NEWS
Martin Altenbokum, business development director Europe for Petra International Export.
In the
How did you get into the industry? After University in Germany, I spent some time in America on a research grant at the University of Illinois and then joined MBB, a military aircraft company in Munich. MBB was in partnership with British Aerospace for the development of the Tornado and the Eurofighter, but I found that the industry doesn’t offer any perspective. As we say in Germany, peace broke out the industry. I happened to meet the president of GEA Refrigeration and as we chatted he asked if I’d work for him. I was happy to join an industry which was completely new to me. It was a great experience and very challenging.
What is your biggest achievement to date? I think that I was able to lead the three companies that I had the sole responsibility for into a secure future.
Apart from that, I am somewhat proud of having made refrigeration machines with oil- free compressors ready for the market and of having advanced many product developments. One highlight was certainly the development of prototypes in the field of cryocoolers as well as a chiller using water as a refrigerant.
What is the best aspect of the industry generally?
Our industry is certainly of manageable size, but serves very large markets around the globe. In most cases, our industry is not particularly noticed by the people. We have already become too accustomed to living and working in comfortably air-conditioned buildings. It’s something that you only notice when it’s not there, isn’t it? You never hear people praising
Hot Seat
their air conditioning in their car or their fridge freezer or whatever, but you certainly hear them complaining when it’s not there.
I see the greatest strength of our industry in the fact that it makes a significant contribution to creating pleasant air conditioning and enables many new processes in the production sector by adding cold.
What is the worst aspect of the industry generally?
When people started to deal with the production of cooling power, the main aim was to learn the technology without paying attention to our environment. There is certainly a lot we didn’t know, but what stuck with me was that for a long time the handling of refrigerants was mainly based on economic criteria. If our industry had been more careful to ensure that refrigeration equipment was really leak-proof then, we would probably not have an F-Gas regulation today.
What do you think is the biggest challenge ahead for the industry?
In these turbulent times and the many paradigm shifts that are pending and to be expected, our industry is certainly well placed to make quick and substantial contributions to avoid negative impacts on our environment. Product development geared to true sustainability certainly plays a decisive role in this. Many refrigerants with a low environmental impact require new properties of chillers, for example when R290 is introduced as a new refrigerant.
What do you think is the biggest opportunity ahead for the industry?
In recent years, I have often perceived our industry as not very innovative. There have not really been many radical innovations. The introduction of oil-free compressors was an innovation, but some companies have been resisting new technology. The arrival of frequency converters was also a major step. Good, safe products with low energy consumption should be - or become - the vision and aspiration of our industry.
Does legislation help or hinder the industry? I think it is a good leverage to provoke innovation, but some people are perhaps too busy trying to make things that already exist comply and then don’t have the time and resources to truly innovate, but that’s a question of priorities. Innovation is a step forward for both the industry and the planet, and I think we should go for it. Sometimes though, I wish that legislation would be less opportunistic and more oriented towards sustainable values.
When you look at, for example, the future of energy production in Britain and the EU, you see a colourful and indecisive picture. I believe that we should be looking at the future of energy supply less in terms of fears and concerns and more in terms of sustainability and security of supply. Legislation can make a major contribution to this.
How do you think Britain leaving the EU will affect your business?
As you know, I am from ‘overseas’ and have learned and appreciated a lot of new things about UK over the past years. As I have no prophetic abilities, I nevertheless think that the fact that
24 March 2020
www.acr-news.com
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