Industry Portrait

Trends in Europe

• Main Customers (60%) car and truck producer
• Volumes are not to bad the cost side is a problem
• Steel-mills increase their prices dramatically
• Our main customers and their system suppliers refuse to accept price adaptations
• Concentration and Globalisation in between OEM's continuing - we are asked to follow
• Increasing number of system-suppliers rend to make us tier two or tier three suppliers - meaning price pressure
• The general Platform strategy means higher volumes but also price reductions
• E-business can be helpful but the tool of internet auctions are to be used carefully - rules needed
• Supply-chain projects are becoming popular. Positiv total-cost thinking but also consuming internal recourses
• The trend of more Diesel engine powered cars and four-wheel driven suv's means higher forging volumes
• The trend of lightweight cars with demand for low energy consumption means weight-saving and maybe non-ferrous forging
• The European Forgers should try to be ahead of customer - this is not easy for small and medium sized companies
• The small companies have a hard time to withstand the requests of the automotive customers
• One way is to become a super-specialist but many of the forgers cannot move easily in that direction
• One way is to organise themselves in their national association and try to act globally
• Most of us is in the forging business, world-wide, is in the same boat - this demands for co-operation concerning common opportunities and threats