Engineering: a brighter future for all concerned?

For many months now we have been reporting, and commenting, on the seemingly never-ending trail of mergers, acquisitions, joint-ventures and partnerships that have taken place across most sectors of the process industries. The scale of the BP Amoco merger, now swollen by the acquisition of Arco (see page 4), has dwarfed all other deals but the worldwide chemicals industry, in particular, has taken on a radically different structure in the past few years. And, as we report in this month's News section, chemicals are still very much in a state of flux.

Once again it's ICI setting the pace as it continues its metamorphosis from a chemicals company into, well, an altogether different chemicals company. With its petrochemical and chlor-alkali operations now rumoured to be in the fire sale, along with the titanium dioxide business (see page 7), ICI has long lost its unofficial role as the `bell-wether' of the UK economy. But which company has taken over that role is anyone's guess.

The remnants of the British car industry appear to be better indicators of the German and Asian economies than our own at the moment, while most other parts of the manufacturing sector are teetering on the edge of recession. Of course, it could be argued that the City ceased to regard manufacturing as a reliable indicator of the health of the nation long before ICI's changing fortunes.

Certainly, the markets move in mysterious - and rapid - ways, as AEA Technology discovered last month (see page 4) after issuing a profits warning. The company has our sympathies. Last month we, along with the rest of Miller Freeman's group of engineering and manufacturing titles, suddenly found ourselves under new ownership (see below) as our previous proprietor pulled out of engineering. Well, we are still here, under the aegis of at least one company prepared to put its money behind the engineering and industrial sectors.