FAIR

Practically all sectors of industry are dependent on products made by the wire and cable industries; first in line is the automotive industry with all its OEMs, the power supply sector as well as the information and communications industry. As much as a data cable, a screw or an industrial spring may differ in terms of base materials, manufacturing processes, looks and applications, all producers of wire and wire-based products are faced with more or less the same challenges, i.e. keeping their products marketable in the face of high competitive pressure and rising costs. ICF, the International Cablemakers Federation, Vienna/AT, views raw material prices as an extremely important factor for the efficiency of a cablemaker and considers the rise in copper prices as well as price trends for plastics of great importance for insulating and coating cables. This cost factor is in turn strongly influenced by developments in oil prices.

Europe

Markets such as China, India and Russia are the “talk of the town” due to their enormous growth rates. However, the countries of the European Union (EU) also post – though comparatively moderate – increases. Economists of the European Economic Advisory Group (EEAG) anticipate economic growth in the European Union will be slower until 2008 than in 2006 (2.9 percent) because of the lower pace of the world economy as a whole, but they do not forsee economic recovery being seriously threatened and predict Europe will be set for growth until 2008 ("Handelsblatt", 28 February 2007). Although the core countries of the EU have come under enormous cost pressure many firms in the cable and wire-making industry are continuing to invest – in an albeit very targeted manner. Commenting on this trend in the preface to the Niehoff-News 2/06, the company newsletter of the wire and cable machinery maker of the same name, General Manager Heinz Rockenhäuser said: "In Germany and Western Europe firms primarily invest in production facilities for special products such as aluminium battery cables, bus cables and high-temperature cables, whereas the production of standard items is increasingly shifting to Eastern Europe. But there a rapid further development can also be observed: in Russia, for example, huge efforts are being undertaken to modernise cable factories and adapt them to Western standards."
One of the cablemakers investing both at home and abroad, is the Nuremberg-based Leoni AG, a multi-national producer of wiring and complete on-board supply systems for the automotive, capital goods, communications and electrical appliance industries. In FY 2006 the group of companies invested to the tune of € 84 million in fixed assets and intangible fixed assets (i.e. nearly 4 percent of its turnover and roughly € 20 million more than in the previous year). Investments also include building a new plant in Halver, a city in the German Sauerland region. The plant will produce special wiring for use with termperatures between 150°C and 1000°C in industrial equipment or under-the-bonnet automotive applications.
Another global leader in the cablemaking industry is the Nexans-Group headquartered in Paris, which was, among others, awarded a € 30 million contract from the Danish Offshore-Windpark Horns Rev 2 for manufacturing, supplying and laying a 42km submarine cable. The 3-conductor 170-kV-AC-VPE-cable with built-in optical waveguide is manufactured at the Nexans’ plant Halden in Norway. From May 2009 the cable is to transmit the energy generated there to the mainland.
Bekaert NV/SA from Kortrijk in Belgium, a producer of stainless steel wire, tyre cord and fibre, operating in 120 countries, is investing some € 18 million in Zwevegem, Belgium, to extend its manufacturing capacities for advanced wire products. These include ultra-thin fibres made from wire which are required for industrial textiles, filters and electrically conductive plastics, to name but a few. Saarstahl AG spends € 40 million on establishing a Service Centre for surface and heat treatment of steel wire and modernise its processing in Neunkirchen an der Saar, Germany. Saarstahl supplies the automotive industry with cold-heading steel, the base material for screws and other fasteners as well as roller bearing steel.

Competitiveness

However, even smaller firms stand a fair chance in the Russian, as well as other foreign, markets. The "European Springs Federation" (ESF), the umbrella organisation of the European spring manufacturers’ associations, organised two seminars whose findings are relevant to all sectors of the wire-processing industry and beyond. The first seminar dealt with considerations, strategies and measures related to the relocation of factories to Eastern Europe while the second event looked at what spring producers can do in general to remain competitive. A summary is featured in the technical journal "Springs" under the headings "Looking to the East" (January 2005 issue) and "Cost Pressure, Market Strategy and Management" (January 2006 issue).
OEMs’ opportunities in international competition were also addressed by Dr. Jan Dannenberg, automotive expert at Mercer Management Consulting, who made reference to the medium-sized spring manufacturer Muhr + Bender KG, Attendorn, in the "Journal Mittelstand Automobilzulieferer" ("Handelsblatt"-suuplement, Issue dated 14 February 2005). This company produces various types of springs and suspension elements for chassis, engines and automotive bodywork. Thanks to clever corporate policies the firm managed to grow by an annual 10 per cent both at home and abroad over the past few years.
In the wake of the frequently cited globalisation of markets companies from growth markets are now expanding into other growth markets but also increasingly into traditional industrialised nations. This development aggravates competition but is also a great opportunity for innovative companies to enhance their own market positions.

wire 2008

wire in Düsseldorf will present the machinery, equipment and other manufacturing facilities that can help companies in the wire and cable industry to secure and develop their competitive edges. The International Wire and Cable Trade Fair will be held in Halls 9 to 14 from 31 March to 4 April 2008. Organisers expect over 1,100 exhibitors on net exhibition space of 51,500 square metres and approx. 37,000 visitors, 22,000 of these from abroad. Visitors will again be able to benefit here from valuable synergies through the concurrent holding of Tube, the International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair, in halls 6 to 8b and of METAV, the International Trade Fair for Manufacturing Technology and Automation, which is held in parallel for the first time in Halls 1 to 5 and 15 to 17.

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