NEWS RELEASE                                                                                         October 2018

HVAC Filter Market, Market Shares, IIoT, and TCO are Inseparable

There is no set of government or association statistics which provides HVAC filter sales let alone future projections. The building blocks to reasonable analysis are knowledge of the processes, knowledge of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of filters for each process, and the aggregation of sales by the individual participants.

One venue where insights on market share and total cost of ownership is available is The Filtration 2018 conference and exhibition this week in Philadelphia. The key note address was by Michael MeisLead Research Specialist, 3M who describes the use of a blue tooth enabled pressure sensor on each filtrate furnace filter. An automatic purchasing program entails tracking of pressure by 3M and delivery of new filters when needed. The result is precise market data about sales of filters to each individual homeowner.

Filtration is an annual conference alternating between Philadelphia and Chicago. It features presentations and exhibitions by filter media suppliers as well as companies selling components. It is the largest display of HVAC media of any exhibition being analyzed by McIlvaine.

If the 3M approach can be justified for $20 filters it can certainly be justified for the larger filters used in industry and commercial buildings. The world HVAC filter next year will be $8.3 billion - but this does not include the total solutions approach such as Michael presented.

 A total solutions approach increases revenue potential by 20 percent or more but has even a greater impact on market share and EBITA for those who pursue it.

Knowledge about total cost of ownership and market shares for competitors is necessary to forecast the market opportunity but it is equally valuable in creating a successful sales program. If the competitor is armed with the output of sophisticated data analytics regarding TCO then it will be very important to provide equally convincing data showing a lower TCO for the suppliers product.

Knowledge of the processes is the first step in analyzing TCO. A sugar refinery will have sticky dust in the ambient air. An HVAC system on a drilling rig will entail higher labor costs for filter changes and will have to deal with oil fumes. Rahul Bharadwaj, Nathaniel Nance and Michael Osborne of AAF analyzed HVAC TCO in Filtration News December 2017 www.filtnews.com

They list the following factors impacting TCO

• Local energy costs
• Worker wage costs
• Filter resistance
• Effective filter service life or Dust Holding Capacity (DHC)
• Procurement costs
• Labor costs to change filters
• Duct cleaning costs
• Disposal costs
• AC coil cleaning costs
• Cost of the filter
• Compliance risk and liability costs.

The media selection affects each one of these factors and in most cases is more important than any other aspect of the filter. Therefore these factors can be used to evaluate the market opportunity for various types of media. A number of new media developments were presented this week at Filtration 2018. For example there are displays of multi-layer and or fiber filtration media incorporating nanofibers. How does this compare to membrane filtration for gas turbine applications? Are HEPA filters rugged enough to withstand the cycling of gas turbines in extreme environments? Answers to these questions shape the market.

The filter media forecasts are contained in the following McIlvaine Market Reports

N021 World Fabric Filter and Element Market

N022 Air Filtration and Purification World Market

N024 Cartridge Filters: World Market

N020 RO, UF, MF World Market

N006 Liquid Filtration and Media World Markets

Bob McIlvaine can answer your questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 847 784 0012 ext. 112