Preparing for Change

Abstract

Gerhard Koblenzer, which of the latest industrial trends will have the greatest influence on parts cleaning in the near future? Over recent decades, the global automotive industry has been the main purchaser of industrial cleaning systems. This key industry has been undergoing increasing changes in recent years across all the world’s markets and, in particular, in Europe and China. Europe has played a leading role in developing diesel engines with low CO2 emissions and new advanced petrol engines, but it is currently struggling to overcome a number of problems. These include the issue of particulate matter, the uncertainty and lack of direction in relation to the powertrain of the future and the question of how to manage global trends, such as new production processes, digitisation and autonomous driving. At the same time, we are seeing significant growth in markets where there are increasing requirements for technical cleanliness. Alongside the medical technology, semiconductor and electronics industries, there is also growing demand in more general industrial sectors and, of course, in the automotive industry, all of which have similar requirements to the traditional markets for precision cleaning.