ITALY 18 September 2009
PRESIDENT’S REPORT to ESF
Mr Angelo Cortesi
The Italian spring industry ended 2008 with a 5-10% drop with respect to 2007. 2009 will close with sales below those recorded in 2008. The significant drop in turnover which began in September 2008 continued until June 2009. In the second half of 2009 sales have not dropped further and the hope is that in December 2009 the average decrease in turnover for the year will be around 25-30% with respect to 2007, the year before the start of the crisis.
The concerns that have arisen in this last period of 2009 include:
· the contraction of orders which forces our industry to work with delivery schedules of just 1 week
· the drop in prices which are often lower than the actual costs
· the delays in payment which have become a type of speculation. For example, a large telephone company is delaying payments to suppliers even after having presented a 2008 final balance with high profits and a strong demand for 2009.
· the solvency of many customers is decreasing and it forces our industry to freeze resources that are critical for the survival of our companies.
The price of raw materials, in the first quarter of 2009 was stable but the steel mills will increase their prices by 50-100 Euros as of October. An increase in raw materials prices seems to be close.
In 2010, with the information available today, the forecasts predict that sales will not improve with respect to 2009.
The dramatic situation resulting from the lack of credit to companies by the banks continues. It generated a serious increase in payment delays. In addition, leasing companies have stopped issuing medium-long term financing for equipment and investments are frozen.
Our events for 2009 are:
· 12 February 2009, the First Tech Spring Seminar 2009, presented by Mr M. Hayes of IST at the President Conferences Centre of Brescia.
· 25 April-2 May, trip to China by 21 ANCCEM Group representatives to visit 7 spring factories and meet with the China Spring Specialty Association representatives.
· 15 May 2009, national Assembly with a «Round Table» on the economy and the market situation.
· Second Anonymous Survey among associate members regarding methods used for the calculation of the Costs/Prices of springs and the elaboration of a Report to be presented at the ANCCEM Meeting to be held on 20 November 2009.
· The ANCCEM Technical Committee worked on the revision of the EN 13906-3 Torsion Springs Standard and on the elaboration of a Quality Guide (tolerances) for torsion springs modifying some formulas for the calculation of the tolerances of torsion springs foreseen by DIN 2194/2002
· 28 September 2009, Second Tech Spring Seminar to be presented by Mr M. Hayes of IST.
· 20 November 2009, ANCCEM Professional Meeting with a lesson by Prof. C.S. Romanelli, President of Net Working srl, on «How to improve the personal resistance to stress».
The ANCCEM Board decided to help its associates by absorbing the costs of the information-training (training handbooks and technical documents) services which will be supplied free of charge during 2009 and 2010.