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editorial
MIM: Some way to go
Richard Felton EDITOR
MY COLLEAGUE and assistant editor Eleanor Dallaway went to PIM2007. Here are some of her impressions...
C
onflicting opinion over the future of the MIM industry was very much the flavour of PIM 2007, in Orlando, Florida. A consensus on the growth of the industry became less and less likely as the conference programme unfolded. One thing was unanimously agreed. Whether or not the industry has witnessed significant growth, it still remains far from what industry players had predicted and hoped to see in 2007. The industry remains small and companies within it are growing very slowly, if at all. There is still a long road ahead. Research and development funding is being kept to a minimum. With increasing pressure on the industry to reach targets and accelerate its growth, speculation is required in order to accumulate. But of the Metal Injection Molding Association (MIMA) members questioned, half confessed they were not
spending significant money on research. An increasing use of metal injection moulding in consumer objects, particularly in the telecommunications market, is going a long way to increase awareness of MIM. In order to produce the kind of mobile phones that fashion dictates MIM capabilities came up trumps. But while MIM is proving itself unrivalled in quality and ability, there is a more general reluctance to use the process due to perceived long production times, high costs and a general lack of understanding of MIM – in short, there is a steep hill to climb to overcome the ignorance surrounding the industry. The MIM story is not consistent everywhere in the world. Asia, where production costs are low, has seen remarkable growth in recent years. Since 2002, metal part sales have almost tripled in Asia and interest and motivation in the MIM market are high. The automotive industry continues to drive forward MIM sales in Asia, and interest in using MIM technologies for auto part production implies further growth in the future. Telecommunications also has a large share in the market. European MIM sales, although not pushing ahead like those in Asia, are swimming along nicely. “Steady sales” seemed to be the unanimously coined phrase in Orlando, adopted by vendors and experts when questioned in regard to profit and growth. As ever, there is no stomach for candour on earnings. The forecast in North America is less bright. While sales seem to have entered a period of status quo, new tool orders are expected and the medical sector continues to prosper. North America however, has witnessed significantly less growth than Asia and Europe in the MIM field.
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I
n the course of his presentation, Randall German said that out of the 89 000 available papers on MIM, very few are either relevant or worthwhile. And without wanting to over-emphasise this, or indeed appear
metal-powder.net
Editorial_Layout 3
anything less than modest, I think it only natural to mention that amongst his list of key literate sources, Metal Powder Report was listed second. Read on, there’s more in this issue. Eleanor Dallaway.
Dichotomy of argument and conflict was evident in some of the presentations at PIM 2007. Martin Bloemacher, of BASF, reported a 92 per cent growth in the MIM market from 2002 to 2006 and an average annual growth rate of 17.7 per cent - which, he said, “is only the beginning of the growth”. But Professor Randall German, an undisputed giant of the PIM industry, ground rose-tinted glasses underfoot, arguing that although sales have increased in the past four years, when reviewing statistics from 2000 or before, a different story unfolds. Sales and production in the MIM market around 2000 were higher and more successful that those in latter years. As indeed was the research scene. Just 10 years ago, the number of students researching in the field exceeded 300. Today, that number is halved. At present, there is not enough money being invested in research and development, and as a result, MIM is suffering. So where does the industry go from here? A desire for growth within the industry is one thing that everybody is agreed on. Better powder consistency, improved process controls, enhanced uniformity in furnaces, and MIM producers setting the right level of expectation with customers are all steps that need to be taken. The vexed question of agreed improved tolerance control is something for all players. This topic has been discussed in these columns before (see Metal Powder Report, April 2005). It was reported then that only half of the industry were capable of achieving a standard deviation of 0.29 per cent. There was no agreed way of reporting standard deviations in dimensional control. Two years later and nothing much has changed. Maybe it’s time that the industry’s weaknesses were not only acknowledged, but fixed.
Eleanor Dallaway.
March 2007 MPR
3 16/03/2007 10:23:24
MIM: Some way to go
Richard Felton EDITOR
MY COLLEAGUE and assistant editor Eleanor Dallaway went to PIM2007. Here are some of her impressions...
C
onflicting opinion over the future of the MIM industry was very much the flavour of PIM 2007, in Orlando, Florida. A consensus on the growth of the industry became less and less likely as the conference programme unfolded. One thing was unanimously agreed. Whether or not the industry has witnessed significant growth, it still remains far from what industry players had predicted and hoped to see in 2007. The industry remains small and companies within it are growing very slowly, if at all. There is still a long road ahead. Research and development funding is being kept to a minimum. With increasing pressure on the industry to reach targets and accelerate its growth, speculation is required in order to accumulate. But of the Metal Injection Molding Association (MIMA) members questioned, half confessed they were not
spending significant money on research. An increasing use of metal injection moulding in consumer objects, particularly in the telecommunications market, is going a long way to increase awareness of MIM. In order to produce the kind of mobile phones that fashion dictates MIM capabilities came up trumps. But while MIM is proving itself unrivalled in quality and ability, there is a more general reluctance to use the process due to perceived long production times, high costs and a general lack of understanding of MIM – in short, there is a steep hill to climb to overcome the ignorance surrounding the industry. The MIM story is not consistent everywhere in the world. Asia, where production costs are low, has seen remarkable growth in recent years. Since 2002, metal part sales have almost tripled in Asia and interest and motivation in the MIM market are high. The automotive industry continues to drive forward MIM sales in Asia, and interest in using MIM technologies for auto part production implies further growth in the future. Telecommunications also has a large share in the market. European MIM sales, although not pushing ahead like those in Asia, are swimming along nicely. “Steady sales” seemed to be the unanimously coined phrase in Orlando, adopted by vendors and experts when questioned in regard to profit and growth. As ever, there is no stomach for candour on earnings. The forecast in North America is less bright. While sales seem to have entered a period of status quo, new tool orders are expected and the medical sector continues to prosper. North America however, has witnessed significantly less growth than Asia and Europe in the MIM field.
Time to subscribe
I
n the course of his presentation, Randall German said that out of the 89 000 available papers on MIM, very few are either relevant or worthwhile. And without wanting to over-emphasise this, or indeed appear
metal-powder.net
Editorial_Layout 3
anything less than modest, I think it only natural to mention that amongst his list of key literate sources, Metal Powder Report was listed second. Read on, there’s more in this issue. Eleanor Dallaway.
Dichotomy of argument and conflict was evident in some of the presentations at PIM 2007. Martin Bloemacher, of BASF, reported a 92 per cent growth in the MIM market from 2002 to 2006 and an average annual growth rate of 17.7 per cent - which, he said, “is only the beginning of the growth”. But Professor Randall German, an undisputed giant of the PIM industry, ground rose-tinted glasses underfoot, arguing that although sales have increased in the past four years, when reviewing statistics from 2000 or before, a different story unfolds. Sales and production in the MIM market around 2000 were higher and more successful that those in latter years. As indeed was the research scene. Just 10 years ago, the number of students researching in the field exceeded 300. Today, that number is halved. At present, there is not enough money being invested in research and development, and as a result, MIM is suffering. So where does the industry go from here? A desire for growth within the industry is one thing that everybody is agreed on. Better powder consistency, improved process controls, enhanced uniformity in furnaces, and MIM producers setting the right level of expectation with customers are all steps that need to be taken. The vexed question of agreed improved tolerance control is something for all players. This topic has been discussed in these columns before (see Metal Powder Report, April 2005). It was reported then that only half of the industry were capable of achieving a standard deviation of 0.29 per cent. There was no agreed way of reporting standard deviations in dimensional control. Two years later and nothing much has changed. Maybe it’s time that the industry’s weaknesses were not only acknowledged, but fixed.
Eleanor Dallaway.
March 2007 MPR
3 16/03/2007 10:23:24