F3 Project Interview on the F3 Factory Project: Modular Production Concepts Boost Competitiveness

The F3 Factory Project was launched to enhance the competitiveness of the European chemical industry by developing alternative production concepts with fast and flexible production process. In an exclusive PROCESS interview, Dr. Thomas Bott, who is head of the Polymer Technology Unit in the Polymer Research organization at BASF and is involved in the F3 Project, explains how that approach might look like in practical application.

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PROCESS: Dr. Bott, why did BASF decide to get on board the F3 Factory project?

Bott: The goal of the F3 Project is to systematically develop the modular factory for continuous production of chemical products and to standardize the equipment and interfaces. Modular production plants can help producers to achieve cost competitiveness even in small or medium scale production. Instead of investing in increasingly large world-scale plants, companies can build smart-scale plants which are more flexible and have a shorter implementation time. This concept makes it possible to significantly reduce the time from product development to plant completion.

PROCESS: Why do we need the F3 Project?

Bott: Modular production concepts give us more flexibility to react quickly to changing market needs. It also takes less time to execute the projects, and we can get new products to market more quickly. Working as part of a consortium with other large companies, research institutes and universities, we want to systematically develop the concept and demonstrate its feasibility. The EU is providing funding for the F3 Project. It would be difficult for individual companies to take on such a large challenge on their own. Later on, each company will have the opportunity to implement the concept for specific products individually.

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