March 2004

Euro Roadmap seeks a clear future view

The European Powder Metallurgy Association has been gazing into the crystal ball and the result is a report entitled Vision 2020: Future developments for the European PM industry…

The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) has been steadily reinforcing its authoritative leadership position representing the European PM community in the often-weighty issues that have become apparent in the past couple of years.

Adding to the (ongoing) initiative on proposed European chemicals legislation and its Guide to HSE legislation, this latest report is addressed to those people who are interested in the industry and its science and technology. Those include government departments and agencies, companies (especially management), research and technical organisations, universities and consultancies.

It is based on an extensive three-part consultation exercise that took place during 2003 with the key industry players that make up the EPMA and is written specifically for a non-technical audience.

Jonathan Wroe the Executive Director of EPMA says: "The Roadmap can help serve as the basis for definition of R&D needs, courses, and interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. It will be used as a kind of manual for implementation of the recommendations; it also contains some details of the science, technology and design aspects concerned.

"The Roadmap states that the PM industry is an excellent example of where Europe is a major player in a key enabling industrial technology, which has regularly achieved growth rates of 10 per cent per annum and also employs around 40 000 people. Although not large compared to other industries it is of critical importance to a number of sectors including automotive, aerospace and construction.

"This report is intended to set out the EPMA members' views of those factors that will determine the future of PM manufacture in Europe over the period 2004-2020. It is a summation of a tightly planned and budgeted exercise involving companies throughout the PM supply chain.

"It identifies that there are a whole range of factors - both technical and non-technical - that have to be addressed if its vision of PM becoming the cost effective preferred process for the production of metal and hardmetal components is to be achieved. The intention is that responses to the issues will be developed among all the role players, i.e. companies, trade associations, research and technical organisations, and Government.

"We are in a time of marked and continuing change in Pm manufacturing in Europe. During the last 10 years the sector has been subject to a period of consolidation and is not generally dominated by a few major players with a significant number of smaller companies - often small and medium-sized enterprises filling market niches such as MIM and specialist materials.

"In general the sector is heavily dependent on the automotive industry which takes between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of output. This means that there is also considerable price pressure from original equipment manufacturers, but also large volumes available due to the sheer size of automotive production in Europe.

"Although there are a number of other industry sectors such as aerospace, electronics and construction that have potential for further growth, the PM industry has until this point developed mainly by replacing other manufacturing methods.

“It will be necessary to look at new and novel applications if it is to continue the growth levels seen historically."

Amongst other points the report's main recommendations are:

• Customer education is vital, in particular the development of new standards and a properties database.
• A list of six priority R&D areas are identified focusing on novel processing and materials technologies.
• The development of small niche producers in some sectors will need improved support mechanisms.
• The impact of the increasing legislative burden on the industry's competitiveness will require new structures and systems to be implemented.
• Finally the urgent need to provide practical and theoretical training at all levels, including distance learning and life long learning must be addressed.

These enabling actions are seen as critically important if there is to be sustainable future development of the European PM, indeed the EPMA and its members are already working to address some of the items.

However, says the report, although the European PM industry has a track record of significant growth, its reliance on the mature automotive sector means that without significant investment in research and development to further develop the capabilities and applications of the technology, future growth will be reduced.

There is a significant issue in that many of the companies in the sector are small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources with which to undertake such a step change. At the same time, supply chain pressures are reducing margins and there is an increasing threat from non-EU competitors who do not face the ever-tightening regulatory collar inflicted on European manufacturing companies.

"On the positive side," says the report, "there is currently a significant PM research capability within a number of world-leading centres of expertise. However, current EU policy, as demonstrated by the way the Framework 6 initiative is actually being implemented - restricting funding to a few larger and more important sectors - is likely to erode or eradicate a number of these centres and will thus potentially undermine the future of the PM sector as a technology leader.

"The industry remains one with great potential, but will face significant problems of competitiveness without a positive response from government and the industry itself. There is no quick fix and some external ie government funding will be needed."

Concluding on a more positive note the report notes current strengths. "Thanks to the existing strong research base and the presence of a large potential original equipment manufacturing market, there are also opportunities for existing and new companies to develop a real presence in this key enabling industry."