Industrial parts cleaning trends and prospects for 2026 - Interview with Gerhard Koblenzer, CEO LPW Reinigungssysteme

Gerhard Koblenzer: "Like the previous year, 2025 was very sobering. With the exception of the automotive sector, we had a high volume of project activity. However, the willingness to invest remained at a very hesitant level. But we are learning to deal with the crisis mode. Incoming orders have increased noticeably since the 4th quarter. Although it is clear that these are often the first results of government investment programs. One of our highlights is that we have also been able to make significant technological advances this year. For example, we designed independent methods for media and air supply systems in conjunction with high-purity requirements that did not yet exist on the market. We have also taken our automation solutions, which have been one of our core competencies for 20 years, to the next level in connection with cleanroom transfer. Our high-end high-purity system for Swacrit in Tyrol is also one of the highlights of the year. In the Netherlands, our PowerJet Compact achieved Pure Grade 1/ASML. And last but not least, we are of course delighted with the good order intake at the end of the year."

Gerhard Koblenzer: "The shortage of skilled workers is currently being masked by the rising unemployment figures and the lack of capacity utilization among machine and plant manufacturers. However, it still exists and will have an increasing impact in the coming years. It is essential to retain younger employees in companies in order to compensate for the age-related departure of experienced colleagues. There is also an increasing need for qualified young talent in the manufacturing and assembly environment and, of course, in the area of new digital requirements."

Gerhard Koblenzer: "The competitive situation must be viewed in a differentiated manner. In the high-quality, customized segments, direct competition can be found in the German-speaking neighborhood. In addition, there are those players who are being brought into the new high-quality segments by investors from outside the EU or who are being strongly supported financially in the implementation of a price-reducing standardization strategy. And if you look at the Chinese domestic market, for example, a strong and low-cost competitive environment has now developed there, particularly in the standard segment. This can only be met by local production. Nevertheless, the following still applies: Made in Germany is a seal of quality. Especially when it comes to high-end solutions. This is where we as LPW continue to see ourselves in an excellent position. This is not primarily a cost issue, but rather a performance and experience issue in terms of the required quality."

Gerhard Koblenzer: "Monitoring in terms of process transparency and traceability has always been a mandatory task in clean production processes. And not only when validation requirements exist. With ultra-fine and ultra-fine cleaning requirements, however, there are increasingly new questions that need to be answered. For example: Can risks and deviations in technical cleanliness be identified at an early stage and is it possible to take countermeasures in good time? How can process chains be integrated into monitoring across supplier boundaries? Can the pre-processes before cleaning be integrated into a monitoring system with regard to their influence on the cleanability of the components? Are there affordable solutions for the supply chains? Our activities have always been aimed at providing viable solutions for these tasks. Every aspect of a cleaning process generates information about its performance and progress itself, but also about the influences from upstream processes and the relevant framework and environmental parameters. As a consequence, this understanding is also an indispensable basis for a subsequent machine learning concept. The right sequence is important: first understanding the process, then implementing a digital or AI-based concept. That's why we decided ten years ago to combine these monitoring approaches with our cyclic nucleation cleaning process and filed a corresponding patent. It has since been granted and perfectly complements the existing portfolio. In 2015, LPW took over the existing European, North American and Asian patents and patent applications for the previously unsuccessful cyclic nucleation process and, following an intensive development process, developed it into a scalable and reliable building block for ambitious cleaning processes in all industrial sectors."

Gerhard Koblenzer: "A lot is being done in this regard and we are involved in those committees where the future is being shaped. That is exciting and valuable. For example, this topic is currently being developed in the FiT guidelines and in the DIN standards committee. This creates transparency and regulations that are urgently needed for the rapidly changing requirements and tasks. This helps the market. And, of course, it also helps us as a company that relies on certain standards. Among other things, we have been able to help ensure that terms such as cleanability, quality gate and process chains are no longer foreign words when it comes to technical cleanliness."