now are looking really at the complete process with the fluid, the applications and the processes involved. A complete consideration for a total solution.
For the products this now means really understanding the sourcing of the raw materials, the long term strategy of the suppliers involved, the future potential regulatory issues and the availability locally and more internationally. Recent availability issues in the marketplace have shown that the supplier is often not transparent in terms of the source of the raw material which only comes to the fore at the time of limited availability.
Increasingly, as the industrial lubricant sector is a relatively small business globally compared to other sectors, larger chemical companies are working in tandem with similar organisations on developments and connecting with the marketplace through specialised distributors who have an in depth knowledge of the market requirements.
For the product in use, this is increasingly being considered as part of the process and therefore pre conceived ideas about all of the components being included in the fluid formulation are no longer applicable. The potential to reduce the labelling aspect of the fluid by separately utilising the more aggressive components is becoming more widespread. On this basis, other ideas that are becoming more common are building more and more bespoke products for key customers and optimising the product performance against individual process expectations. For the formulator this requires the creation of a key platform approach to which a number of micro chemistry additions can be made depending upon geographical, regulatory or commercial expectations.
There is no doubt that another key part of these future innovations will include fluid control by physical rather than chemical methods. This will lead some of the more international companies in this sector down the route of increasingly becoming service providers with large scale operations covering all of the component parts of the customer expectation on a long term sustainable basis.
The development of metalworking fluids will continue to be complex over the coming years. The issues discussed here with respect to regulation, raw material limitations and end use complexity will continue to exert pressure there is no doubt. However, those companies that invest in the product, the process and the customer with increasing flexibility towards process solving bespoke solutions will without question move away from some of the commoditisation that is starting to impinge on certain parts of the market.
LINK
www.sealandchemical.com
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