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Editorial comment
An eye on margins
“
I
SMR has detected more optimism in process time allows manufacturers to
sheet metal markets this year, as we increase their profit potential.
review the first six months of 2007. “Production process improvement is
The buoyant atmosphere in the halls at where margins will be made,” Lisac adds.
the last EuroBLECH exhibition has her- “If the production process can be carried
alded a more positive start to the year for out more intelligently, more efficiently
sheet metal users. Zed Lisac, of Salvagnini and rapidly, this allows users time to think
Italia SpA, illustrated this neatly during a about inventing new products, entering
visit which ISMR made to the Italian sheet new markets, becoming more competi-
metal manufacturer in Sarego recently tive or improving their operations.”
(see interview on page 30). Keeping up with new technology devel-
“A year or so ago, people were still opments, to benefit from improvements,
seeing manufacturing moving to China can also make a difference to margins.
and it paralysed machine tool invest- “We regularly change our machines to
ment in Europe to a certain extent,” he keep up with new technology, benefit
told ISMR. “Europe has moved out of from less power usage and greater speed
its ‘cautious’ phase now – people have etc. because we need to produce as
accepted that nothing too dramatic is much as we can off the square metres of
going to happen. The turning point has factory space available,” Rupert Martin,
come – people are making the decision chairman of Dextra Lighting (a sheet
to invest. General economics are also, metal manufacturer) told ISMR during a
of course, much better.” recent interview (see page 32).
Sheet metal manufacturers strive to Techniques such as value stream map-
remain competitive and profitable in the ping (covered in previous issues of
face of increasing challenges, not least ISMR), different costing strategies and
from emerging markets/countries with process overviews can also help to
low labour costs. maintain, or increase, margin for a
“
As utility costs (energy, water, heat- manufacturer or job shop.
ing, lighting etc.) increase, so does the In this issue, we talk to machine tool
pressure to keep, or increase, margins. manufacturers and sheet metal users to
The emphasis, for many of today’s sheet gauge their views on increasing margin
metal manufacturers and users, is on and competitiveness in a changing world.
productivity and quality.
Productivity, offering incr-
eases in efficiency, speed
and competitiveness,
does not just apply to
the machine tools they
buy. It also applies to
processes used on
the shop floor.
Sara Waddington
Reducing work- in- Editor
Click above to see
2007 events diary
I SMR says
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