- Email: [email protected]
Seasoned head for marketing
news
Hoeganaes strikes back hard in Europe to boost global business position US IRON POWDER producer Hoeganaes Corporation has crashed back into the European PM senior league with the acquisition of Ductil Iron Powder, the major Romanian ferrous powder producer. And there is hard cash to back a big production expansion programme. Three years ago Hoeganaes had to stand and watch as former sister company Höganäs AB of Sweden launched North American
Sulzer takes WOKA SWISS-BASED Sulzer Metco is to take over WOKA GmbH a German family-owned carbide manufacturer that last year had a turnover of 14 million. WOKA, based in Barchfeld, sells its products in Europe, the Asia-Pacific Region and the US. Thermal spray coating and welding materials are Sulzer Metco's mainstream product lines and the merger will widen their product offer.
UK confidence up THE Latest Quarterly Manufacturing survey from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) indicate a modest manufacturing sales performance, while confidence in the UK's economic prospects has risen markedly. The survey took results from 967 senior IMechE members in manufacturing industries in October. The next survey will be carried out in January.
4
MPR December 2003
Höganäs. The new company, based in Pennsylvania, the PM heartland of the US, quickly took market share including the acquisition, this year, of SCM Powders from the faltering OM Group. Now Hoeganaes Corporation has dramatically raised the stakes in Europe with the purchase of a 10 000tonnes a year full-service manufacturing facility strategically located to the south and east of large-scale Western European plant capacity. The aggressive commercial move will be seen as a challenge to the dominance of the Continent's biggest iron powder producer in its established "own back yard" and in the fast developing economies of Eastern Europe. It signals what could be the beginning of a ferocious turf war based on service, quality and price. The shift was foreshadowed last month with Hoeganaes exhibiting for the first time at the European Powder Metallurgy Association's conference and exhibition in Valencia, and the even more recent rebranding last month of all Hoeganaes sites in Europe under the banner of Hoeganaes Europe. Although the former Ductil plant at Buzau currently has a ferrous powder production capacity of 10 000 tonnes, Hoeganaes says it plans to triple capacity in the near future and that capital is already committed to achieve the goal. "This acquisition is a major step forward in bringing full
manufacturing capability to our European customer base and Buzau becomes our primary manufacturing site for Europe," said William H Michael, senior vice president, sales and marketing. He said that Ductil's product line is similar to that of Hoeganaes, and that the new parent company's manufacturing processes will be introduced at Buzau to produce its ANCOR range of powders. Ductil, he added, has a strong customer base that will add to Hoeganaes's growing fabricator profile in Europe. "Ductil Iron Powder is a very technically competent organisation," said Mr Michael. "It has a fully integrated quality control system, process engineering, a strong research and development capability, and is ISO-certified." The Ductil acquisition is part of Hoeganaes's on-going globalisation programme. For as well as supporting the company's challenge to other powder producers in the European cockpit, the new facility is ideally placed to serve the rapidly growing Eastern European markets. It is an area where auto majors have been making substantial investment in recent years to take advantage of skilled populations and lower overheads. But in addition, the new base will allow the company to service India and the Middle East and provide the option of serving the AsiaPacific Region from either North America or Europe.
Seasoned head for marketing IN TAKING over a Romanian iron powder company with a highly skilled staff, Hoeganaes also took the opportunity to engage Ductil's president, Per Lindskog as general manager, Sales and Marketing, for Hoeganaes Europe. The exact location of the company's head office is yet to be decided, but it will be in Central Europe. Before heading Ductil, Per Lindskog served 30 years with Höganäs, and for two years as president. He was the first president of the European Powder Metallurgy Association from 1989 to 1995 and is chairman of the ISO committee TC119 on Powder Metallurgy.
Q3 results up CARPENTER Technology's Speciality Metals cluster reported an improvement in net sales during the quarter ended September 30. The overall net figure increased to $189.7 million compared to $186 million during the same quarter of 2002.
metal-powder.net
Hoeganaes strikes back hard in Europe to boost global business position US IRON POWDER producer Hoeganaes Corporation has crashed back into the European PM senior league with the acquisition of Ductil Iron Powder, the major Romanian ferrous powder producer. And there is hard cash to back a big production expansion programme. Three years ago Hoeganaes had to stand and watch as former sister company Höganäs AB of Sweden launched North American
Sulzer takes WOKA SWISS-BASED Sulzer Metco is to take over WOKA GmbH a German family-owned carbide manufacturer that last year had a turnover of 14 million. WOKA, based in Barchfeld, sells its products in Europe, the Asia-Pacific Region and the US. Thermal spray coating and welding materials are Sulzer Metco's mainstream product lines and the merger will widen their product offer.
UK confidence up THE Latest Quarterly Manufacturing survey from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) indicate a modest manufacturing sales performance, while confidence in the UK's economic prospects has risen markedly. The survey took results from 967 senior IMechE members in manufacturing industries in October. The next survey will be carried out in January.
4
MPR December 2003
Höganäs. The new company, based in Pennsylvania, the PM heartland of the US, quickly took market share including the acquisition, this year, of SCM Powders from the faltering OM Group. Now Hoeganaes Corporation has dramatically raised the stakes in Europe with the purchase of a 10 000tonnes a year full-service manufacturing facility strategically located to the south and east of large-scale Western European plant capacity. The aggressive commercial move will be seen as a challenge to the dominance of the Continent's biggest iron powder producer in its established "own back yard" and in the fast developing economies of Eastern Europe. It signals what could be the beginning of a ferocious turf war based on service, quality and price. The shift was foreshadowed last month with Hoeganaes exhibiting for the first time at the European Powder Metallurgy Association's conference and exhibition in Valencia, and the even more recent rebranding last month of all Hoeganaes sites in Europe under the banner of Hoeganaes Europe. Although the former Ductil plant at Buzau currently has a ferrous powder production capacity of 10 000 tonnes, Hoeganaes says it plans to triple capacity in the near future and that capital is already committed to achieve the goal. "This acquisition is a major step forward in bringing full
manufacturing capability to our European customer base and Buzau becomes our primary manufacturing site for Europe," said William H Michael, senior vice president, sales and marketing. He said that Ductil's product line is similar to that of Hoeganaes, and that the new parent company's manufacturing processes will be introduced at Buzau to produce its ANCOR range of powders. Ductil, he added, has a strong customer base that will add to Hoeganaes's growing fabricator profile in Europe. "Ductil Iron Powder is a very technically competent organisation," said Mr Michael. "It has a fully integrated quality control system, process engineering, a strong research and development capability, and is ISO-certified." The Ductil acquisition is part of Hoeganaes's on-going globalisation programme. For as well as supporting the company's challenge to other powder producers in the European cockpit, the new facility is ideally placed to serve the rapidly growing Eastern European markets. It is an area where auto majors have been making substantial investment in recent years to take advantage of skilled populations and lower overheads. But in addition, the new base will allow the company to service India and the Middle East and provide the option of serving the AsiaPacific Region from either North America or Europe.
Seasoned head for marketing IN TAKING over a Romanian iron powder company with a highly skilled staff, Hoeganaes also took the opportunity to engage Ductil's president, Per Lindskog as general manager, Sales and Marketing, for Hoeganaes Europe. The exact location of the company's head office is yet to be decided, but it will be in Central Europe. Before heading Ductil, Per Lindskog served 30 years with Höganäs, and for two years as president. He was the first president of the European Powder Metallurgy Association from 1989 to 1995 and is chairman of the ISO committee TC119 on Powder Metallurgy.
Q3 results up CARPENTER Technology's Speciality Metals cluster reported an improvement in net sales during the quarter ended September 30. The overall net figure increased to $189.7 million compared to $186 million during the same quarter of 2002.
metal-powder.net