text: Within the chemical universe, the fine chemical industry is positioned between the commodity, their suppliers, and specialty chemical industries, their customers.  Depending on the services offered, there are two types of fine chemical companies. The Fine Chemical Companies are active in industrial scale production, both of standard and exclusive products. If the latter prevails, they are referred to as Fine Chemical / Custom Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs). The main assets of the Contract Research Organizations (CROs) are their research laboratories. CRAMS; Contract Research and Manufacturing Organizations  are hybrids (see section 4.2).