NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                                JULY 2016

2017 High Performance Cartridge Sales Will Be $4.6 Billion

Total sales of cartridges for liquid filtration in 2017 will be $17 billion.  High performance cartridge sales will be $4.6 billion, whereas sales of general purpose cartridges will be $12.4 billion.  All of the $5 billion of cartridge sales for residential use will be general purpose.  All of the $3.5 billion of commercial cartridges will be general purpose.  By contrast, high performance cartridge sales in the pharmaceutical industry will exceed $1.6 billion.  High performance cartridge sales for healthcare will exceed $1 billion.  These are the latest forecasts in N024 Cartridge Filters: World Market.

There is a big difference in price and sales approach between high performance and general purpose cartridges. McIlvaine is using its own definition of high performance to include:

• Unique service
• Severe service
• Critical service 

Unique service is defined as a cartridge which is custom engineered for an application.  The media, size and/or materials for the vessel are varied to meet a customer’s need.  The extent to which a cartridge is unique can be measured by how much more a customer is willing to pay for the custom design rather than be content with an off the shelf alternative.  A paint manufacturer may want a cartridge that is not too efficient on small particles but does remove the large ones.  The reason is that the small particles are the ones providing the color. So, while with standard cartridges the higher the efficiency the better, this will not be acceptable in paint filtration.

Severe service is defined as an application where particle adhesion, particle size, corrosion, erosion, pressure, or temperature is a concern. Purchasers are willing to pay more for better severe service cartridges because the alternative is high replacement rates, high maintenance cost and potential disruption to processes. The refining, chemical and power industries have many severe service applications.

Critical service is defined by the importance of the cartridge performance.  If safety, health, or quality of the goods manufactured are impacted by cartridge performance, then it would be critical service.  An example would be cartridges in the semiconductor industry which must remove any particles which would otherwise cause damage to a computer chip.  By contrast, the carbon cartridge in a refrigerator may deteriorate to where taste is impacted but failure would not be critical. The food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries utilize cartridges for food processing and, therefore, performance of the cartridge is critical.

Identification of the high performance cartridge segment is important to cartridge suppliers.  High performance cartridges offer the opportunity for higher profit margins.  They are also sold based on determining the lowest total cost of ownership.  Therefore, the route to market is different than for general purpose cartridges.

For more information on N024 Cartridge Filters: World Market, click on:   http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/117-n024