Fastener Industry Holds the World Together October 20, 2008
Posted by champion in : Special Issues , add a commentFastener demands are subject to the boom-bust cycle of global economic climate. Generally speaking, more industrialized, more fasteners needed. The demands will rise with increases in construction activity and manufacturing output, particularly in production of motor vehicles, aircrafts, electrical /electronics, appliances, furniture/office equipments and other equipment in which fasteners are essential components. Industrial fasteners are generally classified as standards, specials, or proprietary designs, in members fundamentally of bolts, screws, socket screws, cap screws, studs, nuts, washers, blind rivets, pins, inserts, tapping screws, machine screws, set screws, SEMS, and rivets and special industrial fasteners. Non-threaded standard fasteners continue to outsell other types in fastener family spurred by growth in global construction expenditures and backed by stepped-up spending for aircraft and military equipment in many areas. Nevertheless, the sales of application-specific fasteners soar at a faster pace than the standardized products and more OEMs replace non-specialized items with application-specific designs.
Recent innovations and improvement on fastener design spotlight on new generations of self-locking and self-sealing fasteners. The newest generation of self-locking fasteners threaded highlights a promising future for manufacturers seeking for the fasteners with greater strength and reliability, achieved by reduced product weight, heightened joint strength, better resistance to vibration, temperature extremes, axial-torsion loading and less material fatigue. Lately, there is a new look in fastener family called flexible fastener. It looks like a normal bolts or screw, except the shank is composed of a flexible material such as nylon or steel cable, which allows the bolt to bend or flex laterally, yet not stretch axially. The fastener can be used to secure surfaces various types of surfaces either non-parallel or non-aligned where compliance is needed, owing to production or construction errors.
Market Snapshots
Fastener are big business. World fastener market scale is predicted to reach US$46 billion in 2006, up 4.8 % than the previous year, and to hit US$55 billion by 2010, boosted by forthcoming economic expansion within the developing nations of Asia Pacific Rim, Mideast, Latin American and Eastern European regions. Robust growth will also be seen in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Turkey and Russia. The growths in the above-mentioned areas tend to outpace those in the US, Western Europe and Japan. The price war of fasteners continued for several years, which made many industrial players struggle to live out. Recently, the price competition is somewhat eased, not as fierce as in the previous years.
USA
U.S. Fastener industry operates nearly 350 manufacturing facilities with 40,000 employees. Every year, there are over 200 billion fasteners consumed mainly by the miscellaneous industries of automobile, aircraft, appliances, agricultural machinery and equipment, and the construction of commercial buildings and infrastructure. Among them, 26 billion pieces are used solely by the auto industry. In recent years, growth in fastener demand slow down as manufacturing output and construction spending moderate. However, U.S. is still the biggest buyer of fastener products. The country imports more than US$3 billions worth of fasteners from China, Taiwan and Japan annually.
CHINA
China consumes 9% of world demands and surpasses Japan as the second largest fastener market in the world behind the US. At present, there are nearly 8,000 fastener enterprises in China. In the first half of 2006, the export value of China fasteners totaled 1.229 billion US dollars, or 40% of the national fastener output. Invariably, price maintains a crucial factor in decision-making. Buyers from the EU, the US and Australia prefer to buy more affordable fasteners made in China. Local enterprises are working on transfer the low-end bolts and nuts under the property class of 8.8 to the higher-ends of property class from 6.8 to 10.9. Since fastener technology has been relatively mature in China, the significance of differentiation has been constantly discussed. Recently, China government promotes local enterprises with “Made by China” program, namely by resorting to brand strategy, international standards such as GB, DIN, JIS and IFI, etc. and well-known certifications to overall upgrade the industry from labor-intensive low-ends to tech-based, value-added high-ends. ISO 9001 or ISO/TS 16949 is essential certification required to improve the quality, service and logistics.
TAIWAN
Taiwan exports more than 90% of the Fastener it produces every year. Nowadays, Taiwan has shifted from mass production mode to customized service provider. Proprietary design fasteners are made to the patented designs, licensed to several manufacturers, for threads, drive types, head types, locking devices, points, etc. For industrial upgrading, the quality-uplifting financing program of US$875,000 was officially approved by the government, aiming to boost its exports of automotive fasteners to 40% of its total export from current 20% in two years. Meanwhile, the program hopes to increase retail price from about US$1.9 per kilogram on average, barely of 40% of the average price of Japan-made products to US$2.2 per kilogram in 2009 and US$2.87 in 2014.
Article from TTnet.net
Global Views on Hardware Headlines August 6, 2008
Posted by champion in : Hardware , add a commentFastener Industry Up 5% Per Year Through 2007
Industrial fastener demand, usually dancing with the pace of industrialization and business circle of the world, is predicted to climb no less than 5% every year through 2007 to over $11 billion. Generally speaking, the demand will be spurred by robust growth in durable goods production and building spending. Accelerating global economic growth will also contribute to help speed in aftermarket fastener demand, even though improvements in fastener quality will somewhat curb maintenance/ repair /operations sales growth. Building sector, electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing will enjoy the fastest growth in end-use markets for fasteners.
Standardized industrial fasteners will continue to govern overall product demand. However the sales of application-specific fasteners jump at a prompter pace than other standardized product types while more OEMs take the place of non-specialized items with application-specific designs. In the other hand, demand for aerospace-grade fasteners is predicted to soar at better-than-expected rate through 2007, fueled by new momentum in aircraft production as global economic climate bodes well military expenditures keep climbing. Recently, innovations and improvement on fastener design focus on new generations of self-locking and self-sealing fasteners, which can be installed without the use of tools and fasteners fabricated from advanced alloys, composites and plastic materials. As more reinforced plastics are successfully developed and launched, plastic fasteners will be widely applied in a growing number of settings.
Global Valve Demands to Rise 5.5% Through 2007
Global demand for industrial valves is predicted to climb 5.5% per year through 2007 to over US$60 billion. The growth momentum is specially attributed to the blooming macroeconomic growth in the developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The markets in the US, Japan and Western Europe, although not very prominent in performing, will also show slight improvement. Rising fixed investment levels will boost most valve consuming sectors and strengthen underdeveloped infrastructures in these regions.
Die-casting Hardware Boosted from Auto Sector
Die-casting is a process to form metal shapes from molten material, in most cases, typically nonferrous metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and zinc. Die-casting processes include sand casting, precision investment (lost wax) casting, and permanent mold casting. Generally speaking, the major market for die-casting is the automotive industry. Especially smaller electric motors calling for the application of die cast aluminum housings and end covers, further promote the usage of die-castings. Additionally, for further development of the die casting industry, production scale is of prime importance for industry players. However, the prerequisite for a large production size is large investment. The automotive industry is surely a strong support. In recent years, attention has been paid to the development of large capacity die casting machines, bringing up hot chamber machines accordingly.
Variety Uses of P/M, Powder Metallurgy
The basic P/M process uses pressure and heat to form precision metal parts and shapes. Powder is squeezed at room temperature by itself in a rigid precision die into an engineered shape like a gear. After the mass of powder is squeezed into a shape and ejected from the press, it is fed slowly through a special high-temperature controlled atmosphere furnace to bond the particles together. In contrast to other metal forming techniques, P/M parts are shaped directly from powders while castings are formed from metal that must be melted, and wrought parts are shaped by deformation of hot or cold metal, or by machining. P/M parts are used in a variety of end products such as lock hardware, garden tractors, snowmobiles, automobile engines and transmissions, auto brake and steering systems, etc. New Developments include improved manufacturing processes and commercialization such as metal injection molding: (MIM), rapid solidification, P/M forging, spray forming, high temperature vacuum sintering, warm compacting and both cold and hot isostatic pressing. The use of P/M hot forged connecting rods in automobiles and a P/M camshaft for automobile engines. The use of P/M composite camshafts in auto engines and main bearing caps, and stainless steel ABS sensor rings and exhaust system flanges. New submicron and nanophase powders for cutting tools and other specialized applications.
Bearings, Small Parts Big Use
Bearings belong to a major component in a machine to reduce friction and, simultaneously maintain the expected precision and stability while machine working. By statistics, the size of global bearing market approximates US$30 billion every year. Coming in over ten thousand kinds, bearings can be found everywhere in a gear from small drivers, motor cars, conveyors, electrical machinery to big ships. Fundamentally, bearings are composed of two parts: sliding bearings and rolling bearings. The most frequent-used bearings are linear bearings, connecting bearings, ball bearings, roller bearings, trust bearings and needle bearings. The precision quality of bearings depends on hardness, wear rate, mechanic strength and stability along with concentricity, sphericalness and roughness. In these years, the users of conventional ball bearings and roller bearings have been gradually upgraded to ball guide bars, linear bearings, connecting bearings and oil-less bushings. Some higher-level bearings should resort to the help of technicians. King-size bearings for steel-making or petrochemical industry are heavily installed and traced by technical suppliers. The popularity of NC/ CNC machine tools and automated warehouse systems provides a stable-growing background for bearings industry. The up-and-coming trends follow the advantages of high precision, high speed, compact size, lightweight, maintenance-free and durability.
Article from ttnet.net
World Plastic Sector Briefing March 19, 2008
Posted by wenbi in : Plastic and Rubber , add a commentAnnual global production of plastics is estimated at 273.3 billions pounds. The plastics processing industry is prominent in every aspect of modern life. As new polymers and composite materials
are introduced by the chemical industry , so the industry is constantly refining and adding products to those that have been made over many decades. In its early years, the plastics industry greatly benefited from the substitution of plastic for other materials including various metals , wood , paper, glass, cardboard and natural fibres, etc. However, as a mature industry, the possibilities for substitution are limited, leading to greater dependence on economic growth and the expansion of demand in plastic’s existing markets. The industry is also vulnerable to volatility in the global price of oil and gas feedstocks, used by the chemical industry to produce its raw and semi-finished materials.
Plastics Largely Demanded from Vehicles
Plastics are widely used in automobiles today. According to statistics, automobiles contain some 100 plastic parts of different size and materials, weighing 10-15% by weight with a clear tendency to grow. In past two decades, the use of plastics in cars has jumped by 114 percent. It is surveyed that without plastics today’s cars would be at least 200 kg heavier. Plastics are loved mainly due to their lightweight property, which enable the automobile industry to save weight and thus, build energy-efficient automobiles. By statistics, 100 kg of plastics parts in cars reduces oil consumption by about 12 million tones each year in Europe, reducing CO2 emissions by 30 million tones a year.
In China, it is predicted that there is a 400 percent increase in vehicle production between 2004 and 2020, and those vehicles will need a lot of plastic parts. Thanks to exploding demand for plastic materials in recent years, China has become the world’s top market for plastics production machinery, accounting for 16.4% of the worlds’ total consumption. As demand for plastic products has increased, the plastic processing industrial sector has grown in response. The demand for high-tech, high precision plastic production machinery has risen. Local products cannot meet the rapidly growing demand in terms of quality and technology. China needs to import a great deal of equipment annually, accounting for around 56% of the total market. China’s importation of plastics production machinery has remained high in recent years.
US Plastic Container Sales Expected to Exceed 165 Billion Units in 2008
Plastics features lightweight, resistance to breakage and affordability, which makes them superior to glass, paperboard and metal as containers. Thanks to the property in packaging application superior to paperboard, metal and glass, plastic container demand in US is predicted to surpass 165 billion units in 2008, namely requiring more than 14 billion pounds of resin. By 2008, the demand for plastic bottles will approximate 110 billion units, universally boosted by the fast penetration of plastic bottles into smaller container sizes because of advances in barrier properties and consumer preferences for convenient and portable containers.
Besides, cans, squeeze tubes and trays also have promising prospects. Plastic cans are favored from wider applications like coffee, snack food and paint packaging, with a trend to take the place of metal ones. Plastic cups, bowls and tubs, mainly in polypropylene are increasingly demanded basically in single serving forms, such as fresh fruit, gelatin, pudding, dry snack foods, cereal, baby food and soups.
Among resins, HDPE, mostly-applied plastic container resin, continues to decline while PET and polypropylene celebrate robust growth due to speedy expansion in beverage applications. Polypropylene, with cost and weight reduction advantages over HDPE in dairy product containers and even cheaper than PET, is becoming more and more popular as the fastest-growing resin, widely applied in tubs, cups and bowls, trays, bottles and cans. The advantages of polypropylene bottles also include good clarity, natural translucency, moisture and impact resistance, chemical inertness, lightweight, durability and excellent dimensional stability. The demand of polypropylene resin for container production is predicted to climb 6.3% per year to 965 million pounds in 2008.
Global Plastic Pipe Output to Hit 6.3 Billion Meters by 2007
The building and construction (B/C) industries are major pipe users. Due to its low cost, durability, strength and easier for extrusion, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) lasts to govern plastic pipe market as the most-frequently used resin, enjoying over two-thirds of plastic pipe demand. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes celebrate robust demand all over the world, favored by increasing uses of small-diameter pipe in natural gas transmission, as conduit for electrical and telecommunications applications, and as corrugated pipe for drains and sewers.
Global demand for plastic pipe is predicted to grow more than 4 percent per year through 2007, topping 6.3 billion meters. Although battling with other materials such as concrete, metals and vitrified clay thanks to its durability, ease to install and low cost, plastic pipes will continue to outpace growth for overall pipe demand, accounting for 47 percent of the total. General speaking, the growing momentum comes from some developing regions such as Latin America, Africa/Mid-east and the Asia/Pacific region due to ongoing infrastructure development. U.S. is the biggest consuming nation, with demand expected to increase 2.5 percent per year through 2007 to 15.5 billion feet, spurred by improved fixed investment activities, continued highway and street construction, and the rehabilitation of aging or obsolete sewer, drainage and municipal drinking water systems. In EU, the spending on construction will bode well thanks to improved economic conditions. Farewell to zero economic growth, Japanese plastic pipe demand will pick up, reversing years-long declines. China has become the world’s pipe manufacturing center, and is a major exporter of products to the U.S., as are other Asian producers.
In recent years, consolidation, restructuring and retrenchment in manufacturing and other industries also have adversely affected the pipe industries.
Just Do It Yourself with Hand Tools January 31, 2008
Posted by wenbi in : Tools , add a commentIn recent months, the sluggishness in house prices, and consumer confidence, hammered by ongoing mortgage market crisis especially in the US and the UK, has taken a toll on home improvement expenditures. Although the US government manages to restore consumer confidence and revive the overall housing market by announcing a plan to freeze rates on certain adjustable-rate sub-prime mortgages, the homeowner spending for home improvement and remodeling activities will be thereby influenced with a certain ripple effect.
A Mild Upturn in Home Improvement
By a survey, in the US, homeowner remodeling spending for 2007 dragged and is projected to be 2.3% lower than 2006 while homeowners become increasingly jittered about falling house prices and a slowing economy. They spent nearly $233 billion on home remodeling in 2007, marking a modest 1.9% increase from the record $228 billion spent in 2006. The growth is bolstered by a lag time of three to six months when remodeling activity follows home building. Homeowners can¡¦t delay a major repair like a leaky roof or a broken faucet after the houses are purchased. In 1997, the home improvement marketplace was estimated to be a $135 billion industry. However, that number has increased to $185 billion in 2007. Some economists predict that remodeling activity in 2008 is expected to grow by 2.8% and may reach another record-breaking year by 2009.
DIY Tools Smile with Growing Female Users
As mounting new houses are built, here come in a renewed passion for do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. As we¡¦ve mentioned before, it is women that drive 75% of the home improvement purchasing decisions in a household. The trend of single women purchasing homes is one of the most notable in real estate market. They regard their houses as valuable long-term investments, which require upkeep and renovations. Instead of hiring a worker to replace a faucet or put up drywall, most female homeowners prefer to do it themselves and save money. We are seeing increasing female shoppers to join the queues in front of home centers. More and more women are getting stuck into DIY than ever before. According to a survey, as purchasing holiday gifts, 48% of U.S. women choose home improvement items, such as hand tools, compared to 39% prefer apparels or jewelry. Now more end-consumers, either male or female, are tackling the work themselves and enjoying doing their own home repairs and renovations. Meanwhile, tool suppliers are adding more features and functions to their products, brainstorming new ideas to make DIY tools more comfortable, easier to use, efficient and safer and aiming for greater productivity, higher quality work and less stress on the users. Experts expect that a real estate slump would reduce the purchase power of professional tool users, but the DIY market would remain higher growth as ever.
Go Home and Do It Yourself
“Homing” trend is still on the move. People is poised to make their home a warm and cozy place furnished with recreational equipments and ambience-oriented materials such as decorations, a flat-screen TV integrated in a piece of furniture, printed screens or elegant lighting fixtures that are inevitable to the taste and quality of modern lifestyle. In the other hand, Always, things in home will break and need repair. And quick, inexpensive and user-friendly DIY tools not only fix the problem, but also add the beauty of a home. Beside the price, DIY tool quality is increasingly promoted to value-added professional tool grades and comes with growing focus on ergonomic, intelligent and long durability designs.
Hand Tools- Practice Makes Perfect
DIY projects by hand tools are often time-consuming. But many of the tasks are traditionally done exclusively with hand tools as much more efficiently and quickly than with power tools. DIYers believe doing your own home improvement projects gives them all the control, and can ensure the project turns out exactly as you want it only for pennies on the dollar. They also have fun and enjoy a sense of achievement when their projects are finished by continuous practices and improving skills. Nowadays, there are so many reference resources available for the do-it-yourselfers, including popular print and web-based resources and classes at home improvement stores. Apart from an increasing use on home improvement projects, vehicle average lifespan is longer also promote the sales of hand tools in automobile after-sales market. Electronic products forging tools are in great demand, especially adjustable wrenches. The common problem of annoying “external rust” on tools has spurred the application of special stainless steel on tools, which is underlined by innovations such as a novel combination spanner series without galvanized surface treatment and welded fully from stainless steel screwdrivers and bits.
Power Tools- Smarter Ideas for Housing Renovation
Powered by electricity, batteries or air for use in building, construction and home improvement, power tools are can accomplish almost any task a hand tool can do and improves the speed and efficiency of the craft. The differences between DIY power tools and professional power tools are on function and design. Basically, the professional models have increased power and the ability to perform under more stress than consumer tools and can withstand heavier workloads. Power tools are big business. In the US market, the sales are predicted to surpass $11 billion by 2010 by driven by strong demands on electric saws and pneumatic nailers and cordless power tools. The technological improvement and innovation spotlight on dust collection, laser-enabled products, ergonomic enhancements, high-tech anti-theft technologies, the inclusion of lithium-ion batteries, and redesigns allowing multiple tools to share the same battery source. Advances in Lithium-Ion technology have revolutionized cordless power tools making them lighter, more powerful and more reliable.
Hardware Industry in Global Economic View
Posted by wenbi in : Hardware , add a commentIn the recent months, people are watchful to what happens to the U.S. housing market, which is hammered by a downturn in sales and prices owing to the meltdown of sub-prime mortgages. Soaring energy prices, declining home values that make American people feel less wealthy, and a gloomy outlook for the US labor market all figure into more caution on the part of consumers. Economists are warning that the oncoming US economic slowdown will possibly bring a domino effect on the export growing momentum from China, Europe and Japan and other developing countries, hold back years of robust growth in these countries and also terminate the boom in commodity prices that benefited them over the past years. By this, it is expected that the troubled U.S. economy will finally deepen fears of a global recession in 2008.
Locking Systems
Security system is crucial to home safety. According to a survey conducted by Practical World Cologne, the top-2 items for effective burglary prevention are key cylinder in their home’s front and back doors, lockable windows and balcony doors. It is also important to the use of a security service and the installation of steel doors. Innovative lock cylinders make break-ins tougher than ever, by higher tamper-proof resistance with profile cylinder series incorporating an internal key stop. A brand-new electronic door-lock system is designed to reduce the risk of the “electro picking” which burglars use to open mechanical profile cylinders. The system also makes locking up easier and more convenient from inside and outside by the use of the rotary grip.
Pipes & Fittings
Strong growth in utilities construction will fuel pipe and valve demands. Global demand for plastic pipes is predicted to grow more than 4% annually, topping 6.3 billion meters. Pipes are the heart of household plumbing system. Steel pipe is used basically for carrying water, steam or gas in both black and galvanized finish. Galvanized pipes are usually used for water systems as black pipes for natural gas. Plastic pipes are popular among do-it-yourselfers since they are easy to work with, lightweight and durable. One of the major benefits of plastic pipes is that it will not rot or corrode. Couplings are used to connect all standard sizes of pipes. Bushings are inserted inside a coupling to reduce the size of the pipe. Elbow is used to change direction of pipe.
Industrial Valves
Demand for industrial valves is forecasted to rise 3.2% annually through 2011 to $16.3 billion. Steel and steel alloys will keep dominating as major valve construction materials due to their good performance in high temperature and high stress applications. Gate valves have a sliding wedge that is moved across the waterway, usually by a threaded spindle or stem. Globe and angle valves are used while a valve must be opened and closed frequently under high water pressure. Globe valves are used to control volume of flow. Similar to a globe valve, an angle valve has its ports at right angles and is installed at a turn in piping to reduce the necessity of an elbow. Check valves allow flow in one direction only and are used to prevent water pumped to an overhead tank from flowing back when the pump stops.
Bearings
Bearings are primarily applied to ease friction between moving parts or to carry load in certain industries such as those that handle materials. They are largely used in automobile industry, followed by general engineering, electrical industries, heavy industry and railways industry. The average bearing lifespan has largely prolonged thanks to the use of improved product designs, superior quality materials such as cleaner, stronger steels and better lubricants. Ball, roller and plain bearing demands are expected to grow 3.2% per year through 2011 to $11.0 billion. An upturn in nonresidential investment expenditures will help boost demand for bearings used in both original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and maintenance/repair/operations (MRO) applications.
Industrial Fasteners
Industrial fasteners are primarily used in automobile, aerospace, electric appliance, electrical and electronics industries. In the U.S., auto industry consumes about 42% of the industrial fasteners. The consumption of industrial fasteners is also related to the construction of commercial buildings and infrastructure. Spurred by healthy growth in nonresidential construction and aerospace equipment, US demand for industrial fasteners is expected to reach $12.9 billion in 2011. The demand for application-specific standard fasteners will continue to grow at a quicker pace than other standard fastener types, as more original equipment manufacturers replace commodity items with specialized designs. China demand for industrial fasteners is projected increase 9.4% annually through 2010 to RMB 40.2 billion, outpacing growth in most other regions of the world, driven by fast growth in industrial machinery, automobiles and electrical and electronic products.
To fastener manufacturers, raw material cost accounts for a large proportion of overall manufacturing costs. In the recent years, we’re witnessing a sustaining upswing on the carbon steel, alloy steel, along with alloying elements including aluminum, titanium, nickel, copper and the cost of most forms of energy used in the manufacturing process. This will impose a heavy pressure on most of industrial players.
Guangzhou International Building Technology & Lighting Exhibition October 31, 2007
Posted by wenbi in : Lighting, Building , 1 comment so far |
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The data is provided by the Organizer
As LEDs Meet Lighting… October 18, 2007
Posted by wenbi in : Lighting , add a commentttnet.net - [2006/04/07]
Booming building and manufacturing activities and a revolutionary transition to energy-efficient products pave a bright road for lighting fixtures. The global market for light sources of all types (incandescent, fluorescent, etc.) reaches $12-15 billion, growing by 2-3% per year, while the lighting fixture industry is forecasted to increase by 6.2% annually through 2008 to $85 billion. Although the lighting industry has a long way to go before it is in a position to accept LEDs as light sources for general use, industry experts predict that energy-efficient LEDs will sooner or later sweep away all other forms of lighting, up to and including household lights. High-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB-LEDs) mainly aim at illuminating application. HB-LEDs offer lower power consumption, longer operating life and environmental advantages yet use up only one-tenth the energy incandescent lights consume. The demand of HB-LEDs lights is driven by their increasing penetration in market segments such as mobile appliances, LCD backlights, automotive lighting and signage. In 2004, the market for HB-LEDs in all applications reached $3.6 billion. By 2008, the overall HB LED market will be nearly $6 billion, of which 12% will be used for lighting.
The very high performance white LEDs are now widely available thanks to the hybrid of high brightness blue emitters and high efficiency phosphors. Conventional LED lights, which focus LED application on illumination field, are also making inroads into the market of traditional incandescent and fluorescent lights. In spite of facing competition from better-performing lamps, including halogen types and compact fluorescents, certain fluorescent lamps tend to show persistent growth, including compact fluorescent lamps, which will benefit from increasing penetration in the large residential lamp market.
The U.S.
U.S. demand for lamps is forecasted to inch up by 3.1% per year through 2009 to $5.2 billion. The gains will be stimulated by robust nonresidential and non-building construction spending, along with a healthy outlook for the production of lamp-containing manufactured goods like motor vehicles, transportation equipment and electronic products. Moreover, the demands for lamps will be spurred by continued consumer and government focus on energy efficiency, which supports sales of more efficient, and more costly, fluorescent and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Filament lamps such as incandescent and halogen types tend to keep to account for slightly more of value demand through 2009. Even under the strong challenge of better-performing lamps, including halogen types and compact fluorescents, Incandescent lamps will maintain the single most commonly used type of lamp as a result of widespread use in residential applications. Halogens will last to erode incandescent lamp market share in both building and automotive applications, marking strong growth through 2009.
Nevertheless, the growing momentum will remain somewhat limited by the highly mature nature of the market while confronting rising competition from alternative lighting technologies such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and fiber optic lighting systems. In concerning about energy efficiency and longer lifespan, the US government schedules to equip LED at all traffic lights by the end of 2006 so as to save 750 dollars a year each.
TAIWAN
Taiwan sees its LED industry grow rapidly over just the last few years to become the second-largest supplier behind Japan, which is forecast to be responsible for almost half of world production at 47%. In fact, Taiwan dominates the global production of InGaAlP HB-LEDs, with more than 80% share, followed by Japan and Mainland China. The overall value of LEDs manufactured in Taiwan is to exceed $1 billion in 2005, accounting for 25% of the global LED market as the second-largest supplier after Japan, according to the Industrial Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS). The output of high-brightness LEDs is nearly $1.6 billion and is predicted to grow to $2.64 billion in 2008. Ultra-brightness LEDs are to make up 22% of the world market by 2008. The LEDs for general illumination will approximate $844 million by 2008, while automobile signage and backlighting occupying more than 60% of the market throughout the forecast period. Forecasts also see the LED market almost doubling from USD 3.2 billion in 2004 to USD 5.6 billion in 2008.
CHINA
China’s rapid economic growth results in an urgent need for energy, which push the government to aggressively adopt the solid-state lighting as an ultimate energy-efficient solution as 12% of electricity currently goes to lighting. Over the next few years, LEDs will account for 30% of domestic lighting market, aiming to save 58 billion kilowatt-hours per year. So far, the government has invested $725 million in solid-state lighting industry, in part to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing in 2008. In 2004, outdoors decorative lighting makes up for nearly a quarter of the Chinese LED market, in total value of $1.4 billion. China is to produce 65 billion units of HB-LEDs by 2007. The production bases concentrate on mainly in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai and Fujian.
Fastener Industry Holds the World Together
Posted by wenbi in : Hardware , add a commentttnet.net - [2007/01/03]
Fastener demands are subject to the boom-bust cycle of global economic climate. Generally speaking, more industrialized, more fasteners needed. The demands will rise with increases in construction activity and manufacturing output, particularly in production of motor vehicles, aircrafts, electrical/electronics, appliances, furniture/office equipments and other equipment in which fasteners are essential components. Industrial fasteners are generally classified as standards, specials, or proprietary designs, in members fundamentally of bolts, screws, socket screws, cap screws, studs, nuts, washers, blind rivets, pins, inserts, tapping screws, machine screws, set screws, SEMS, and rivets and special industrial fasteners. Non-threaded standard fasteners continue to outsell other types in fastener family spurred by growth in global construction expenditures and backed by stepped-up spending for aircraft and military equipment in many areas. Nevertheless, the sales of application-specific fasteners soar at a faster pace than the standardized products and more OEMs replace non-specialized items with application-specific designs.
Recent innovations and improvement on fastener design spotlight on new generations of self-locking and self-sealing fasteners. The newest generation of self-locking fasteners threaded highlights a promising future for manufacturers seeking for the fasteners with greater strength and reliability, achieved by reduced product weight, heightened joint strength, better resistance to vibration, temperature extremes, axial-torsion loading and less material fatigue. Lately, there is a new look in fastener family called flexible fastener. It looks like a normal bolt or screw, except the shank is composed of a flexible material such as nylon or steel cable, which allows the bolt to bend or flex laterally, yet not stretch axially. The fastener can be used to secure surfaces various types of surfaces either non-parallel or non-aligned where compliance is needed, owing to production or construction errors. Market SnapshotsFasteners are big business. World fastener market scale is predicted to reach US$46 billion in 2006, up 4.8 % than the previous year, and to hit US$55 billion by 2010, boosted by forthcoming economic expansion within the developing nations of Asia Pacific Rim, Mideast, Latin American and Eastern European regions. Robust growth will also be seen in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Turkey and Russia. The growths in the above-mentioned areas tend to outpace those in the US, Western Europe and Japan. The price war of fasteners continued for several years, which made many industrial players struggle to live out. Recently, the price competition is somewhat eased, not as fierce as in the previous years. USAU.S. fastener industry operates nearly 350 manufacturing facilities with 40,000 employees. Every year, there are over 200 billion fasteners consumed mainly by the miscellaneous industries of automobile, aircraft, appliances, agricultural machinery and equipment, and the construction of commercial buildings and infrastructure. Among them, 26 billion pieces are used solely by the auto industry. In recent years, growth in fastener demand slow down as manufacturing output and construction spending moderate. However, U.S. is still the biggest buyer of fastener products. The country imports more than US$3 billions worth of fasteners from China, Taiwan and Japan annually. CHINAChina consumes 9% of world demands and surpasses Japan as the second largest fastener market in the world behind the US. At present, there are nearly 8,000 fastener enterprises in China. In the first half of 2006, the export value of China fasteners totaled 1.229 billion US dollars, or 40% of the national fastener output. Invariably, price maintains a crucial factor in decision-making. Buyers from the EU, the US and Australia prefer to buy more affordable fasteners made in China. Local enterprises are working on transfer the low-end bolts and nuts under the property class of 8.8 to the higher-ends of property class from 6.8 to 10.9. Since fastener technology has been relatively mature in China, the significance of differentiation has been constantly discussed. Recently, China government promotes local enterprises with “Made by China” program, namely by resorting to brand strategy, international standards such as GB, DIN, JIS and IFI, etc. and well-known certifications to overall upgrade the industry from labor-intensive low-ends to tech-based, value-added high-ends. ISO 9001 or ISO/TS 16949 is essential certification required to improve the quality, service and logistics. TAIWANTaiwan exports more than 90% of the fasteners it produces every year. Nowadays, Taiwan has shifted from mass production mode to customized service provider. Proprietary design fasteners are made to the patented designs, licensed to several manufacturers, for threads, drive types, head types, locking devices, points, etc. For industrial upgrading, the quality-uplifting financing program of US$875,000 was officially approved by the government, aiming to boost its exports of automotive fasteners to 40% of its total export from current 20% in two years. Meanwhile, the program hopes to increase retail price from about US$1.9 per kilogram on average, barely of 40% of the average price of Japan-made products to US$2.2 per kilogram in 2009 and US$2.87 in 2014.
Global Views on Hardware Headlines
Posted by wenbi in : Hardware , add a commentttnet.net - [2006/08/07]
Fastener Industry Up 5% Per Year Through 2007
Industrial fastener demand, usually dancing with the pace of industrialization and business circle of the world, is predicted to climb no less than 5% every year through 2007 to over $11 billion. Generally speaking, the demand will be spurred by robust growth in durable goods production and building spending. Accelerating global economic growth will also contribute to help speed in aftermarket fastener demand, even though improvements in fastener quality will somewhat curb maintenance/ repair/operations sales growth. Building sector, electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing will enjoy the fastest growth in end-use markets for fasteners.
Standardized industrial fasteners will continue to govern overall product demand. However the sales of application-specific fasteners jump at a prompter pace than other standardized product types while more OEMs take the place of non-specialized items with application-specific designs. In the other hand, demand for aerospace-grade fasteners is predicted to soar at better-than-expected rate through 2007, fueled by new momentum in aircraft production as global economic climate bodes well military expenditures keep climbing. Recently, innovations and improvement on fastener design focus on new generations of self-locking and self-sealing fasteners, which can be installed without the use of tools and fasteners fabricated from advanced alloys, composites and plastic materials. As more reinforced plastics are successfully developed and launched, plastic fasteners will be widely applied in a growing number of settings.
Global Valve Demands to Rise 5.5% Through 2007
Global demand for industrial valves is predicted to climb 5.5% per year through 2007 to over US$60 billion. The growth momentum is specially attributed to the blooming macroeconomic growth in the developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The markets in the US, Japan and Western Europe, although not very prominent in performing, will also show slight improvement. Rising fixed investment levels will boost most valve consuming sectors and strengthen underdeveloped infrastructures in these regions.
Die-casting Hardware Boosted from Auto Sector
Die-casting is a process to form metal shapes from molten material, in most cases, typically nonferrous metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and zinc. Die-casting processes include sand casting, precision investment (lost wax) casting, and permanent mold casting. Generally speaking, the major market for die-casting is the automotive industry. Especially smaller electric motors calling for the application of die cast aluminum housings and end covers, further promote the usage of die-castings. Additionally, for further development of the die casting industry, production scale is of prime importance for industry players. However, the prerequisite for a large production size is large investment. The automotive industry is surely a strong support. In recent years, attention has been paid to the development of large capacity die casting machines, bringing up hot chamber machines accordingly.
Variety Uses of P/M, Powder Metallurgy
The basic P/M process uses pressure and heat to form precision metal parts and shapes. Powder is squeezed at room temperature by itself in a rigid precision die into an engineered shape like a gear. After the mass of powder is squeezed into a shape and ejected from the press, it is fed slowly through a special high-temperature controlled atmosphere furnace to bond the particles together. In contrast to other metal forming techniques, P/M parts are shaped directly from powders while castings are formed from metal that must be melted, and wrought parts are shaped by deformation of hot or cold metal, or by machining. P/M parts are used in a variety of end products such as lock hardware, garden tractors, snowmobiles, automobile engines and transmissions, auto brake and steering systems, etc. New Developments include improved manufacturing processes and commercialization such as metal injection molding: (MIM), rapid solidification, P/M forging, spray forming, high temperature vacuum sintering, warm compacting and both cold and hot isostatic pressing. The use of P/M hot forged connecting rods in automobiles and a P/M camshaft for automobile engines. The use of P/M composite camshafts in auto engines and main bearing caps, and stainless steel ABS sensor rings and exhaust system flanges. New submicron and nanophase powders for cutting tools and other specialized applications.
Bearings, Small Parts Big Use
Bearings belong to a major component in a machine to reduce friction and, simultaneously maintain the expected precision and stability while machine working. By statistics, the size of global bearing market approximates US$30 billion every year. Coming in over ten thousand kinds, bearings can be found everywhere in a gear from small drivers, motor cars, conveyors, electrical machinery to big ships. Fundamentally, bearings are composed of two parts: sliding bearings and rolling bearings. The most frequently-used bearings are linear bearings, connecting bearings, ball bearings, roller bearings, trust bearings and needle bearings. The precision quality of bearings depends on hardness, wear rate, mechanic strength and stability along with concentricity, sphericalness and roughness. In these years, the users of conventional ball bearings and roller bearings have been gradually upgraded to ball guide bars, linear bearings, connecting bearings and oil-less bushings. Some higher-level bearings should resort to the help of technicians. King-size bearings for steel-making or petrochemical industry are heavily installed and traced by technical suppliers. The popularity of NC/ CNC machine tools and automated warehouse systems provides a stable-growing background for bearings industry. The up-and-coming trends follow the advantages of high precision, high speed, compact size, lightweight, maintenance-free and durability.
Market-Watch on World Building Materials
Posted by wenbi in : Building , 1 comment so farttnet.net - [2006/01/24]
U.S.
Surveyed by HIRI/Global Insight, the US home improvement products tend to continue robust growth through 2008. The total market size will reach $313.5 billion with a composite annual growth rate of 3.3% over the 2005-2008 period, slightly better than the pace of overall economic growth.
CHINA
This price adjustment recently certainly will have a ripple effect on the building trade of builders and home building materials due to international economic booming and Mainland China demands increasing. It makes the first time of price mark-up for international building materials in recent years. In addition to above the factor uplifting this building materials price, the materials hoarding and cornering are in some large industries, and the raising of China production and consumption which encourage the volumes of steel import, these reasons widen the pressures to rise up the international price of building materials.
According to the data, the timber price has been risen 20% to 40% dramatically. And the steel price is also risen 50% to 53% approx. Sources expressed that this sudden and unprecedented rise in steel prices impact the relatives industries, besides the building materials also cost up. For examples, the materials cost US $ 7,900 in last year, but they cost US $ 12,300 in this year after the price adjustment, the building materials cost 1/3 of entire selling price.
The experts of the housing and economy says: building materials price is like a war which will last for a long period of time, the sustained building materials price mark-up will shift the impact to the consumers, and rise the selling price of new house.
JAPAN
The total value of the remodeling building materials market was estimated at US$7.9 billion, which was about 15.3% of the total value of building products for the new housing market. Recently, the country’s home remodeling market has been growing steadily as the new home market in Japan is expected to decline. The most promising products include vinyl windows, wood flooring, wood panels, windows, doors, shingles, iron and steel bathtubs, central heating and cooling, kitchen and bathroom faucets, furniture including wooden kitchen cabinets and lighting. The Japan home remodeling market is forecasted to grow at an average growth rate of 5% as housing starts probably decrease below 1 million units.
The typical homeowners who remodel their homes, built about 20 years ago, are people aged from 40 to 60. They do house remodeling because of making their home more comfortable, replacing old equipment, bathroom repairs or making floor plan design changes. The remodeling budgets range from 1 million yen to 15 million yen depending upon the scale of remodeling, but about 35% of people plan to spend 2 million to 5 million yen. Nearly 80% people will use savings while about 15% of people plan to borrow money from banks.
UK
The UK building materials market is currently dominated by top-10 titan suppliers such as Castle Cement Ltd., Ibstock Brick Ltd., Marley Ltd., Redland Roofing Systems Ltd. and Saint-Gobain of France. These years, local government is encouraging more partnering in the construction industry, and a quality mark scheme has been introduced. According the survey, the UK construction industry was forecast to grow by 12.1% between 2001 and 2005.
In woodcare sector, the market size approximates $200 million. Main sectors within the woodcare market are varnishes, woodstains, wood preservers and wood fillers. Varnish accounts for roughly 29 percent, woodstains 25 percent and preservers 25 percent. Wallcoverings are traditionally one of the most popular forms of home decor in the U.K., with a high percentage of householders prepared to tackle the job of putting them up. Wall tiles account for about 80 percent of the domestic market, but floor tiles have increased in popularity in the last few years. Owing to its coldness feature, wall tiles are relatively low popularity in the U.K., in contrast to warmer countries such as Italy. The glazed ceramic tile market is estimated at $370 million at retail selling prices. Imports have long accounted for a large part of the U.K. tile market, and currently represent about 72 percent by value. The main suppliers are of French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian origin.
