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The Toronto Office: Strengthening
a Firm Customer Base
While the introduction of new framework agreements looks set to
improve established business, the Toronto sales office sets its sights on a
broader range of seamless tube opportunities.
George Nogalo, Automotive Sales Manager
for Canada.
Set up in August 2003, the Toronto Bay
Street office has been able to strengthen
its working relationship with automotive
customers based in Canada and nearby
US states. George Nogalo, Automotive
Regional Sales Manager for the area,
gives a snapshot of current automotive
business and some pointers on the direction
the office is taking in order to diversify
its seamless product offering in the
region.
Improving automotive business
Nogalo highlights the relationship with
two established customers in particular
to illustrate the activities of the Toronto
office: Dana Corporation’s Commercial
Vehicle Systems plant in Barrie, Ontario,
with its sister plant in Lugoff, South
Carolina, USA and IMT, with operations
located two hours west of Toronto. Both
customers buy cut-to-length, Q&T
tubes for axle applications coming out of
the AlgomaTubes plant in Sault Ste
Marie. Both Dana and IMT supply to a
global customer base and both have
recently concluded framework agreements,
which, by defining pricing, product,
delivery, forecasting and releasing
terms, are making already existing business
better.
Nogalo explains the thinking behind
these framework agreements: “We’ve
really knit together an agreement which
will benefit the relationship, clarifying
terms and conditions to avoid misunderstandings.”
The agreement includes an
annual forecast to help ensure steel is
always in the supply chain and then a 24week
rolling forecast, with early weeks
firm and future weeks for planning,
allowing for some flexibility. “The problem
with the commercial vehicle sector is
it really is ‘feast or famine’ – Nogalo
continues – and these spikes put a lot of
heavy demands on our ability to supply,
hence the forecasts are necessary to
avoid outages.”
Both Dana and IMT order seamless
tubing to SAE 1527 Q&T specification
for its axle manufacture. Tenaris supplies
not only the tube but also handles
the cutting operations. The advantages
for them include proximity and the ‘one
stop’ JIT service, meaning a better supply
chain and greater cost effectiveness.
Consequently the customer no longer
needs to hold an inventory and can also
deal directly with the AlgomaTubes mill
when it comes to quality issues.
Identifying fresh opportunities
The Bay Street office is exploring openings
for both strategic and non-strategic
seamless tube applications in the
Canadian market, involving other production
facilities within Tenaris.
For example, whereas the billets for axle
tubes may come from the TenarisSiderca
plant in Argentina (a 5,500 mile journey
- hence the value of good forecasting),
including tubular products coming out
of the Arcore mill in Italy and the
Romanian plant, TenarisSilcotub, would
mean a more diverse range, in terms of
both size and the possibility to offer
cold drawn and hot finished products.
“We’re now focusing on products outside
of axles, which would include ring
gears, and also suitable applications for
tubes from Arcore or Silcotub, like spacer
tubing for truck steering columns. –
Nogalo concludes – We want to learn
what seamless tube opportunities exist
in the Canadian market, building on
what we have and trying to add to it.”
Tenaris News 7