Northern exposure

After extensive market research had clearly identified a growing rationale and support for a conveniently located trade exhibition for the UK’s Northern chemical, pharmaceutical and allied processing industries, the organisers of the Chemical Engineering Show (CES) North 05 opted to hold the fledging event at the Yorkshire Event Centre in Harrogate, North Yorkshire between 16-17 November.

Previous process engineering related exhibitions have found a regular home at Birmingham’s NEC, but CESNorth 05 is the first to recognise the strength in depth of the Northern processing sector and to provide its stakeholders with an opportunity to share best practices and network with their peers from the region’s industries.

The event’s ‘premier sponsor’ is Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency charged with attracting inward investment into an area that also benefits from both the Yorkshire Chemicals Focus and the Humber Chemical Initiative — industry-led organisations that support and promote Yorkshire’s £2.2billion sector.

With support expected from similar organisations serving other parts of the North - such as NEPIC (the North East Process Industry Cluster), and Chemical North West - CESNorth 05 appears to have its finger on the pulse of a region that is at the heart of the UK processing industries.

NEPIC alone represents some 200 companies directly employing over 34 000 people in the North East. Its chief executive, Stan Higgins, says: ‘NEPIC members currently have some £1billion invested in capital projects in the North East. The number of biotechnology companies has risen from 28 to 40 in the past three years’.

A similar story can be told of the North West, which is the largest regional centre for chemical manufacturing in the UK. It boasts over 400 manufacturing sites with 43,000 employed directly by the chemical industry. With such a potential audience on its doorstep, CES North 05 should provide something for all its visitors, from whichever part of the region they travel.

Here we take a brief look at a few of the 40 or so exhibiting companies.

Among the many exhibitors who are themselves based in the North, CPACT, the Centre for Process Analytics and Control Technology, will be showing how its member companies are addressing the manufacturing challenges being faced by the chemical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, food and materials processing industries.

All the Centre’s research developments — emanating from the Universities of Newcastle, Hull and Strathclyde, and end-users such as BNFL, BP Chemicals, GlaxoSmithKline and 3M Healthcare — are progressed to the plant evaluation phase. The technology is then transferred to vendor companies who are responsible for the commercial exploitation of the technology.

On the doorstep of the Yorkshire Event Centre in nearby Knaresborough is the GSPK Technology Park, new home to Saffron Scientific Equipment. Following its recent acquisition by GSPK Engineering, Saffron has relocated from Didcot, Oxfordshire, and is continuing the development and manufacture of high quality anaerobic containment systems.

Another company with strong Northern connections is O’Hare Engineering, which provides outsourced engineering services to the process industry, specialising in mechanical, electrical and instrument asset maintenance and projects via term contracts or engineering alliances. Within the North West O’Hare claims a leading market share, although recent market research by the company has identified gaps in the current provision of the supply base in Humberside, Yorkshire and the South Coast. To service this market, O’Hare Engineering (South & East) has been set up with an office in Humberside.

Founded in 1982, Induchem has been serving the process industries throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Far East. It currently holds over 20 exclusive agency agreements with many leading equipment manufacturers, an extensive range that has enabled the company to substantially grow its domestic market share. A consequence of that growth was the recent founding of Induchem UK, based in Congleton, Cheshire. In the last three years, this operation has established itself as a leading supplier to the UK process industry.

Taking advantage of its own presence in Manchester, the international sealing company John Crane will be showing examples of its comprehensive product portfolio. This includes many items that boast full compliance with all the relevant ATEX, pressure vessel and CIP/SIP hygienic requirements. For particularly demanding applications — which are not unknown around the region’s chemical industry — the double-balanced design of John Crane’s Safeseal SB2 dual cartridge seal is said to ensure both reliability and longevity.

LMK Thermosafe will be showing its latest developments in drum and container heating technology. Designed to operate safely with or without a Thermosafe heater, the newly developed Induction Base Heater will be unveiled. There will also be regular demonstrations of the waterproof Thermosafe induction heater with both standard and extended ATEX certifications.

Also on show for the first time from Automatic Systems Laboratories (ASL) is a new handheld battery-operated digital thermometer that provides high precision readings to an accuracy of +/-0.025degC or better. The F100 has two inputs allowing both direct and differential temperature measurement.