special - Alu-web.de

SPECIAL
ser, Bonnel or formerly Indalex).
The locally orientated one-plant
strategy originated from entrepreneurial
roots. Usually a family-owned
inherited business is managed by
minimal staff composed of family
members. The plants are usually very
cost-efficient but may lack managerial
capacity. The one plant may also become
two or more, but the business
idea is characterised by following a
restricted expansion strategy due to
obvious reasons. Usually, social responsibility
is one of the main values
in which the management believes.
This is due to the local roots the owner
family has in the regional society.
The business relationship is rather
oriented to similar SME customers
sharing the same values. Due to the
fragmented market structure these
SMEs are sometimes in direct competition
with the plants of the MNEs
in the soft alloys market. Despite that
the business model plays on another
level, that is global versus local, the
physical competition is in this case at
arms-length. This single-plant, family-
SENSOREN, STELLANTRIEBE & SYSTEME
- für die Kontrolle von flüssigen Metallen
Die Einführung der Precimeter
Technologie hat viele Vorteile
• Verbesserung der Qualität
• Produktivitätssteigerung
• Dokumentation des Prozesses
• Einsparung von Rohstoffen
• Energieeinsparungen
• Verbesserter Personaleinsatz
ALUMINIUM · 4/2010
www.precimeter.com
info@precimeter.com
ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION INDUSTRY
owned business model accounts for
the lion’s share of the extrusion business.
The high transportation cost up
to 0.20 euros per kg from South-Eastern
European competitors will preserve
the fragmented structure and
leave local SMEs alive. The locally
higher price can be compensated by
offering logistics-orientated services
to the customers.
The niche player may again be a
family-owned SME. But the sections
produced belong rather to the specialties
type than to standard products
if the technological content is an
important differentiation element,
which may even be covered by patents.
In this case, due to the special
technological content or ready-to- beassembled
system design, exports may
also become possible to some extent
following a type 1b globalisation pattern.
The hard alloy plants belong to
this type of business, or the extra large
sections needing extrusion loads over
70 MPa. The market size of the hard
alloy market is a fraction compared
to that of the soft alloys. Competitors
are usually focused on these types of
alloys or special types of sections (e. g.
Impol, Menziken, Nedal).
The specialist player focuses on
special markets in the same way as
the niche player, but imitates the
global player strategy. Usually, originated
from formerly national integrated
groups, these players try to offer
special technological solutions in a
network of more or less synergic and
complementary plants reminiscent
of former or still available R&D inhouse
facilities. The technological
scope and geographic extension is a
function of the growth strategy of the
player (e. g. Alcan EP, Aleris). Depending
on the specialty content of the
extrusions offered (systems design or
technology), exports may also be possible
over large distances following a
type 1b growth strategy.
Implications
It goes without saying, that a neat
classification of the players in the
business models is not always �
17