FINAL CLUSTER ANALYSIS - Kohtla-Järve

11.4. metalWorKIng sector
The key drivers in the woodworking sector are presented
below with a brief description.
socIologIcal DrIvers
Metalworking is a traditional industry that is very well
developed in the EU. The number of incoming workers
also varies from country to country, so it is common with
woodworking industry.
Globalization processes, job mobility, social protection,
safety at work, unemployment and other factors such as
EU enlargement entail new challenges both for the fi rms
and for the workers in this sector, in particular for those belonging
to EU recent accession and candidate countries.
Strengthening social dialogue might help workers’ organizations
and employers’ organizations to cope with the sector’s
deep transformation.
Being aware of facing a common challenge and recognizing,
in particular, the existence of skill shortages on both
sides, in 2006 the two main European employers’ and workers’
associations, i.e. CEEMET1 (the Council of European Employers
of the Metal, Engineering and Technology-based
Industries) and the EMF (European Metalworkers’ Federation),
established a permanent working group in Brussels
in order to discuss competitiveness and employment issues
in the sector over next 2 years.
In 2007, the EMF and CEEMET also agreed to set up a permanent
social dialogue body to “seek to contribute to creating
and maintaining an environment that ensures a competitive
manufacturing sector able to deliver high quality
and sustainable employment. Equipping workforces and
companies in the metal sectors to meet the challenges
arising from globalization and the need to cope with ever
faster technological and organizational changes is of vital
importance in this context”.
Final Cluster Analysis
The Centre’s Employers’ Activities Programme, for its part,
is seeking to equip metalworking employers’ organizations
with modern tools and skills with which to attract more
members and serve them better, with a view to promoting
the interests of the companies in this sector through
eff ective social dialogue. A fi rst workshop took place in Turin
in 2008 and provided an opportunity for 18 high-level
executives from metal industry employers’ organizations in
Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia to
exchange views with their peers from Belgium, England
and Germany.
Another critical issue in the sector is that workers can be
exposed to the fl uids by breathing aerosols generated in
the machining process, or through skin contact when they
handle parts, tools, and equipment covered with the fl uids.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) defi nes MWF aerosol as the mist and all contaminants
in the mist generated during grinding and machining
operations involving products from metal and metal
substitutes.
technologIcal DrIvers
Little major innovation is expected in this sector as it is
deemed already mature. The current technology trends
seem more likely to be incremental improvements in the
various value chain processes. In the heavy metals sector,
innovation mainly concerns aspects like the improved use
of gravel as a form of ore, the improved extraction of lower
grade ore by developing improved reduction and extraction
techniques and the more effi cient use of energy.
More innovations are expected in the light metals sector,
specifi cally aluminum, magnesium, titanium and the development
of alloys with focus on the development of a
cheaper, continuous extraction processes for magnesium
and titanium. The EU metals industry has a global lead in
many technological areas. Sound research performance is
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