“A strong market transition from R&D modules to research and production systems”, announces Yole Développement

The MRT market: a strong increase over the last five years …

With a strong increase over the past few years the MRT market is under structuration. Today, it can be decomposed in three sub-parts: MRT modules, R&D systems and production units.

“We observed a strong market transition from modules to systems. Whereas the market of individual modules dropped significantly, the amount of modules included in R&D and production systems grew at a CAGR of 18% on the period 2007-2012. Next to that the R&D system market showed an impressive yearly growth rate of 25%”, says Benjamin Roussel, Technology & Market Analyst, Medical Technologies at Yole Développement.



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Indeed, Yole Développement notes a boarder acceptation of this disruptive technology. Recent and growing involvement of the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry (BSF, Johnson & Johnson…) clearly shows that MRT technologies benefits (better selectivity, safer process, cost and speed optimization…) have sharply raised the interest of potential users. This interest is reinforced as number of publications showed that implementation of flow chemistry can reduce significantly the operational costs. For many applications, rapid return on investment is achievable.



Highly segmented market depending on the added value of MRT

“Large chemical and pharmaceutical companies are increasingly considering MRT as a process intensification solution to solve some of their current processing problems for lab research and to debottleneck production”, explains Benjamin Roussel. Nevertheless, the motivations for implementation are multiple and vary form one case to another. Possible applications, identified by Yole Développement are: MRT for library synthesis, MRT for scalability, MRT for reactive species …

On the technical side, user requirements will be different if the principal goal is to precisely control the reaction kinetics, avoid hazardous situations or develop new syntheses. Likewise, drivers differ depending on the molecule life cycle.



This leads to a market segmentation of the Flow Chemistry market. The ability to understand to which segment a prospect belongs is essential as it determines the most appropriate offer and commercial approach.



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Strong evolution from MRT modules to integrated systems

Flow Chemistry market is structuring and MRT suppliers take different strategic positioning. Some players have evolved towards the high end systems market, including more and more functionalities into their products. In the meanwhile low cost systems have been introduced recently. Such systems respond very well to research and educational needs, and will contribute to the dissemination of flow chemistry.



Analysis of the value chain provides an understanding of the price evolution from microreaction components sold as stand-alone modules to a complete systems installed in Production, “MRT modules represent only approximately 20% of the total system cost, while the instrumentation price share can exceed 60%.“ explains Frédéric Breussin, Business Unit Manager, Medical Technologies at Yole Développement.

This explains how leading companies improved their market positioning and increased their revenue by extending their offer from modules to complete systems. Moreover, it explains as well why increasing the production capacity by numbering-up modules can become very expensive.

About Flow Chemistry Technologies - Microtechnologies for chemical process intensification report:



Authors:

Frédéric Breussin, is expert in Microfluidics for diagnostics and life sciences. He has supported many companies in their innovation and product development strategy in making the bridge between micro systems technologies and their applications in life sciences, diagnostics and medical device industries. He holds an Engineering diploma from INSA Rouen and a DEA in fluid mechanics from University of Rouen.



Benjamin Roussel, is a Market Analyst in Microfluidic and Medical Technologies fields. He holds a State qualification as a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University Claude Bernard Lyon, complemented by a master degree in Technology and Innovation Management from EMLyon Business School.

Catalogue price: Euros 3,590.00 (single user license) - Publication date: March. 2012.

For special offers and the price in dollars, please contact David Jourdan (jourdan@yole.fr or +33 472 83 01 90).



Companies cited in the report:

Accendo, Aetdev, Alfa Laval, Atotech, Cetoni, Chemtrix, Corning, Dai Nippon Screen, DSM, Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik BTS, ESK Ceramics, Future Chemistry, Heatric, IMM, Institute for Microchemical Technology IMT, LioniX, Little Things Factory, Lonza, Merck, Microinnova, Micronit, Mikroglas Chemtech GmbH, Modular Block, Siemens, Sigma-Aldrich, Spec Corporation, Syntics, Syrris, ThalesNano, ThinXXS, Velocys, YMC…