Under his new role, Ketan Joshi will be focusing on expanding the business and supporting the company’s customers and partners in the region.

With his appointment, the company plans to further support the fast-growing polymer industry in the Middle East. The firm also intends to promote the local production of customer-specific antioxidant blends in the country.

Market and raw material trends set the direction in the chemical industry. That is one of the reasons why the 2008/2009 crisis signaled the start of a paradigm shift in chemical plant engineering and construction. Traditional EPC suppliers (general contractors based in the Western industrialized nations) are facing increased competition from Asia. At the same time, the plant engineering teams at global chemical companies are intensifying their partnerships with EPCs and spreading the workload across the international engineering resource base.

BASF announced that it started a stepwise capacity increase of its production plant for alkoxylation — a downstream technology of ethylene oxide production — in Antwerp, Belgium. The first additional capacities will be available from as early as the 3rd quarter of 2018.

BASF and the Research and Development Center of Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC R&D Center) introduced three co-developed electric concept cars, featuring futuristic designs that address the needs of Chinese customers. This is the first time the German-based group co-developed a concept car together with a Chinese OEM.

“Flexible, Fast and Future Factory” — the F3 Factory is a vision for the future of chemical production. Ambitious projects such as these need partners that can keep the time. Flexibility, speed and efficiency are demanded from plant and components alike — automation suppliers therefore have to leave the trodden path ...

BASF Venture Capital has invested in Prismlab, one of the major providers of 3D printing products and solutions in the country. This is the company’s maiden direct investment in a firm in China.

With MTP (Module Type Package) and NOA (Namur Open Architecture), Namur has launched important game changers in process automation. While the complexity of the topics in the context of the digitization challenges continues to increase, the users need simple solutions. Are sensors the key or the driver for successful digitization? This was discussed under the motto “Field Instruments Supporting Digital Transformation” at the annual users meeting of process automation technology.

There is currently a lot of talk about mega-trends, such as globalisation. Our look at the trends will not centre on these headline issues. Read here what is on the mind of the process industry at this year’s ACHEMA.

The winners have been awarded for their innovative projects that focus on improving health, safety and environmental standards in the chemical industry. Spearheaded by Cefic, the industry council aims to advance the Responsible Care programme in Europe.