

“Therefore to remain in the industry, companies must become more and more efficient in order to compete. A commitment to continuous improvement and lean manufacturing techniques is essential and Teesside’s process companies have learnt how to do this, greatly helping with the retention and attraction of companies in our region.

Furthermore, investment is also taking place within new technology industries, with capital spend coming from companies such as Air Products, SNF Oil & Gas, EPAX and Lotte Chemical UK – which as yet only show a handful of direct new jobs.

Jobs in these ongoing investment projects and others currently in the pipeline for the future have not been captured within the study, however when these are taken into consideration in the coming years we expect to see several hundred jobs created, taking the number back over 10,000.

Further investment and jobs will arise from projects supported by the Regional Growth Fund – such as those planned by AV Dawson, Nifco, Cleveland Potash, Huntsman Tioxide, Fine Industries, Davy Process, Tees Valley Biogas, Sirius, Chemoxy and further work by Lotte Chemical UK.

Air Fuels Synthesis and NET Power have also landed successful RFG bids in the latest round (four) and are moving to full approval for planned investment projects following a period of due diligence.

Dr Higgins added: “The results of our study confirm that the process sector is always rejuvenating and bringing new investment into this region. Without NEPIC we would not see this big picture view of the industry and its importance to the economic security of our region.

“The level of investment we are reporting here shows that the process sector continues to respond to the needs of society as a whole, providing the energy and products consumers demand to improve their quality of life.

“Whether it is transportation, food, health, electronics or construction materials - it is the process sector that manufactures and provides the fuels, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, electronic chemicals and polymers that allow us to enjoy a more sophisticated life style and have longer life expectations than previous generations.”

www.nepic.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by NEPIC .