Fulmer acquisition completed

ials processing, casting and computer modelling, engineering and robotics, applied materials, reference materials and computer applications.

C o m p a n y f o r m e d to m a r k e t Quickset process

Licences for the Quickset powder injection moulding p r o c e s s will be m a r k e t e d by Metal Process S y s t e m s (MPS), a c o m p a n y f o r m e d by Vallourec of Boulogne, France,

and

Ceramics

Process

Systems

(CPS)

of

Milford, M a s s a c h u s e t t s , USA. MPS, w h i c h w i l l b e b a s e d in B o u l o g n e , is o w n e d 51% b y S o p r e t a c ( a V a l l o u r e c g r o u p c o m p a n y ) , w i t h CPS, a manufacturer of ceramics for microelectronics and superconductors,

and

CPS

have

Europe's leading independent research and development centre has been formed following the completion of its acquisition of F u l m e r Research, Systems, CVD and Robotics, says BNF Metal Technology Centre. The team from Fulmer, previously owned by the Institute of Physics, has moved into BNF's headquarters at Wantage, UK, where two administration buildings, seven chemical vapour deposition (CVD) rigs and class 100 clean room facilities have been built under the first stage of a multi-million pound investment programme. BNF/Fulmer now has some 140 scientists and support staff, working on a wide range of industrial and aerospace materials, processes, instrumentation and robotics. Nine divisions can provide contract research, joint development, design, testing and technical consultancy services covering; instrumentation

Effects of the slump in car sales are now affecting the automotive industry worldwide. On 15 February 1991, General Motors and Ford in the USA both announced heavy losses for the last quarter of 1990. GM disclosed a loss of $1.6 billion, its largest loss ever and considerably higher than the expectations of financial experts. The company's loss for the whole of 1990, $2 billion on sales of $110.8 billion (a 1.5% drop on 1989), was also a record for the company. Ford's loss, according to the Financial Times, was $519 million, its first quarterly deficit for eight years and its second highest quarterly loss ever. The cortlpany's full year net earnings fell by 78% to $860 million, the worst annual performance since 1982. However, Ford's revenue for 1990 was up slightly (1.6%) to $97.7 billion. The company's European motor plants have also been affected. Profits fell to $145 million from $1.19 billion a year earlier. In the UK new car sales for the first ten days of February are said to be nearly 40% below those in 1990. Sales of light commercial vehicles are even worse - - running at about half the level of a year ago. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has confirmed that new car sales for the period were 37.2% down, to 42 302 from 67 347 in 1990. Production figures are, however, still rising. Even Japanese car makers are not escaping the effects of the decline in the US market coupled with a reduction in domestic demand. Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motor have announced that the~" will make

and sensors, chemical metallurgy, composites and CVD, mater-

production cuts, and Toyota Motor, Japan's largest car pro-

been

collaborating

to

introduce the process for metal injection moulding. V a l l o u r e c says t h a t t h e l a u n c h o f MPS, w h i c h w i l l m a r k e t l i c e n c e s f o r Q u i c k s e t w o r l d w i d e , is p a r t o f t h e development produces

of its S w e d i s h s u b s i d i a r y Anval, w h i c h

stainless

steels,

special

alloys

and

gas

atomized powders.

Joelle L a d o u c h , G r o u p e Vallourec, 1 3 0 r u e de Silly, 9 2 1 0 0 B o u l o g n e , France; tel: 1-49-09-38-35; or: P e t e r R. Loconto, C e r a m i c s Process S y s t e m s , 1 5 5 F o r t u n e B l v d , Milford, M A 01 757, USA; tel: 508-6343422.

BNF/ Fulmer acquisition completed

2

Recession hits automotive industry worldwide

h o l d i n g 49%.

T h e Q u i c k s e t p r o c e s s w a s o r i g i n a l l y d e v e l o p e d by C P S f o r m o u l d i n g t e c h n i c a l c e r a m i c s . B u t s i n c e 1988 Vallourec

Bronwen Blackshaw, BNF Fulmer, Wantage Business Park, Wantage 0X12 9BJ, UK; tel: 0235-772992; fax: 0235771144.

MPR March 1991

ducer, is expected to follow shortly. The scale of the cuts, a reduction in shipments to the US by 4500-5000 units in March by Nissan and a reduction of 3000 units in February and March manufacturing by Mitsubishi, is, however, small in comparison to the industry's overall output of 13.4 million units a year. Toyota's decision on production levels still has to be announced but cuts are expected following the company's statement that US car sales in January were down 16.5% compared to the previous year.

BP's Farnborough MMC plant comes on-stream BP Advanced Materials says that it is set to bring on-line its metal matrix composites (MMC) plant, currently being constructed at Farnborough, UK. The plant, which will manufacture the 2000 and 3000 series of particulate silicon carbide reinforced aluminium alloys, is said to be capable of producing around 30 tonnes a year of composites.

Siobhan Dagge, BP Metal Composites Ltd, RAE Road, Farnborough GU14 6XE, UK; tel: 0252-377028; fax: 0252375002.

New owner for Compacted Metals Corp The new owner of Compacted Metals Corp of St Charles, Illinois, USA, HDM Products Inc, says that it will concentrate on the production of powder metallurgy (PM) parts and phase out the company's gear cutting department. PM Technology Newsletter says that Compacted Metals, previously owned by Joseph Nava, specializes in high precision PM parts and spur, bevel and helical gears. The c o m p a n y ' s c o m p a c t i n g press capacity is in the range 20-750 tons.

David Schaefer, Compacted Metals Corp, 3755 Illinois Avenue~ St Charles~ IL 60174, USA; tel: 708-584-2700; fax: 708584-1035.