A new global study has used satellite technology and records of human activity to analyse Earth’s freshwater distribution for years, suggesting that wet areas are getting wetter, while dry areas are getting drier. This pattern is due to multiple factors, such as water management policies, human-induced climate change as well as natural climate cycles.

Protec Arisawa is a forward-looking company always searching for new solutions in our field, and our obligation is to always remain up to date with the latest and most relevant news affecting our sector. As global leaders in FRP pressure vessel manufacturing for reverse osmosis processes, everything related to water is essential for us.

New approach to an immediate problem

In many ways, we are facing a revolutionary scientific work. A NASA-led research team used 14 years of images and observations recorded by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, combined with data on human activities to map where –and why– freshwater is changing around the globe. Thanks to this innovative research technique, scientists have been able to track global freshwater trends in 34 regions around the world.

This study, published in the May 17, 2018 issue of the Nature science journal, includes other human data sources such as agricultural activities, mining and industry among others, and registers from 2002 to 2016. “This is the first time we’ve assessed how freshwater availability is changing, everywhere on Earth, using satellite observations”, stated Matt Rodell, lead author of the article and head of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory.

Satellites to study Earth’s water

The twin GRACE satellites, launched in 2002 as a joint mission with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), measured the distance between the two satellites with an incredible accuracy, in order to detect changes in the Earth’s gravity field caused by mass movements on our planet. Using this method, GRACE scientists have been able to track variations in land water storage on a monthly to annual time scale, until the mission ended in October 2017.

The humid areas of the Earth are witnessing how the amount of precipitation they receive keeps increasing, while the dry areas are receiving fewer rains each year, and this leads to great global hydrological changes. As global temperatures continue to rise, cities around the world will have to figure out how to do more with less water. For example, in 2016 average daily per capita use in California was 321 litres, while the south-western region of the Golden State lost 4 gigatons of freshwater per year between 2007 and 2015. For reader’s information, a gigaton of water is the equivalent of the mass of the water contained in 400,000 Olympic swimming pools. Quite a trivial quantity, isn’t it?

“This observation-based assessment of how the world’s water landscape is responding to human impacts and climate variations provides a blueprint for evaluating and predicting emerging threats to water and food security,” as the study claims.

Fresh water is present in lakes, rivers, soils, snow, groundwater and glacial ice. The continuous loss of arctic mass, attributed to climate change, has severe implications for sea level rise. On the continental platforms, while water supplies in some regions are relatively stable, other areas typically experience increases or decreases, as the study reports.

Desalination as a future solution for water sustainability

In this context, the mastery of new water purification techniques and modern desalination processes is called to become a key factor that will set the pace in the path to find solutions to this problem that will undoubtedly change the world as we know it over the next 50 years.

At Protec, we strive every day to upgrade our FRP pressure vessel solutions, proving that reverse osmosis is one of the most advanced, efficient and environmentally friendly water purification technology: we are ready to face current global issued and well aware of the growing weight that innovation represents in finding sustainable ways to supply drinkable water.

Sources:

Emerging trends in global freshwater availability

M. Rodell, J.S. Famiglietti, D.N. Wiese, J.T. Reager, H.K. Beaudoing, F.W. Landerer and M.-H. Lo.

We would like to thank all the people who visited our stand. Being at IFAT was an enriching experience. We will continue to work very hard. See you at the next fair.
Thank you
The Protec Arisawa team.

Indeed, we are fit and ready for the first important international meeting in 2018. Come and visit us at Messe München between the 14^th and 18^th of May: IFAT is the world’s leading event for water technology professionals, you can’t miss it! We’ll be waiting for you at our stand A3.403

 After attending last year’s edition of the IDA World Congress and Aquatech Amsterdam with great results and a premium quality high-tech offer in pressure vessels for water purification, Protec Arisawa will also be present at IFAT 2018: The World’s Leading Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Materials Management. We are on the move!

As was predicted, this IFAT edition is almost fully booked and its managers are expecting more participants, exhibitors and visitors than ever. More than 3,300 exhibitors –that is about 200 companies more than at the last edition in 2016– will attend this global trade fair for Environmental Technologies to present their pioneering technologies, innovations, strategies and solutions tailored to meet the requirements of specific markets and applications.

The best platform for innovation in water treatment

Protec’s state-of-the-art expertise will also be present at IFAT 2018, next to the most important actors in this sector. In future scenarios, treated water will support a wide range of economic and human activities in coastal areas, fulfilling new and innovative functions, and our mission is to remain at all times attentive to the particular needs and the latest discoveries in our field. In this sense, the World’s Leading Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Materials Management is the perfect scenario to expand knowledge in the newest emerging desalination and water reuse technologies.

Come and visit us at our stand A3.403

Between the 14^th and 18^th of May, Protec Arisawa will be at the Messe München exhibition centre (Munich, Germany), an impressive space with huge capacity and the best technical facilities for this top event. Our international team will assist clients, suppliers and visitors in every need.

 IFAT 2018 is a not-to-be-missed trade fair: The ideal stage to showcase our leadership in FRP pressure vessels for water purification processes. This is a unique field for networking opportunities, knowledge sharing, innovation and new business opportunities.

Attendance of all industry-relevant companies

As the main industrial platform for innovations in water reuse technologies, this IFAT edition is extremely interesting for Protec. Here are some key data about IFAT 2016 that mirror the importance of this meeting:

• 3,087 exhibitors from 59 countries
• 136,885 visitors from 169 countries
• An exhibition space of more than 230,000 square meters

Our professional delegates will have the chance to meet the entire industry major players, ranging from companies providing services on a global scale to highly specialized medium-sized enterprises. We are most eager to share experiences with them all!

New challenges, new solutions

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), two billion people around the world must satisfy their thirst with contaminated water or not-correctly treated seawater. As the climate is changing, making the situation ever worse, the industry’s responsibility to handle water resources efficiently is growing every day. As the Managing Director of Messe München Stefan Rummel declared, “more and more companies throughout the world rise to the global environmental challenges.”

Come and visit us at our stand A3.403! We want to listen to your ideas and explore every possible solution to develop the right pressure vessel for each specific case and field of action. As water managers around the world grapple with intensifying water and wastewater infrastructure challenges, our objective is to expand the company’s field of action to more mainstream markets and to prove the quality of the best fiber-reinforced pressure vessel solutions for water purification on the market.

Once again, global leaders in desalination plants design and construction –Abengoa and Fisia Italimpianti– have relied on Protec Arisawa pressure vessels for their most important project: an expansion of the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, at Shuaiba power and desalination complex (Saudi Arabia).

At Protec we live and work every day to take part in the most ambitious projects, both from an industrial and technological viewpoint. This is why we are proud to announce the award of an order that will challenge our production capacity, our innovating spirit and our commitment to quality, which is our hallmark.

FRP reverse osmosis pressure vessels for the biggest plant in the world

Indeed, Protec Arisawa will manufacture and install 3,960 high-tech pressure vessels for Shuaibah III, a huge energy and water purification complex located 90 km south of the city of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. To be noted: this order is divided into 2,800 high-pressure vessels (1,200 psi) and 1,160 low pressure vessels (450 psi), intended to fulfill the reverse osmosis process requirements of a major project aimed at meeting the region’s increasing demand for water.

Our state-of-the-art pressure vessels will be the key elements of Shuaiba transformation into the world’s largest desalination complex, guaranteeing a stable supply of quality water from the Red Sea coast to the cities of Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, and Al-Baha.

The new facilities of the second expansion of Shuaiba III Seawater Desalination plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 cubic meters of purified water daily. Thanks to the 3,960 Protec FRP pressure vessels, the whole complex will be able to desalinate up to 400,000 cubic meters per day applying the newest reverse osmosis techniques: A volume of water equal to 400 Olympic pools, making this Saudi plant the largest desalination site in the world, in addition to Shuaiba’s current desalination capacity of 150,000 cubic meters through reverse osmosis and 850,000 cubic meters using multi-stage evaporation.

Our partners in this project

As global leaders in FRP pressure vessels for reverse osmosis water purification treatments, Protec is sincerely pleased to collaborate once again with the major players in this sector, as are Abengoa and Fisia Italimpianti, two companies sharing markets, challenges and goals.

In a joint venture with Fisia Italimpianti, Abengoa will be responsible for developing the engineering, supply and construction of the project ‘Shuaiba III Second Water Expansion Seawater Desalination plant’, being ACWA Power the project’s awarding authority which will coordinate the overall process for the final customer: The state-owned salt water conversion company, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) of Saudi Arabia.

Abengoa is a Spanish international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, generating electricity from renewable sources, converting biomass into biofuels and producing drinking water from seawater. Abengoa and Protec Arisawa have operated as partners in several projects, such as the Agadir water treatment plant, where the production and provision of the reverse osmosis pressure vessels for the biggest desalination plant in Morocco was entrusted to our company.

Fisia Italimpianti is a world leader for the design and execution of desalination and water treatment plants. This global group is a worldwide known industrial engineering player, reputed for their designed, built and refurbished engineering plants, as well as their civil and industrial works all over the world. Desalination and water purification are today at the root of their renewed business strategy.

The Red Sea is an immediate and future market for desalination processes due to the growing number of membrane desalination plants in the region, especially in Saudi Arabia, where Protec’s membrane filtration systems have already successfully set foot.

This major hit in the Middle East is the best proof that Protec Arisawa has further reinforced its leadership position in pressure vessels for desalination industry in this region since we are already deploying our unique professional expertise in several mega-projects. Thanks to this new expansion of Shuaiba III reverse osmosis seawater treatment facilities, we now have the opportunity to strengthen our commitment to this region and its most valued clients.

Held annually on March 22, it is now the 25th year that Protec Arisawa joins World Water Day 2018: As a global leader in FRP pressure vessels for water purification treatments, we are concerned by this matter.

Today, almost 2 billion people lack access to daily and safe drinking water. In addition, nearly the same population lives in potentially severely water-scarce areas. That number is expected to rise to 3 billion by 2050. As leading engineers, what can we do to address this problem?

On World Water Day, universal access to our vital liquid remains a privilege, when it should be a universal right. “To defend the earth and to safeguard water is to protect life”. Even Pope Francis has posted a tweet on the occasion, reminding the big challenges we are facing.

Experts predict that water demand will exceed supply by 40 percent in 2030. Innovation and technology can create sustainable ways to find new water sources and improve the systems already existing. However, finding a solution depends exclusively on us.

What is World Water Day?

World Water Day, as its name suggests, is an international day of awareness focusing on the ongoing global water issues. Just take a look around: Even countries with huge hydrographical resources like Brazil, Canada or China will face significant water challenges in the coming decades. Droughts, floods and pollution: In many communities around the world, water management challenges are increasing in contexts of both abundance and scarcity, creating social and economic confrontations with worrying consequences.

In addition to human catastrophes, we can witness how severe droughts can intensify critical situations caused by social, political, ethnic and religious tensions. Water is also used as a weapon: Palestinian people, for example, are facing serious shortages in water supplies and poor infrastructure to manage their few available sources.

Investments in hard services and water infrastructure are very important. However, to achieve success with these investments, we need new approaches and, ultimately, innovation. We are 

engineers and creators: We need more people focused on the social, economic and politicalchallenges we are increasingly facing while managing our water.

Past and present, innovation leads the way

In the 18th century, ships carried their own 

desalination plants onboard to ensure clean water supply during long journeys. Seawater was boiled and then condensed. The liquid obtained had almost no salt, and the resulting brine was removed. Quite a simple process, in fact. Advances in reverse osmosis technology in the 1960s made this water purification system more readily available.

Now, the energy required to obtain fresh water from the oceans is more affordable and sustainable. Today, more than 18,000 desalination plants operate in 150 countries, and the process requires 80 percent less energy than was needed 20 years ago.

World Water Day 2018 emphasises the need for each country, state and region to assume its responsibility, and guarantee access to quality water for everyone, especially the most disadvantaged. At Protec, we develop the technology and products to make possible a fair exchange of water resources in the future. Our goal is to contribute in this global challenge, building the XXIst century tools to ensure rational and responsible use of water, both at local and global level.

United Nations’ International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development”, 2018-2028, has just started. As a global leader in FRP pressure vessel for water purification, at Protec Arisawa we understand that the role of businesses in the responsible stewardship of our most vital natural resource is most important than ever.

Our technology at the service of water.

With the technology currently available, there should never be water shortage, particularly when industry can work in partnership with local, regional and national governments to help guaranteeing clean water supply. Protec Arisawa is well aware that desalted water is expected to fulfil new and innovative functions, especially as the support of a wide range of economic and human activities in coastal areas. Therefore, we keep working everyday to deploy our solutions to serve people, industry and water conservation.

A machine that never stops, without any source of energy to feed the movement: It is a dream that we, as inventors, have been trying to fulfil for thousands of years. The reason is pretty simple: It would be a tremendous breakthrough, and the response to a lot of our current problems. Even if it is an impossible concept, we can extract valuable innovation lessons from the history of the quest for perpetual motion.

The perpetual mobile is a hypothetical machine that would certainly change our industrial vision. Theoretically, we are talking about a device able to function eternally –after an initial impulse– without requiring any additional external energy, based on the idea of energy conservation.

It would be great, wouldn’t it? Over the centuries, countless scientists have fantasized about this concept, creating machines that are supposed to achieve perpetual motion. The idea has attracted fortune seekers, idealists, amateur mechanics, engineers, swindlers and, of course, scientific geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci, Villard de Honnecourt, Bhaskara II or Johann Bernoulli, among many others. At Protec Arisawa, curiosity and innovation are in our DNA, and we have made a modest yet interesting research on this subject.

First of all, a little bit of Physics

To this day, none of this kind of devices is really functional in scientific terms. All were doomed to failure. Why does Physics claim that such a machine is not viable? Here is the explanation: The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can be converted from one form to another with the interaction of heat, work and internal energy, but it cannot be created nor destroyed, under any circumstances.

But, the statement that finally knocks-out any debate –even if some “mad” scientist managed to avoid the First Law and did not need any kind of external energy– is the Second Law. This physical principle states that, in practice, entropy always increases, so when heat and friction are generated due to movement, the invariable original energy will decrease, so a perpetual motion device will eventually stop.

An impossible-to-build machine?

Nevertheless, the idea of a «perpetual motion machine» has been an irresistibly attractive concept to humanity for centuries. Today, we can find on the Internet thousands of mechanics projects and devices claiming to have successfully achieved the perpetual movement utopia. The truth is that many of them are really amazing, and it is hard to guess if there really is any trick or treat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=222&v=fQQ8_PDAdfI

However, someone once claimed to have achieved this objective, obtaining perhaps the most recognised success in perpetual mobile design. It was Johann Ernst Elias Bessler, better known as “Orffyreus”, a German entrepreneur born in Saxony in 1680. Around 1712, he started to exhibit a series of apparently self-propelled wheels in various sizes. His gadgets attracted lots of attention but were commonly branded as fraudulent.

Foto Bessler

Three years later, Orffyreus built a larger machine, which was two meters in diameter. He presented it to a committee of scientists and eminent academics. After examining the machine for almost two months, a certificate was issued proclaiming that it was an authentic continuous motion machine, capable of lifting a 30-kg load. However, many enemies of Orffyreus despised this report, and kept denouncing his invention as a fraud.

Exasperated by the mistrust his machine was inspiring, Bessler wanted to prove its authenticity. In this case, several historical accounts state that in October 1717 the wheel was moved to a room at Weissenstein Castle, in Bavaria, far from any surrounding wall and set so that everyone could walk around the device. Once the machine was put into motion, the room was sealed. Two weeks later, the seals were opened and the wheel was still spinning. The room was resealed and remained so until January 1718. And guess what, when they opened the doors, the wheel was still turning.

Diagrama1/2

A professional suicide

Unfortunately, the continuous judgement led Johan Bessler to believe that everything was a ploy to steal the secrets of his wheel. In one of the most remarkable acts of self-destruction in History, he broke his wheel into pieces in a paranoid fit of rage.

After this professional suicide, Orffyreus disappeared from the public scene. Years later, some sources mentioned that he was working on a new revolutionary machine, but it never came to light. Bessler died in ostracism in 1745, after falling from a windmill he was building.

Even if Johann Bessler’s machine was not a genuine perpetual motion device, it was undoubtedly an original and efficient design. Could we use these energy conservation principles to develop new sustainable solutions for all kinds of industrial sectors?

At Protec Arisawa, we believe that innovation is the key to achieve the best solutions in our field. Today, we are global leaders in designing and manufacturing FRP pressure vessels for water purification. As engineers, we are convinced that our mission is to accept great challenges, in order to achieve greater success. We may not be able to build an authentic continuous motion machine, but Protec is definitely a perpetual innovation company.

Communication and transparency are high value-added assets when offering a service or product, whether in commercial, industrial or financial terms. At Protec, we want you to know how we work, from your first call to the delivery of a new supply of top-quality high Fiber-Reinforced Plastic pressure vessels.

Global market’s pace and the new macroeconomic flows involve the adoption of cutting-edge working methods. As it happens in other sectors, the capacity to quickly adapt an industrial process to customers’ specific requests has become a critical factor for all kind of industrial suppliers and manufacturers. This is why leading companies such as Protec try to improve and expand their knowledge every day.

It is therefore essential for us to keep an open attitude towards learning from our partners, customers and providers. As can well be seen, flexibility and transparency in communication are essential values at Protec Arisawa.

Need a specific pressure vessel? We will build it for you

First of all, you should know that Protec has the best quality standard vessel models, but we also work on highly customised projects requiring specific knowledge and technologies. A detailed individual analysis of your project allows us to share our know how and experience: we are pioneers and leaders in reverse osmosis pressure vessels manufacturing thanks to our ability to adapt ours designs to the new specific demands of the 21^st century. Learn more about our customised developments!

In this regard, Protec Arisawa has developed the most appropriate processes and technologies to produce innovative pressure vessel solutions satisfying specific needs with excellent product and service quality.

Flexibility and innovation: The keys to reach the highest quality

Today, we must be confident in our flexibility and reactiveness. In the middle of a new digital and immediate era, producing high-quality vessels to rest in a warehouse waiting for a buyer is currently meaningless. Therefore, our daily commitment is to design, create and produce in real time the perfect vessels for your project.

When it comes to matching the exact requirements expected for each single vessel, Protec deploys a complete array of options and different alternatives to offer you the ideal device you really need for the system you have designed, beating the most severe deadlines.

Our motto could be “Quality and innovation dedicated to your customised project”. That’s right, we take care of everything: our mission is to build every necessary element for your project in our own industrial facilities and using the most advanced materials and technologies. Protec is the only company than can guarantee total control throughout the whole process, from the design and manufacture of each vessel to its installation on site. All pressure vessels are designed and, if required, certified according to ASME X requirements and 100% lot traceable.

Protec: an open-minded experienced team

Come and visit us! At Protec, the notion of “partner” prevails over that of “supplier”: we want to become trusted partners of our clients. Discover by yourself how we can reach these quality standards in all our services: we depend on the expertise and dedication of our team, made of professionals who manufacture each model from scratch with self-designed innovative solutions.

Just take a look around: at Protec Arisawa, communication and proximity are essential for our daily commitment towards our clients. No matter the size of the project you wish to complete, our experienced human team and our technical resources will always be at your service. We want to stand next to you and support your decisions in every step of the process, from your first call to the delivery of your brand new pressure vessels. Our three production sites located on three different continents allow us to reach any place in the world, ensuring the highest quality in all our products and industrial procedures.

When it comes to selecting state-of-the-art technology for Fiber-Reinforced Plastic pressure vessels design and manufacturing, Protec Arisawa is your supplier of choice. From Sardinia to Saudi Arabia, from South America to Asia, we will be on site to support and monitor your project, offering the most adapted and innovative solution in our field for each phase.

Look around you: Plastic is everywhere. The presence of pollution caused by plastic materials in our environment is driving different initiatives at national and global level aiming at controlling the problem.

There is no doubt about it: The use of plastic in large quantities is a sign of industrial development. Growing expansion in the railway, defence and aerospace industries, added to chemical bonding properties or resin adhesives that increase product durability, are factors that seem to be applied as mechanical fasteners in high-end industries, and high temperature resins used in composite applications stand as significant drivers for the market.

Almost within a generation, plastic has managed to worm its way into so many aspects of our everyday life that it can be difficult to imagine our socioeconomic system functioning without this material developed in the early years of the 20^th century.

Nevertheless, packaging industries, and especially plastic-related activities, are at the heart of the debate: according to some Greenpeace recent studies, up to 12 million tons of plastic end up in our seas each year worldwide, accounting for 80% of marine pollution. Today most plastic packaging items and medical material are still used only once before being discarded, often ending up polluting the environment.

However, as experts in fibre-reinforced plastic production, at Protec we understand the extent of this situation. We are major actors in this plastic global world, and our commitment must be to set the debate in motion, in order to work for responsible consumption and a sustainable future.

Symbolic measures to raise awareness

According to ‘The Telegraph’, Buckingham Palace has recently outlined new waste plans in order to eradicate plastic from their daily agenda: there is a “strong desire to tackle the issue” at the highest levels of the Royal household. The new measures include gradually phasing out plastic straws in public cafes and banning them altogether in staff dining rooms.

Like the Queen of England, the Taiwanese government has declared war on single-use plastics. The country will minimize as much as possible the use of plastic cups, bags and dishes by 2030. In both cases, the objective is to significantly reduce the presence of waste in the oceans, a growing problem that will determine future international and environmental policies.

Estimates state that every year we produce globally more than 300 million tons of plastic, and at least 10% of all this material will predictably end up in the sea. Actually, oceanic experts claim that the plastic-to-plankton ratio is now 1:2 and, left unchecked, plastic will outweigh fish by 2050.

Plastic: Too valuable to become trash

Indeed wastefulness seems to have been a constant feature of human behaviour throughout history. However, plastic could play an effective role in sustainable development. Is it really possible?

Once again, Protec Arisawa has been required for its quality and efficiency to produce and install 216 high-tech pressure vessels in a new desalination plant located in Sarlux, in Sardinia (Italy), designed to supply demineralised water for the industrial processes carried out in the neighbouring refinery of Sarroch.

The builder and operator of this new desalination facility is Acciona Agua, a Spanish water treatment front-runner company offering the design, construction and operation of drinking water treatment plants, desalination facilities, wastewater treatment plants and tertiary treatment plants for water reuse.

With more than 40 projects running in Italy only, on this occasion Acciona Agua wished to avail of Protec Arisawa’s excellence to overcome a new technological challenge in this Southern Italy region severely affected by recent and increasing drought.

This brand new desalination plant will provide each day 12,000 cubic meters of high-quality demineralised water to the Sarlux refinery, a facility operated by the major Italian energy group Saras SpA.

Located in Sarroch, near Cagliari –the most important and capital city of this Mediterranean island–, this industrial plant is one of the biggest and more complex of its type in Europe. This transformation industry refines crude oil into petroleum, deploying an operating capacity of 15 million tons per year (or 300,000 barrels per day), which accounts for approximately 15% of Italy’s total refining capacity.

A crucial facility in a region severely hit by drought

With great daily production capacity of demineralised water, the Sarlux plant is a crucial energetic facility for a dry island highly dependent on coastal infrastructures and shipping. This new plant comes just at the right moment, after a year which was the driest ever and the sixth warmest on record in Italy, according to Coldiretti’s recent studies (the major organisation representing Italian agricultural entrepreneurs).

Widespread drought throughout the summer led to water shortages, forest fires, and poor harvests. This situation has been critical for the past 100 years, especially in Sardinia, where many industrial and agricultural activities have been severely affected.

Sardinian energetic industry now has a clean, economic and ensured supply of desalted demineralised water, obtained through processes such as reverse osmosis –where the 216 Protec’s pressure vessels come into play–, ultrafiltration and electrodeionisation (a continuous process to obtain extremely pure water without using chemical elements).

Protec Arisawa thinks bigger

This new Sarroch desalination plant has a total footprint of approximately 1,260 square meters: it is the largest desalination plant for industrial use in the Mediterranean region. In order to accomplish an actual sustainable project minimising environmental impact and global expenses, the newest solutions and techniques have been applied through the whole construction process, from design to final manufacturing of each pressure vessel.

Protec’s expertise has been a crucial element in terms of cost reduction and installation times. Our commitment to innovation eventually improves overall operation efficiency by decreasing pressure losses and significantly optimising energy consumption, among other factors.

Over 40 years of experience confirm Protec Arisawa’s global leadership in the development and production of fibre-reinforced plastic pressure vessels for water purification treatments. In this project we have used the latest technologies, in order to produce our high quality reverse osmosis pressure vessels on a smaller, faster and more compact scale. Once again, we have proven to be the experts in composite manufacturing.

We are a forward-looking company always searching for new and innovating projects to prove our commitment to excellence and state-of-the-art technologies. We possess the specific techniques, resources and motivation to plunge into change. Our innovating solutions for most industrial and engineering sectors, but especially for the water treatment industry, are the best proof of our commitment all over the world.

State financing, particularly for small businesses, is the key factor for the development of innovation and efficient technological progress.

Global companies are usually mostly interested in new developments that can result in increasing speed, capacity, strength and efficiency rather than changing the concept of work itself.

Measuring the importance of an innovation ultimately depends on the degree to which it improves an existing activity or the performance of a function. In order to acquire the ‘innovation’ status, a new technology or process must create related and complementary activities that, in turn, bring about employment, wealth and other major advances.

Let’s have a look at the numbers

Every year, Bloomberg draws up a ranking list of the 50 most innovative countries in the world, taking into account seven different and objective criteria based on R&D investment, productivity and technology, number of patents, spending on higher education and development of high value-added areas, among others.

At first glance, Bloomberg’s 2018 ranking is no big surprise: in first- and second-place titles, South Korea and Sweden have respectively held on to their spots, while Singapore made an entry in third position.

According to Professor Yeo Kiat Seng’s –associate vice-president at the Singapore University of Technology and Design– statement to the French newspaper Le Figaro, “Singapore has always focused on education, especially in disciplines involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics”. Many other experts praise the country’s commitment to research and innovation funding.

South Korea stays in the lead: That’s five years in a row for the Asian king of innovation!

How can it be possible? Less than 60 years ago, South Korea was a rural society and one of the poorest countries in the world. However, this small nation is now a global leader in innovation and the world’s 11th largest economy.

Built on an economic and cultural approach to technology, Korean development has grown up around low-cost manufacturing exports, large conglomerates and heavy investing into research and development.

Great shock: 11th position for the American giant

 For the first time since the study has been compiled, the USA dropped out of the top 10 in the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2018. North-American experts are still wondering what has gone wrong. Early assessment cite education as the main cause of the US fall in Bloomberg’s ranking, while an important decrease in value-added manufacturing was also a major reason.

 However, even the cited criteria are met to greater or lesser degrees, a great barrier still exists between potential and success: fear of failure. Unlike in countries where enterprising and exploring new business horizons are deep-rooted cultural traits, such as China, South Korea or the USA, people living in the Mediterranean region are more reticent when taking risky decisions. For example, Spain has been ranked 29th among the 50 most innovative countries, far behind its French neighbour.

Protec Arisawa: our own way to innovation

Correct innovation management is the key for a company like ours: after the severe crisis suffered, we maintain our expansion as a global reference in fibre-reinforced high pressure vessels manufacturing, carrying out important projects that are recognized worldwide. Protec Arisawa is an international company with proven expertise; now we are looking ahead to the future, betting on training and innovation as pillars of our business policy.

At Protec, we believe in innovation as a fundamental value that is central to our success. Our commitment to technology is to improve our processes and products day by day, so as to reach the highest quality and efficiency levels. We want to work next to our customers and suppliers, designing ideal solutions for the future.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will have to draw a new relationship between people and machines.

This comes as no surprise: Throughout History we have witnessed several key processes that have totally changed the way we produce, work and, ultimately, live. At the end of the XVIIth century, steam engines transformed the world introducing a rural society into the industrial and social processes. The First Industrial Revolution started a long road we are currently travelling on, the end of which is still a long way off. At Protec Arisawa, our expertise is the design, development and manufacture of premium fibre-reinforced pressure vessels and we are leaders in our field of activity. As such, we cannot ignore this new approach to industrial procedures and should take part in it.

Going back to History, it is in the period spanning from 1870 to 1914 when the use of steel and oil as well as electric power opened the gate to mass production. Major technological advances during this period and the following decades led to the Third Industrial Revolution, or Digital Revolution: An era that starting in the late 1970s and is still ongoing. The advancement of technology from analogue electronic and mechanical devices to the digital technology available today made computers the universal tool for almost all productive sectors. The use of electronics and information technology to automate production brought us where we stand nowadays. This time, the robots integrated into cyber-physical systems will be responsible for a radical transformation: Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

A new and connected era

Also called 4.0, this new robotic era we are living in follows the other three transformative historical processes. The fourth industrial revolution is an expression coined by the founder and leader of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, referring to the intense technological changes that have been modifying our productive and social processes since the middle of the last century: A fusion of technologies that blur the lines between our established physical spheres, both digital and biological.

Schwab himself declared that humanity is “on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before «.

According to Schwab and some other experts, now we have the opportunity to shape this Fourth Industrial Revolu­tion, which will dramatically alter how we live and work. «The future of employment will be made of jobs that do not exist yet, in industries using new technologies, under planetary conditions that no human being has ever experienced,» sums up David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia / Pacific, in a column about the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the British newspaper The Guardian.

The 4.0 factory: Fully automated and very, very smart

So, what is this huge change about and why do some people identify it as a genuine revolution? If we follow the theorists’ main assumptions, it is not single and brilliant innovations that will decide our future productive processes, but the meeting of all those developments carried out during the last decades and still to come. In that sense, this trend represents a paradigm shift, instead of one more step in the frenzied technological race.

We can be sure about one thing: In our current 4.0 factories, automation is already being carried out by cyber-physical systems, made possible by the internet of things and cloud computing systems. These cyber-physical systems combine both physical and tangible machinery with digital processes, acquiring the capacity to make decentralized decisions and cooperate with humans, through the evolving technology developed around the internet of things.

Adapt to change

What we will see, say theorists, is an «intelligent factory» in a strictly literal sense. However, this fantastic cyber-model is already posing some worrying issues. Indeed, not everyone sees the future with optimism: The surveys reflect global concerns of entrepreneurs for «technological Darwinism», in which those who do not adapt will not survive. Furthermore, if this happens at full speed, as Fourth Industrial Revolution enthusiasts are pointing out, the effect can be as quick and devastating as the one generated by the third revolution.

As the global leader in creating and manufacturing fibre-reinforced plastic pressure vessels for membrane filtration systems, Protec is committed to this new 4.0 era: We are a forward-looking company and we possess the technology, resources and motivation to plunge into change. Using innovation and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, we strive constantly to improve our products, modernizing our factories and services at the pace of change.