Domestic orders holding up for Germany’s machine tool industry

In the first quarter of 2012, order bookings in Germany’s machine tool industry fell by 7 per cent. Domestic orders were 1 per cent down on the preceding year’s equivalent figure. Orders from abroad fell by 9 per cent compared to the historical highs of the previous year.

German Machine Tool Industry – Moderate fall in demand during the first quarter of 2012.

“Capacity utilisation is still holding up well in Germany’s industrial sector, which is investing in additional capacities for coping with its orders”, is how Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the sectoral organisation VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), Frankfurt am Main, comments on the quarterly result.

Europe goes well
“European demand, too, is still looking good”, is Schäfer’s verdict. Though the debt crisis is being reflected in declining orders from Southern Europe, he added, while other European countries like the Scandinavian nations, the United Kingdom or France have continued to place substantial orders, a trend already foreshadowed at the METAV 2012, the international trade fair for production technology and automation held in late February, where exhibitors had confirmed a continuingly high propensity to invest in Europe’s industrial sectors.

5% growth
The order backlog, at 9 months in February of this year, is at a similar level to October of last year. Capacity utilisation, at 95.1 per cent in April 2012, was likewise almost unchanged. In February of this year, the sector was employing 68,200 people, 6.4 per cent up on the preceding year’s equivalent figure. “The German machine tool industry is still performing well. By reason of the order backlog, a rise in production output for 2012 is virtually assured”, predicts Schäfer. The VDW is forecasting growth of 5 per cent. Though demand is quietening down, he added, this has already been factored into the pricing, and will give the companies a breathing space for addressing strategic issues, like expanding their business operations in Asia.

De-industrialisation may wipe out Europe’s innovation capacity

The European Association of the Machine Tool industries, CECIMO, launched its ‘Study on the Competitiveness of the European Machine Tool Industry’ with a roundtable meeting at the European Parliament on 21 March, which brought together industry and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Prepared by a voluntary group of industrialists coordinated by CECIMO, the study provides a comprehensive snapshot of the European machine tool industry in the post-crisis era.

Michael Hauser, Vice-President of Cecimo and CEO of Tornos.

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The event was titled: “Made in Europe? Challenges facing the EU’s machine tool industry”. The findings of the CECIMO study reveal that the share of European machine tool production has been in decline over the last decade, owing mainly to the shift of markets to Asia. “Driven by the rise of China, Asia has become truly ‘the factory of the world’ over the past decade. Today, Asia consumes more 66% of the world’s machine tool production and China alone absorbs 50% of this. The share of European consumption in world consumption has dropped from 40% to one fifth over the last decade, the share which was obviously lost to Asia” explained Michael Hauser, Vice-President of CECIMO, CEO of Tornos S.A. to MEPs present in the meeting.

“Mission impossible”
Machine tools are the basic building blocks of the industrialisation of a country. Emerging countries increasingly invest in production systems provided largely by the European machine tool industry to build up their manufacturing base. “This is good news for our companies as their exports to China and Asia are booming. However, the bad news is that our customers relocate outside Europe and we are forced to follow them to other markets. Expanding to Asian markets is almost ‘a mission impossible’ for an SME employing a hundred people”, the CECIMO Vice-President stated.

You can download the whole report here.

Brazil – Explore your business opportunities in this fast growing medtech market

Export opportunities to the Brazilian market are rapidly expanding. With a growing middle class and free market economy, Brazil offers an emerging market full of business possibilities.

With 193 million inhabitants, Brazil has the largest medical technologies market in Latin America. Demand for medtech in Brazil is rising and the sector is expected to grow consid-erably in the coming years. The driver of this growth is the Brazilian economy and its rapidly expanding middle class which have gained access to high-quality medical care through changes in the private health insurance systems. Although medical technology products used in Brazil are both manufactured locally and imported, the market for foreign suppliers remains an attractive prospect. Large numbers of private hospitals are investing heavily in expanding their capacity and modernizing their facilities, often operating independently of the rules of Brazil´s public procurement system.

Special trade mission
Medtech Switzerland are pleased to invite you to a special trade mission to Brazil aimed at Swiss medtech SMEs looking to expand their export activities. Medtech Switzerland, Osec and additional partners have teamed up to offer you “Trade Mission Brazil”, a targeted program built to help Swiss companies make connections with Brazilian officials and industry players and get first-hand information on the “ins and outs” of launching Swiss export activities in Brazil.

Trade Mission Brazil: Medtech Close-up, May 21-23, 2012
São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Key points

• Information: Understand government policies, market potential and business opportunities
• Networking: Meet the big medtech consumers and industry players
• Attend the trade fair: Brazil´s Hospitalar trade fair and congress is one of the most important medtech events in Latin America
• Custom: The organisers helps you design an optional custom program to further explore your business opportunities

For more information please see the attached PDF.

Medtech Switzerland
Wankdorffeldstrasse 102 – Postfach 261
3000 Bern 22
Tel.: +41 31 335 62 41
Fax: +41 31 335 62 63
www.medtech-switzerland.com
contact@medtech-switzerland.com

Save 35% on the cost of the part

Mikron offers transfer machines with remarkable capabilities. In the example below, a German company producing components of turbochargers for the automotive industry with 2 machining centers (4-spindle) and 2 turning centers faced a strong demand and had to increase its productivity to remain competitive with its Asian competitors. It also had to be flexible enough to manage the production of 5 different parts in variable batches.

The choice of the Mikron transfer machines not only allowed the company to optimize its workflow but also the floor space’s requirement.

Innovative production
“Its machining centres allowed our customer to achieve a good position in the market, but the pressure of competition has continued on executives” explains Boris Sciaroni, (Mikron marketing). “Therefore our customer first added a transfer machine, i.e. a Mikron Multistep XT-200 to the production line and, after a few months of production, when he understood the potential savings still to be realised, he purchased a second Multistep XT-200 machine, abandoning completely the old production facility. Doing so he obtained a 35% reduction of the cost of the part due to:

• a reduction of staff (moved to other activities)
• an economy of floor space
• better logistics and
• unexpectedly by reducing the costs of re-equipment of the machine that allowed him to significantly reduce the minimum volumes of order “.

Today this client of Mikron relies on 8 Multistep XT-200.

Mikron SA Agno
Mr. Axel Warth, Head of Marketing and Business Development or,
Mr. Boris Sciaroni, Dipl. Ing. HTL / Marketing Manager
Phone +41 91 610 61 11
www.mikron.com
axel.warth@mikron.com

Want to have a look on the Mikron maching solutions? Check its You Tube channel out!

Explore your business opportunities: South Africa seminar in Zurich

New ideas for new opportunities are a constant aim of the Medtech Switzerland’s Fact Finding Missions and evening seminars. Medtech Switzerland next seminar will focus on an unusual and fast-growing market: South Africa.

In 2012 South Africa was added to the BRIC classification of emerging markets resulting in `BRICS´ with the new membership. Our insight into the health technology market in South Africa will offer information on new trends, opportunities, and pitfalls. Organized by Medtech Switzerland and the Osec/Swiss Business Hub, this seminar will launch the next Fact Finding Mission project to South Africa.

Thursday March 22, 17.00
Osec, Stampfenbachstrasse 85, 8006 Zurich

• Discover key components of the South African medtech market
• Investigate the possibilities in this emerging market
• Network with Swiss manufacturers and suppliers who have launched South African businesses

Programme
Moderation: Max Bertschmann, Director Swiss Business Hub South Africa

• 16.30 Registration opens
• 17.00 Welcome Dr. Patrick Dümmler, Managing Director, Medtech Switzerland
• 17.05 South Africa your gate way to sub-Sahara Max Bertschmann, Director Swiss Business Hub South Africa, Pretoria
• 17.15 Insights into the South African market Mark Brand, Market Access Consultant & CEO, Brandtech Healthcare Technology Consulting CC, Johannesburg
• 18.00 Experience of a Swiss Medtech company in South Africa Example 1 tba
• 18.15 Experience of a Swiss Medtech company in South Africa Example 2 tba
• 18.30 Panel discussion Moderated by Max Bertschmann
• 18.50 Summary / Outlook: Medtech Fact-finding mission to South Africa, Patrick Dümmler and Max Bertschmann
• 19.00 Networking reception, snacks and beverages
• 19.30 End of the seminar

For further information on these sessions, please see the attached PDF.

Medtech Switzerland - Wankdorffeldstrasse 102 – Postfach 261 – 3000 Bern 22
Tel.: +41 31 335 62 41 – Fax: +41 31 335 62 63
www.medtech-switzerland.com – contact@medtech-switzerland.com

Sustainability in the heart of manufacturing

The European Machine Tool industry, represented by CECIMO, launches a European initiative on sustainability: the Blue Competence Machine Tools initiative. The machine tool industry is the first mechanical engineering sector to embark on a broad-based campaign on sustainability at European level.

Machine tool builders which participate in the Blue Competence Machine Tools initiative commit themselves to optimize the use of energy and other resources to enable faster, better and higher quality manufacturing in end-user industries. It is also a marketing tool for companies embracing its principles.

Sustainability as motto
Martin Kapp, President of CECIMO, states: “This landmark initiative underlines the willingness of European machine tool builders to make a leap forward towards a better and greener manufacturing perspective. Production technology and equipment supplied by the machine tool industry is the key enabler of resource efficient processes in all other manufacturing industries. Now, our manufacturers are taking on a firm commitment to align, in a holistic approach, their products, processes and business models with sustainability principles.”  

Greener with blue competence
Manufacturers which start operating under the principles of the Blue Competence Machine Tools initiative agree to meet pre-determined ecological, economic and social values and principles, while implementing sustainable production solutions in their production plants, products and business services with the aim of achieving greener manufacturing. The initiative keeps in line with EU policy developments and priorities.

What does it change for users?
CECIMO expects the initiative to profoundly influence business and manufacturing practices in the sector; to stimulate technical innovation; and to raise awareness about the role of manufacturing in driving sustainability.
For users of machine tools from companies working with Blue competence in mind, that means working with machines that are always precise and productive but that also need less energy and are then better “environmental friendly”. In a recent analyse, a machine tool manufacturer presented that with a few measures its new machines consummates 39% less energy… and that’s only the start!

2 machines out of 5 produce “for free”
In the example here above, the producer achieved great results that is indeed environmental friendly but also economically very interesting for users. Engineers worked on:

• Energetic optimization through the programming software
• Synchronous motors and recuperation of the braking energy
• Intelligent pumps
• Size reduction of moving parts

More and more companies will use that kind of argument as marketing tools and indeed as usual the first to communicate largely on that will reach a good place into customer’s mind in term of sustainability.

I’ll come back on that topic soon, stay tuned!

Pierre-Yves Kohler

 

System 3R and Robotec automatise Chinese production of molds

It is a false idea still too widespread we must fight: the Chinese industry would be underequipped and would work with obsolete techniques. On the contrary, companies of the most populated country in the world invest in the latest and the most automatised technologies.

Robotec, the Switzerland based company, is the first integrator in Switzerland for Fanuc polyarticulated robots range, as well as for the 6 axes Fanuc Delta robots. Let’s see a few of its projects: Installed in 2008 in a mould factory in the South of Beijing, the first installation is a flexible production line of heavy moulds. It shows 3 + 4 Hermle three axes machining centers, powered by a Fanuc M9000 polyarticulated robot. One to two professionals, according to the working posts, feed the flexible cell for a 24/7 work.

Other flexible systems are following…
Building on the success of this first installation, System 3R has renewed its confidence in Robotec to integrate robotization into two flexible lines in another Chinese mould factory for the production of molds in smaller sizes. “Thanks to the confidence of our partners, Robotec demonstrates its ability to design, develop, install, train and guarantee the after sales services of its facilities anywhere in the world,” says Dominique Lalut, sales manager with Robotec. Beyond the impressive technical capabilities of the Integrator, the attentive reader may draw other lessons from this story.

Production automation becomes a universal rule
First, such investments demonstrate the will of Chinese companies to invest at a level at least equal, or even higher than the one of European manufacturers. The exchange rate with Swiss Franc does not hamper them to invest in the best technologies, with the most competent professionals. Second, these facilities show that manufacturing of moulds unit can and should be automated with robotization. Finally, if Chinese manufacturers do not hesitate to invest heavily in an automated process to ensure the quality and the price of their production, the French and European companies must innovate dramatically in their own way of producing if they want to retain their own markets. Today, the low-cost word covers a complete other meaning, because low prices of products are no longer based on low social costs, but on a perennial technology investment. Nevertheless the European industry can and should still mark its difference. Why not by taking advantage of the experience of integrators such as Robotec?

We will go into further details of this story in Eurotec’s next issue.

Robotec Solutions AG
Seetalstrasse 2
CH-5703 Séon
Tél.+41 62 775 90 00
Fax +41 62 775 90 01
www.robotec-ag.com

Tornos: changes in management

The company announced this morning that Mr. Paul Häring, CFO, resigned from his function to be able to pursue other interests.

A successor will be recruited. In order to secure a smooth transition, Paul Häring will remain in the CFO function until appointment of the successor. M. Michaël Hauser, CEO of the Tornos group just communicated that Mr. Häring is active in several boards of directors and wanted to be able to spend more time on these mandates – what was not fully possible with his operational position of CEO of the Tornos Group.

He adds:  “His decision is private and has nothing to do with with our relations. I regret but respect his decision and wish him all the best for the future”.

Recently the company published quite good results despite the very challenging economic environment
In the third quarter of 2011, the Tornos Group received orders worth CHF 59.2 m, an increase of 17.7% year-on-year (2010: CHF 50.4 million). Owing to the usual seasonal impact of the summer holiday period, the level of new orders received in the third quarter was lower than that in the two preceding quarters. EMO, the most important machine-tool trade fair in our industry, was held in September in Hanover. The new products we presented there met with great interest from customers and numerous orders were placed during the fair. This was particularly the case for the new revolutionary MultiSwiss multispindle lathe which made its world debut at EMO (see our post here). In the first nine months of 2011, the cumulative order intake was CHF 216.4 million, up 47.2% on the same period last year (2010: CHF 147.0 million).

Outlook
The current economic climate is characterised by numerous uncertainties. Customer sentiment worldwide is mixed, and visibility surrounding the future business trend has deteriorated substantially. Based on the double hypothesis of the economy not significantly deteriorating further and of exchange rates remaining at their current levels, the Group anticipates gross sales in the region of CHF 260-270 million for the 2011 financial year as a whole, with an EBIT margin of around 6%. To safeguard the Group’s profitability, cost-saving measures will continue to be implemented, and the Group will further reduce its exposure to exchange rate fluctuations.

To know more
Mr Brice Renggli, Marketing Manager
Tel: +41 79 528 29 78
fax: +41 32 494 49 03
renggli.b@tornos.com
www.tornos.com

Technology intelligence as competitive advantage

Environmental or consumer protection aspects are more and more daily concerns and it is certainly for good; but this induces always heavier constraints on companies and can lead to dire consequences both in terms of turnover and impact on image. The REACH standard for example forces companies to manage risks related to materials. Laboratoire Dubois (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) offers a new service that addresses this problem. Meeting with its Director Mr. Pierre-Yves Soguel.

When law enters into chemistry or metallography, competitive advantages can also depend on techno-legal intelligence tools.

Customers part of the techno-legal assistance (ATL) “club” implemented by Laboratoire Dubois protect themselves against the risk of a normative evolution which can, from one day to the next, make a product obsolete and illegal. How does it work and why is the laboratory well positioned to provide such a service?

Daily follow-up
The new ATL service operates by subscription and allows member companies to be informed continuously of any evolution of norms and regulations that concern their business. Mr. Soguel gives us an example: “You are a watch manufacturer and ask the laboratory to analyze a glued leather bracelet. The analysis shows that everything is correct and that the molecules are all authorized by Reach. With the ATL service, this information is stored in the database and if, a few months later, Europe decides that the M molecule (present in the glue you use for example) is no more acceptable, our monitoring system immediately notifies the customers”. Otherwise and if by misfortune a customer develops an allergy following a sale happening after the change of standards, risks for the company are very important.

Specialized analyses
If Laboratoire Dubois is in a good position to provide such services, it is because it has been specialized in many types of analysis and risk management for nearly 35 years. And if there is one area where things change very quickly, it is with materials used in the industry. It is for these reasons that the laboratory owns a technology intelligence tool; which is now opened to its customers. The founder of the laboratory, Mr. Dubois, started his activity by performing chemical analysis and giving advices for electroplating; then the company developed metallographic, microbiological and tribological analysis. Mr. Soguel says: “We are one -if not the only- laboratory offering a broad range of services in Switzerland. So, if we detect a bacteriological problem while performing a metallographic analysis, we can (in agreement with the customer) directly launch analyses in this field”. Synergies are therefore very broad.

Competitive advantage?
The ATL is a new service offered since summer 2011. Mr. Soguel says: “Companies to which we have presented the service have been very interested and first subscriptions have been signed”. When questioned why to subscribe to such a service, he adds: “This is really a potential trouble management system, according to the kinds of marketed products, risk level is not the same and we can advise customers at best”.

Evolution of the normative and techno-legal landscape is undeniable and not to face it will not make it disappear, on the contrary. Therefore being able to have concrete thinking bases and to rely on a partner capable to analyze and advise wisely can really become a clear competitive advantage.

Laboratory Dubois S.A.
Alexis-Marie-Piaget 50
CH 2300 La Chaux-de-Fonds
Tel + 4132 967 80 00
Fax + 41 32 967 80 01
Mail@laboratoiredubois.ch
www.laboratoiredubois.ch

We will deepen this topic in one of our next issue. Meanwhile stay tuned!

Pierre-Yves Kohler

€ action for European companies

You can communicate straight to the point on the Swiss Market with the Eurotec special action for this end of 2011! We all face the world complicated situation and we at Eurotec decided to cut our margins for a limited time (indeed we can’t always do that if we want to carry on helping our customers communicate effectively on the market).

• With the strong Swiss Franc, it is the right moment to sell your solutions on the Swiss market; the exchange rate gives these customers more buying power for your products!
• At Eurotec we decided not to reflect the exchange rate changes on our prices for an “end of the year” special action!

It means two very good reasons to present your products and solutions to our Swiss readers (to communicate effectively in Switzerland and Europe in microtechnology is affordable as never before).

• 3 x 1/1 page, 4-C, at € 2’200/each
• 3 x 1/2 page, 4-C, at € 1’370/each
• 3 x 1/4 page, 4-C, at € 830/each

In Eurotec issues n° 378, 379 and 380. Order deadline 26.09.2011. Material deadline 28.09.2011.

These issues will be widely distributed on targeted high precision and microtechnology companies in Switzerland and in Europe.
Download the Swiss action now!

For more information:
German speaking Switzerland, Germany and other countries:
Nathalie Glattfelder
Phone +41 22 307 78 32
e-mail: nglattfelder@europastar.com
French speaking Switzerland, France, Israel, Liechtenstein:
Véronique Zorzi
Phone +41 22 307 78 52
e-mail: vzorzi@eurotec-bi.com

Our targeted distribution in Switzerland and Europe are indeed strong assets for Swiss companies too and we always help our customers reach their targets effectively with our cross media strategy. Do not hesitate to contact us!