MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS (April 20 11:40 a.m. ET) -- The polyurethanes industry is back on track as a highly technical, innovative sector, which has strong growth prospects as a result of its versatility and ability to offer solutions to customer problems.
That was the message coming from many exhibitors at the Utech Europe 2012 event, held in
“It’s a wonderful material,” and there is “always excitement to see what you can make with it,” with strong prospects for rigid PU insulation as world demand for cutting energy use gets more and more crucial, Uwe Hartwig, senior vice president for BASF Polyurethanes told UTI, in an interview at the meeting.
“I’m a strong believer that the future for PU is bright,” as a result of its innovative and versatile nature, its solution providing ability. “You can make things happen with urethanes … If you have a problem, I can make the solution with PU,” Hartwig said.
At Evonik Industries AG, Tammo Boinowitz, senior vice-president for the comfort and insulation business, said this ability to provide tailor-made solutions, via the customer performing the chemistry on his production line, is a unique factors contributing to PU’s versatility. And Boinowitz sees a positive future for urethanes, with many new ideas developing along the value chain at any one time.
Organizer Crain Communications Ltd., publisher of Urethanes Technology International, has not yet released final figures for attendance at Utech Europe 2012, but said the total visitor numbers for the first two days were likely to be nearly a third higher than the total for all three days in 2009, and 5 percent higher than the total attendance in 2006.