| Events |
Glimmers of Hope, Part 2
Last month this column outlined a couple industry sectors that, despite the current global economic turmoil, are expected to continue to grow in 2009.
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| JIM DESTEFANI, Editor Contact me |
Another positive result of the recession is the easing of prices for metals and plating chemicals. Based on lower demand, stockpiles of copper, nickel and aluminum are at or near record highs. The London Metal Exchange reports that futures prices for both nickel and aluminum have declined this year. Copper prices, while up for the year, are also beginning to ease. Metals producers are doing their best to cut production and balance supply with the lower demand, so the easing of metals prices may be short-lived.
On the chemical front, prices have dropped precipitously from the heights reached in mid-2008, when weekly increases became the norm for many plating chemicals. Prices of common petrochemicals are anywhere from 40 to 70% off their highs, and prices for plating chemicals ranging from metal salts to sodium saccharin have similarly decreased.
All this is some good news among the gloom for platers, many of whom found themselves hard pressed to pass along chemical price increases last year. We all could use a little good news about now, right?
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Share your views, win an Amazon gift certificate UESTION Have the prices you pay for coating materials decreased? Or are coating prices more like gasoline prices—very quick to jump up, but not so fast coming down? Let us know and you’ll have an opportunity to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Responses may be published in next month’s Digital Dispatch. Click here to respond |
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NSWER “Business is down significantly. We’re in electronics and taking a hit. We are weathering the storm by making cut backs everywhere, labor included.We’ve consolidated the two shifts into one 12-hour day to save electricity, energy and water. Scrap is much less tolerated than before, and items like soft paper towels have been replaced by the hard brown but cheaper ones. We have not cut back on materials which eventually make it to the customer—that would be suicide. We have taken to even more servicing of our existing customer base, providing things we never did before and educating them on how to make things less expensive for them, ensuring their continued success (and ours). We recycle more than ever, save energy everywhere possible. We are continuing our education programs, trying to make everyone as versatile as possible so we can change gears rapidly with the reduced labor force we have.” Thanks, Will, that seems like a sound approach to having your company in position to take advantage of the rebound, when it comes. And congratulations—your response also earns you a $50 Amazon gift card. |
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