DRIVING THROUGH Lahr, a small industrial town in the Black Forest region of southwest Germany, Heinz Sieger points to factories and warehouses—a printing plant, a metalworking facility, and food and packaging operations. Sieger, chief executive officer of contract pharmaceutical chemical company Chemie Uetikon, notes that these businesses have been under pressure for years and are now facing a possible worldwide recession. “This will have a strong influence on future investment, and it will reduce consumption in all these markets,” he says. Pulling up at the gate to Chemie Uetikon, conversation turns to the fine chemicals industry, which Sieger notes is facing its own problems, given estimates of nearly 40% overcapacity in Europe and increased competition from India. Sieger says that despite this, and despite the certainty of tough economic times ahead, his company is optimistic about growth. Chemie Uetikon recently doubled current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP-certified capacity to 92 m 3 of reactor ...