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Consolidation the key to continued Höganäs success
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Consolidation the key to continued Höganäs success METAL powder giant Höganäs last year faced down difficulties to increase market share and improve profitability. Among the challenges were protracted recessionary trends, sharp materials price increases and heavy adverse currency movements. Currency hedging and a major contribution from the group's new acquisition in the US, SCM Metal Products, were major factors in achieving positive results in 2003. CEO Claes Lindqvist commented: "We succeeded in increasing sales in North America, implying growing market share in an otherwise stagnant market. The acquisition of special
powder producer SCM Metal Products augmented our product range and brought us proprietary production capacity of high-alloy metal powders in the strategic American market. "In Japan, sales volumes were largely unchanged, while the rest of Asia featured sustained brisk growth, particularly China and India. Höganäs retained market leadership in Europe, although volumes were restrained by a weak business cycle." Total sales of iron powder grew by 7 per cent, with press powders pushing harder at 9 per cent, he said. Global automotive production was largely unchanged.
Ford, GM to build new transmission together FORD Motor and General Motors have announced plans to build a new 6-speed frontwheel-drive (FWD) automatic transmission. Together they will invest $720 million in new equipment, tooling, and facilities upgrades at their respective plants. PM parts are a key ingredient in the transmission. Production is to start in 2006. The new 6-speed will be built at GM's Warren, Michigan, transmission plant and Ford plants in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Sharonville, Ohio. GM will
10
MPR May 2004
spend $350 million on the project and Ford will spend $370 million. The transmission is expected to contain 25 pounds of PM parts. Typical PM applications include arriers, backing plates, a mechanical diode, and oil pump sprockets. The transmission is expected to improve fuel economy over 4-speed automatics by up to four percent. It will operate in FWD and all-wheel-drive passenger cars and sportutility vehicles.
"Apart from a sustained weak business cycle, Höganäs' business cycle also featured sharp raw materials price increases. The prices of key raw materials such as molybdenum, nickel and scrap rose by between 70 and 200 per cent. To offset these drastic increases, Höganäs will be charging price supplements on certain allowing materials and raw materials in 2004. "Marked exchange rate fluctuations in some of Höganäs' key trading currencies, particularly the US Dollar and Japanese Yen also impeded operations, though in 2003 they were compensated by the favourable outcome of previous hedges. "The coming years will feature integration and consolidation of our businesses after the robust expansion of recent years. We will be focusing on measures to enhance quality and increase capacity. On the expansive China market, we are planning the expansion and extension of our production facility. Our announcement in February of our intention to divest SCM's copper powder business which, increasingly, lies outside Höganäs' core business, is another example of consolidation." Cost-cutting in the automotive industry is expected to accentuate the value of powder technologies, he said, and growth is also expected in the soft magnetic composites which lie at the heart of the drive towards hybrid cars.
Quest for a clear view of a free-form future A CLEAR and coherent vision of the future for rapid manufacturing in Pm and ceramics is to be sought at a UK meeting this month. PowdermatriX, the Faraday Partnership responsible for the development of powder processing technology is staging the meeting at the International Manufacturing Centre at Warwick University on 26 May. Key workers in free forming technology will present their view of the impact of current and future developments on production processes for powder metallurgy, hardmetals, magnetics and ceramics. As well as helping to set the programme for future development, delegates will also look at direct melt manufacture of metal components and selective sand sintering technology for ceramics. Bob Blake, PowdermatriX technology translator said: "The meeting open to all and we would welcome contributions from organisations active in free forming."
Research pact FRAUNHOFER has signed an agreement with the French research organisation Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) that will see closer co-operation between the two organisations at a number of levels.
metal-powder.net
Consolidation the key to continued Höganäs success METAL powder giant Höganäs last year faced down difficulties to increase market share and improve profitability. Among the challenges were protracted recessionary trends, sharp materials price increases and heavy adverse currency movements. Currency hedging and a major contribution from the group's new acquisition in the US, SCM Metal Products, were major factors in achieving positive results in 2003. CEO Claes Lindqvist commented: "We succeeded in increasing sales in North America, implying growing market share in an otherwise stagnant market. The acquisition of special
powder producer SCM Metal Products augmented our product range and brought us proprietary production capacity of high-alloy metal powders in the strategic American market. "In Japan, sales volumes were largely unchanged, while the rest of Asia featured sustained brisk growth, particularly China and India. Höganäs retained market leadership in Europe, although volumes were restrained by a weak business cycle." Total sales of iron powder grew by 7 per cent, with press powders pushing harder at 9 per cent, he said. Global automotive production was largely unchanged.
Ford, GM to build new transmission together FORD Motor and General Motors have announced plans to build a new 6-speed frontwheel-drive (FWD) automatic transmission. Together they will invest $720 million in new equipment, tooling, and facilities upgrades at their respective plants. PM parts are a key ingredient in the transmission. Production is to start in 2006. The new 6-speed will be built at GM's Warren, Michigan, transmission plant and Ford plants in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Sharonville, Ohio. GM will
10
MPR May 2004
spend $350 million on the project and Ford will spend $370 million. The transmission is expected to contain 25 pounds of PM parts. Typical PM applications include arriers, backing plates, a mechanical diode, and oil pump sprockets. The transmission is expected to improve fuel economy over 4-speed automatics by up to four percent. It will operate in FWD and all-wheel-drive passenger cars and sportutility vehicles.
"Apart from a sustained weak business cycle, Höganäs' business cycle also featured sharp raw materials price increases. The prices of key raw materials such as molybdenum, nickel and scrap rose by between 70 and 200 per cent. To offset these drastic increases, Höganäs will be charging price supplements on certain allowing materials and raw materials in 2004. "Marked exchange rate fluctuations in some of Höganäs' key trading currencies, particularly the US Dollar and Japanese Yen also impeded operations, though in 2003 they were compensated by the favourable outcome of previous hedges. "The coming years will feature integration and consolidation of our businesses after the robust expansion of recent years. We will be focusing on measures to enhance quality and increase capacity. On the expansive China market, we are planning the expansion and extension of our production facility. Our announcement in February of our intention to divest SCM's copper powder business which, increasingly, lies outside Höganäs' core business, is another example of consolidation." Cost-cutting in the automotive industry is expected to accentuate the value of powder technologies, he said, and growth is also expected in the soft magnetic composites which lie at the heart of the drive towards hybrid cars.
Quest for a clear view of a free-form future A CLEAR and coherent vision of the future for rapid manufacturing in Pm and ceramics is to be sought at a UK meeting this month. PowdermatriX, the Faraday Partnership responsible for the development of powder processing technology is staging the meeting at the International Manufacturing Centre at Warwick University on 26 May. Key workers in free forming technology will present their view of the impact of current and future developments on production processes for powder metallurgy, hardmetals, magnetics and ceramics. As well as helping to set the programme for future development, delegates will also look at direct melt manufacture of metal components and selective sand sintering technology for ceramics. Bob Blake, PowdermatriX technology translator said: "The meeting open to all and we would welcome contributions from organisations active in free forming."
Research pact FRAUNHOFER has signed an agreement with the French research organisation Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) that will see closer co-operation between the two organisations at a number of levels.
metal-powder.net