Press releases, 2009-10-08

"Site. Readiness." – Winning formula for optimized cost structures

Infraserv Höchst gets industrial sites ready for competition – All-in-one designs and professional solutions for secondary processes

True or false: Sites generate costs that are hard to capture and do little to hone your competitive edge. True? No, false! In fact, industrial-site operations harbor enormous potential for manufacturers to boost their efficiency. However, the costs of secondary production processes have to be presented transparently and then optimized to significantly enhance the company's competitive position. Virtually nowhere is this more true than in the chemical, pharmaceutical and related process industries with their special infrastructure requirements. Infraserv Höchst, the operator of the 4.6-km² Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt am Main, has extensive experience operating and managing industrial sites. The winning formula for the dynamic Industriepark Höchst is now an Infraserv product: "Site. Readiness."

From waste disposal to health management

Operating chemical and pharmaceutical sites involves a complex interplay of supply and disposal processes, logistics and IT services, facility management and environmental protection, security services and health management. In Industriepark Höchst, Infraserv Höchst offers even more services, ranging up to vocational training, continuing education and pilot-plant services. They give the roughly 90 tenants and their 22,000 employees the freedom to focus fully on their core business. Since it was created with Infraserv Höchst's establishment in 1997, the operator model has proven its worth, as the park's successful development shows: Last year, tenants broke a new record by investing over EUR 600 million in the park. Total investment between 2000 and 2008 has exceeded EUR 3.7 billion – an impressive sign of the park's upward trajectory.

The site's appeal stems in large part from its powerful infrastructure, tailored specifically to the tenants' needs. Supplies of energy and raw materials include everything from process steam to purified water. All waste and wastewater is disposed of safely and professionally. There are logistics specialists with in-depth expertise in handling dangerous goods. And the facility managers have extensive knowledge of planning, building and operating sophisticated research and laboratory buildings.

Intelligent combination of secondary processes

"Site. Readiness." intelligently combines all these secondary processes – and many more – into a fully integrated scheme that enables quality and efficiency to improve and cost structures to be optimized. Cost transparency is one of the main advantages: "Site. Readiness." involves breaking down the secondary processes and related costs in order to capitalize on cost-cutting opportunities.

Once secondary processes and their costs are viewed separately from the core business, it becomes possible to achieve enormous savings through professional management and synergies: up to 20 percent. Infraserv Höchst utilizes Six Sigma, an efficiency-improvement program applied by many companies and introduced at Infraserv Höchst four years ago. Through more than 400 projects, Infraserv Höchst has achieved over EUR 43 million in cost savings and raised its net income by EUR 10.4 million.

Up to 75 percent income increase possible

For customers, "Site. Readiness." definitely pays dividends: Infrastructure costs usually account for 10 to 15 percent of chemical companies' revenues. Cutting them by up to 20 percent brings revenues up 10 to 75 percent, assuming a profit margin of 1 to 20 percent. As such, a manufacturer who entrusts the operation of its industrial site to an expert provider can significantly enhance its long-term competitiveness.

Besides trimming costs and improving performance and transparency, "Site. Readiness." offers another benefit: greater agility. A professional service provider can increase or decrease the capacity of its infrastructure much faster than a manufacturer could with its own supply and disposal facilities. Risk minimization is an additional benefit. In many secondary processes – from complex waste-management processes and GMP-compliant facility management to hazard-control plans that meet government standards or conformity with all storage regulations for hazardous substances – it takes an enormous amount of expertise to ensure compliance and eliminate risks for the manufacturer. Companies who hand off these processes to a professional provider are also handing off the risks associated with them.

GIS Infrasite: new partner for integrated site operation

Infraserv Höchst has operated Industriepark Höchst, one of Europe's largest chemical and pharmaceutical parks, for more than ten years with a workforce of roughly 2,700 employees. On April 1, 2009, its subsidiary Infrasite Beteiligungs GmbH and GIG, a successful national FM provider based in Berlin, joined forces in a new joint venture: GIS Infrasite, a nationwide specialist for the operation of industrial sites and infrastructure. Infraserv Höchst's extensive experience with site operations meshes perfectly with GIG's deep knowledge of the market. It has thus only taken a few months for GIS Infrasite to successfully establish itself in the market. No wonder – in economically challenging times, many companies look for ways to optimize their cost structures.

Infrasite Griesheim operates industrial park

On September 1, Infrasite Griesheim, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infrasite Beteiligungs GmbH, assumed full operational responsibility for Clariant's site in Griesheim, near Frankfurt. The company now handles not only various supply and disposal services, but also other areas such as construction, employee-support services, telephony, and on-site medical services. The park covers 60 hectares and is home to 32 companies with around 1,400 employees.