Modern Plastics Worldwide - March 2010 - dae uptlax

COUNTDOWNTOK
The K is, without question, the most
international of this industry’s trade
shows, but it is not surprising that about
40% of the event’s visitors come from
Germany’s strong plastics processing
industry. Processors there naturally have
felt the blows of the recession of the
past 18 months, but the country’s strong
automotive and plastics supply industries,
combined with its leading position
among plastics processing machinery
manufacturers, have helped processors
weather the storm either via demand
(automotive) or via their R&D efforts
(the materials and machinery suppliers).
According to a recent survey of plastics
processors in the country by local language
publication Kunststoff Information,
revenue growth and orders in the second
half of 2009 were well above processors’
expectations, and the trend is expected to
continue at least through the first half of
this year. A majority even expects the trend
to transition from the current “getting better
finally” stage to a solid improved market
by mid-year, with demand returning to
pre-recession levels in 2011.
According to the survey organizers,
larger processors employing more than
500 were in especially good spirits as the
latter half of last year closed on a high note
for these important players, many of them
likely serving automotive customers.
An improvement doesn’t yet mean
money is burning holes in anyone’s pockets.
Some 28% of the survey’s participants
did plan to increase their company’s
PMI
60
50
40
30
Timing looks good: Domestic
market turns the corner . . .
02/09 03/09 04/09 05/09 06/09 07/09 08/09 09/09 10/09 11/09 12/09 01/10
Spirits are up, but not everyone is ready to buy.
7 months
This alt’s for you
For many visitors to the country, a visit to
Germany would not be complete without a
taste of the country’s most famous beverage,
its beer. In Düsseldorf, home to the K
show, if you ask for beer, you’ll be served an
Altbier, or Alt. Although there has been some
consolidation in the local industry, several
large Alt brewers remain, led by Diebels,
Make way!
Frankenheim, Hannen, and Schlösser.
The brew, which is maple in color and mild in fl avor, has an alcohol content from
4%-5% and is created using top-fermenting yeast. This style dates back to the earliest
beers brewed in open casks before the development of bottom-fermenting beers, which
produce lighter-colored lagers. Altbier literally means “old beer,” a reference to the archaic
top-fermentation method employed, and until the 1950s it was also known as Düssel for
Düsseldorf, although that demarcation has faded from use.
Düsseldorf’s Old Town includes three restaurants that have their own Alt breweries on
the premises: Zum Uerige, Im Füchschen, and Zum Schlüssel. During the K show, and
especially if the weather is anything but miserable, crowds gather inside and outside these
and order rounds of the small (0.2-liter) glass of the local specialty. See you there.
capital investment this year as compared
to 2009, while 49% plan to leave their
capital investment levels unchanged and
23% will lower the amount invested.
. . . and so does the U.S.
The economic recovery is in full swing.
That’s the pronouncement as a result of
the latest manufacturing business survey
from the Institute for Supply Management
(ISM). The ISM’s manufacturing index
rose to 58.4% in January, interpreted as
a signal that the economic recovery is fact,
not fiction. New orders, employment,
and production all were growing, and
inventories were
contracting, with
customers’ inventories
labeled “too
low.”
“The manufac-
The ISM’s PMI index climbs
as manufacturing improves.
turing sector grew
for the sixth consecutive
month in
January as the Purchasing
Managers
Index (PMI) rose to 58.4%, its highest
reading since August 2004, when it registered
58.5%,” said Norbert Ore, chair
of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey
Committee. “This month’s report provides
significant assurance that the manufacturing
sector is in recovery.” Both
New Orders and Production Indexes were
above 60%, indicating strong current and
future performance for manufacturing.
Thirteen of the 18 industries included
reported growth, and “plastics and rubber
products” made the list of 13 industries
reporting improved performance.
Another recent survey, the Original
Equipment Suppliers Assn.’s Supplier
Barometer, indicated that supplier sentiment
is “solidly optimistic about the next
12 months.” Some 75% of the respondents
noted they were “somewhat more”
optimistic than they were two months
ago, with optimism stemming from an
improved automotive industry, demand
growth in other industries, and the fact
that cost-cutting has lowered many companies’
breakeven point significantly. MPW
46 MARCH 2010 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE plasticstoday.com/mpw