Industry Watch 20204

Manufacturers report strong production increase
According to plant engineers and operations professionals who responded to a February 2004 market study conducted online via a blind e-mail survey, U.S. manufacturing plants are preparing for a strong 2004.

Seventy-five percent of the respondents reported that production volumes would increase this year. Only 8% anticipate a decrease. Of those expecting an increase, 71% said it’s due to increased demand for their products, 35% due to new product lines, and 25% expect it because of plant expansion.

Yet, in spite of such rosy forecasts, survey respondents said there’s some major turmoil in their facilities. Staff cutbacks are still under way as a strategy for improving competitiveness, according to 22% of those responding. And another 17% reported that their company has made a top management change to improve competitiveness.

Budget and staffing resources came through in several areas as barriers to plant improvement: 50% plan no additional staff increases, 36% experienced budget cuts in the past two years, and 45% expect no change to their current budgets this year.

Although 72% report that their principal source for acquiring plant-related products is the distributor/rep salesperson, only 52% say that will be the case in two years. Respondents seem unclear as to exactly where they will shift their purchases.

As far as capital investments go, 50% of those responding reported installing new technology to improve competitiveness. This reportedly was the number one response out of 14 different competitiveness improvement strategies listed in the survey. (See table above for additional study highlights.)

The study was conducted by Chromalox Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA), a global supplier of industrial heat and control products. For a complete copy of the report with all questions and answers in the survey, contact Chromalox at (800) 443-2640 or visit www.chromalox.com.

China bound
The Society of the Plastics Industry and the U.S. Dept. of Commerce (both of Washington, DC) are cosponsoring a trade mission to Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, China next month from June 21 to July 1. Registration costs $6500/person for SPI members ($9500/person for nonmembers). The deadline for application is June 4.

Participants reportedly will get an up-close-and-personal look at the business opportunities and competitive threats in the PRC through plant tours, visits to plastics-related educational facilities, and admission to the ChinaPlas 2004 trade show. Also included are market and industry briefings by government agencies and reps of U.S.-based companies as well as meetings with key government officials and industry associations. For more information, contact Risikat Okedeyi at (202) 974-5333 or [email protected].

Cincinnati resurrected
On March 16 the “Cincinnati Milacron” marquee was restored to all Milacron Inc. injection molding machines built in Batavia, OH.

“We’re the number one injection molding technology source—still—and with our new financing in place, a rebirth of the Cincinnati Milacron brand name is our way of making this fresh start,” said Karlheinz Bourdon, Milacron’s VP for machinery technologies, in a press release.A week before, the company issued another press release explaining how it had dodged a bullet by obtaining significant new capital investment, enabling it to repay bank debts and maturing bonds.

Bourdon says Milacron’s customers associate the “Cincinnati” brand with the company’s leadership in manufacturing and business solutions.

“We’re also acknowledging the popular sentiments of our U.S. customers, most of whom still refer to their machines as ‘Cincinnatis,’” he says.

Honestly, did you ever call them “Ferromatiks”?

Bourdon adds that even though the company will continue to “globalize” its machine designs and content sourcing, the return of the “Cincinnati” nickname will be a reminder of the brand’s history and value. For more than 30 years, more than 100,000 presses bearing the marquee reportedly were built and sold.

The U.S.-built Cincinnati Milacron machines join the company’s four other brands: Ferromatik Milacron Europe, Milacron Fanuc, Autojectors, and Ferromatik Milacron India. For more information, contact Milacron at (513) 536-2370.

Nypro moves Colorado to Kentucky
As part of its plans to strengthen its automotive business, Nypro Inc. (Clinton, MA) will close its Longmont, CO facility by late summer and consolidate most of Nypro Colorado’s business into its second-largest U.S. plant—its full-service automotive facility in Louisville, KY.

Nypro Colorado was a 100% medical molder since its acquisition in 1995. Unfortunately, its medical customers have flown the Colorado coop since then. Most of its remaining business was automotive, but that meant shipping products 1300 miles to automotive customers. Louisville’s a lot closer. Nypro Colorado’s employees were offered severance, outplacement assistance, and other benefits, as well as possible jobs at other Nypro locations.

PMT consolidates
A well-known precision molder specializing in insert molding—Plastic Molding Technology Inc. (PMT)—uprooted its manufacturing operations in Seymour, CT and combined its equipment assets into a newer, 40,000-sq-ft, QS-9000 facility the company opened in 2001 in El Paso, TX.

PMT has nearly 50 horizontal and vertical insert molding machines in El Paso to serve automotive and electronics markets. It also will be better positioned to capitalize on opportunities in the expanding markets in Latin America, according to company officials.“This move is very difficult for PMT, since its roots were in Connecticut. We have been in Connecticut for over 30 years and have seen many changes,” says Charles E. Sholtis, chairman and chief technical officer.

“The strength of our company has come from the people who work here. Unfortunately, we have felt the impact of global competition and the manufacturing recession. But the savings that we anticipate achieving will provide PMT the opportunity to grow in the NAFTA market and provide significant benefits for employees, customers, and shareholders.”

Short Shots
Siegel-Robert Automotive’s decorative trim and systems manufacturing plant in Farmington, MO received the Missouri Impact! Award for Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing Excellence from the nonprofit Missouri Enterprise Business Assistance Center. Siegel-Robert’s Portageville, MO plant also was recognized with the award. The award honors Siegel-Robert’s company-wide commitment to lean manufacturing, since launching its lean initiative in 2002.

Victor Plastics Inc. (Victor, IA), a 21-year-old family-owned custom molder with additional facilities in Mexico and China, has been sold by an independent investment banking firm (Brown Gibbons Lang Co., Chicago, IL) to a private equity and buyout firm (Spell Capital Partners LLC, Minneapolis, MN), following the death in 2002 of the founder of Victor Plastics, James Kubu.

Anticipating its Asian sales to quintuple in less than three years, auxiliary equipment supplier Maguire Products Inc. (Aston, PA) has established its first wholly owned Asian sales, service, technical support, and warehousing subsidiary, Maguire Products Asia PTE Ltd., in Singapore. It operates out of a 5000-sq-ft facility staffed by six. Maguire also plans to open a second Asian facility in Shanghai, China later this spring. Both facilities also will provide equipment demos, trial runs, and training.

m MachineWorks simulation and visualization technology from MachineWorks Ltd. (Sheffield, U.K.) has been integrated into the CamMagic EDM CAD/CAM systems from Mitsubishi Electric Mechatronic Software Corp. (Nagoya, Japan) to enhance machining performance and productivity through simulation and verification.