The industrial plant relocation market is undergoing increasing change with further developments to come in the years ahead. Phil Hastings reports on the raft of new influences that are reshaping the sector.
The international relocation of second-hand industrial plant and equipment business was generated by two main trends. First, a move be many multinational manufacturers to relocate their production operations to lower cost areas. Second, growing demand from fast-growing local manufacturers in those countries for second-hand plant and equipment as a more cost-effective alternative to buying from new.
However, while both those trends are still very apparent, the overall market picture has become increasingly complex over the last few years, with a raft of different influences generating significant current and potential future changes in the nature of the factory plant and industrial equipment relocation business.
Examples include an increasing worldwide corporate focus on sustainability issues, tougher engine emission and other environmental regulations in many developing countries, and the growing use of auctions and other online options for selling and buying second-hand equipment.
The continuing trend for used plant and equipment to be relocated from the developed world to developing countries was confirmed by Bill Angrick, chairman and chief executive of Liquidity Services, a US-based global online marketplace for surplus goods. About 60 percent of that company’s approximately USD1 billion of annual transaction value relates to industrial capital equipment.
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