Total Solutions Hot Topic Hour (August 20) confirms the Trend toward Greater Outsourcing

Speakers and participants in the Total Solutions Hot Topic Hour on August 20 confirmed that customers want suppliers to offer a broader scope of design and installation services. More operation and maintenance support is also needed. Those companies offering a broad range of services coupled with knowledge of the applications provide ways for the international companies to eliminate local competition in developing countries.

An air polluter can buy components and design, operate and service his pollution control system. Alternatively he can outsource all these responsibilities. The revenue potential for all this outsourcing is defined as the “Total Solutions Opportunity.”

The historical trend is toward greater and greater outsourcing. The availability of new digital tools will accelerate this trend in the future. This opportunity promises to deliver higher profits to suppliers and lower life cycle costs and higher value products for operators. There are many partial solutions as well as total solutions. Each needs to be evaluated.

McIlvaine stated that the reason operators need knowledge and help is not because the experienced people are retiring but because knowledge is growing exponentially and the human brain is not.  A number of the speakers offered other explanations. Leaner staffing by operators was one explanation. Another was the perception that manufacturing jobs are not as glamorous as software and electronics.

The need for broad-based solutions is driven by a number of factors:

The discussion involved a number of presenters and comments from participants.

• Clark Griffith - Griffith Consulting, has found success by providing all the customer needs from initial assessment to installation and startup. Clark has an extensive background in thermal oxidation. His services are available through the McIlvaine niche expert system.
  

• Bruce Galli - Marsulex, said that the attractiveness of ammonium sulfate systems depends on the size of the system e.g., more than 1.5 percent sulfur with flow equivalent to 200 MW to less than 1,000 MW.  The limitation on the high side is exceeding local demand for ammonium sulfate.
  

• Guisu Liu - Mobotec, covered a range of in furnace NO_x and SO_x reduction techniques.
  

• John Albritton - Paragon Air Heater, explained the importance of air heaters relative to the size and performance of downstream air pollution control equipment.
  

• Martin Schroter - Dürr, provided details on the system using catalytic filters and powdered limestone injection for cost-effective air pollution control and then heat and moisture recovery.
  

• Rod Gravely - Tri Mer, also discussed catalytic filters and the ability of his company to provide complete turnkey systems. The system often competes with dry scrubbers followed by conventional precipitators and SCR. Typically the Tri Mer design is less costly and takes 30 percent less space.
  

• Tom Van Remmen - Verantis, also focused on complete turnkey systems. In some cases they are designing systems to recover HCl and other valuable products. By offering a range of services they have an international client base of companies such as BASF, Dow, and Eastman. Tom says their business in China is down due to the lower level of activities of international customers in the country.

• Mike Gregory - IAC, displayed a new dry scrubbing system which uses a cyclone to minimize impact on a downstream precipitator.
  

• Craig Thiry - Montrose, listed a wide range of testing and consulting services available as a result of the acquisition of 25 companies in recent years. Craig agreed that partnership with turnkey system suppliers is a way to seamlessly provide what the customer needs.
  

• Joe Porcelli - Sulzer Chemtech, described the static mixing technologies including the ammonia dispersion in the flue gas stream.

The discussion was based on a series of power points http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/images/Total_Solutions_8-21-2015.pdf