Worldwide Moldmaking Business Conditions

Harry Moser, Chairman Emeritus, AgieCharmilles and President, ISTMA Americas graciously shares this report with MMT on the data presented on the global moldmaking market at the ISTMA World Congress (ctma.com/
events/event-listing/world-tooling-conference-2010/)where more than 300 international delegates from 20 countries attended.

Overall, business conditions are improving—especially in the U.S. Canada showed improvement last April and May, and business slowed a bit in June. Participants also were in agreement that mold manufacturers must get
paid in a timely fashion. NTMA, AMBA and CTMA have been working with the automotive industry on this initiative, and it has worked its way over to Europe with some success.

European Country Group: Fausto Romagnani, CEO of Romagnani Stampi Srl—an injection and compression mold builder—President of ISTMA-Europe and Director of ISTMA-World, noted that the world demand for molds and dies was at 65B Euros/yr, with European production equaling 14B Euros in 2008. He sees the need for a strategic drive to support infrastructure, technology and competitiveness.

Euro Manufuture Program: Joaquim Menezes, President of ISTMA World and Iber-Oleff SA, shared a platform called Manufuture, with a mission of “… speeding up the rate of industrial transformation to high value-added products, processes and services; securing high-skills employment; and, winning a major share of world manufacturing output in the future knowledge-driven economy.” This program is to be industry-led; define R&D priorities; address technological challenges and value chains; mobilize private/public entities; and, foster effective private/public partnerships.

Enhanced Service Provisions: Fabian Gaus, Chair of Production Engineering, Aachen University, Germany, presented findings on the European R&D Project TIPSS (Tools for Innovative Product-Service-System) for global tool and die networks and a global survey on the future of service provisions in the tooling industry. He noted that for most toolmakers an order ends with the delivery of the tool, for others when it is in operation, and still a very few others with the tool’s end-of-use. Unfortunately, buyers decide on price and do not give credit for the added value of services offered.

For more information visit: ISTMA, istma.org; AMBA, amba.org; NTMA, ntma.org; CTMA, ctma.com.