Nothing going on but the RENTAL

Why buy a drill when all you need are the holes? It's a good question - posed, as it happens, as part of compressor supplier Atlas Copco's marketing brochure. As the trend for outsourcing continues, companies are increasingly seeing plant utilities such as water, air and power as something to be bought in, rather than handled themselves.

Ecolochem, the water treatment company, has been involved in the rental market since its formation almost 30 years ago. It supplies both treated water and water treatment services, up to mobile water treatment plants which deionise, dimineralised and disinfect the raw water supply.

Companies have several reasons for opting to rent water treatment facilities, according to Ecolochem marketing manager Mark Dyson. Savings on capital costs come high up on the list; rental costs come out of operational budgets rather than capital investment. By the same token, maintenance and upgrades are also generally covered by rental fees. The rental term can be as long or as short as the company needs, covering a special emergency situation for a couple of weeks, or as a semi-permanent solution. The company's longest-running rental contract has endured for over 20 years now, comments Dyson.

Looking for leaks

The company has clients across the spectrum of the process industries, notably the power generation (both nuclear and conventional), pharmaceutical, semiconductor and food processing industries. One recent application saw the company supply demineralised water for the commissioning of a nuclear reactor tank near Munich. Siemens, which built the experimental reactor, needed demineralised water because untreated water would have caused corrosion and scaling, but its own water treatment plant had reached its maximum capacity.

Atlas Copco, the compressor supplier, is also active in the rental field with its Contract Air scheme, sometimes known as `air-on-tap' or `airover-the-wall' (see box). The plant operator commits to an agreed volume of air per month on the basis of a fixed litre per second cost over the contract period. In turn, Atlas Copco guarantees delivery of the right quantity and quality of air.

Chillers are a more traditional equipment for rental, and Chiller Rental Services are in the forefront of the business (see News). The company has recently launched a new service based around the COLDfab system for temporary cold stores. Rather than installing refrgeration units within an existing building, COLDfab units are self-contained cold stores and can be built to any size. `Furthermore,' says UKgeneral manager Russell Wilson, `we can offer short or long-term hire price packages, which would be ideal for customers needing seasonal storage or semi-permanent on-site capacity during refurbishments.

Another major reason for hiring equipment is to cover emergency situations, even when the emergency hasn't happened. A-Plant, for example, is offering a special service to firms anticipating millennium problems. The `Power 2000' scheme will allow customers to arrange standby power, compressed air, lighting and pumping services to cope with any problems that might be caused by failing computer system. PE