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Thursday - 2009-12-03
Recent study underlines competitive advantages of chemical park concept
Grigat: “CHEMPARK on the right track with its site marketing approach”marketing”
Chemical park partnership with Nanjing a key building block for the future
| “The active development and marketing of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) as a location for the chemical industry is crucial to its success in times when competition between locations is fierce.” This was a key finding of a study released by management consultants Booz & Company at “Branchentag Chemie”, an event for the chemical industry organized by the NRW Economics Ministry. The study compared 25 chemical regions in 10 European countries. “The result confirms we are on the right track with our site marketing approach in terms of both the chemical park model and our focus on innovative materials,” stated Dr. Ernst Grigat, head of the CHEMPARK Management Business Unit and of the CHEMPARK Leverkusen site, at a press conference on Thursday, December 3, 2009. He added that the recently forged chemical park partnership – a world first – was a key building block putting the company on the right path for the future.
On November 18, 2009, CHEMPARK – with its sites in Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen – entered into a partnership with the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park (NCIP) in China. Under this agreement, the two parties will share experience and information on a regular basis. “A further objective is to raise our profile in China. We aim to be seen as the top chemical park in Europe and a well-known specialist for innovative materials and thereby as a frontrunner when decisions on investments in Europe are being made by China or other countries,” declared Grigat. China has already shown some interest in CHEMPARK. A delegation from Nanjing will be coming to visit in spring 2010.
During their visit to CHEMPARK, the members of the delegation will find out more about the location where around one third of NRW’s chemical industry is based. The study referred to above reveals the strengths and weaknesses of NRW and Germany as locations for the chemical industry. Advantages include the chemical park model – a unique selling point of the German chemical region. According to Grigat, “the benefit lies in the fact that the chemical park operator provides a comprehensive infrastructure. This enables companies to focus on their core business – manufacturing innovative products.” Other benefits identified by the study include the large skilled workforce and excellent infrastructure. Wage costs are about average compared with direct competitors, but Germany is at a disadvantage with some location-related criteria, in particular energy costs. “We are in direct competition with other locations such as the Antwerp region. Our task is to be better and more creative than our rivals,” stated Grigat. “In order to achieve this, we need to do our homework, but we also need the support of politicians,” he concluded. |
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