Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener industry
A wide cross section of global fastener business leaders have contributed their retrospective of 2015 and thoughts on the prospects and challenges for 2016. We asked them to consider not just economic and financial issues but also technology drivers for the fastener industry and to identify priorities for the upcoming year. Here is Optimas' article:

Optimas OE Solutions
Ian Clarke, CEO

On reflection and through my lens, 2015 has been a great year with most of our customer verticals delivering strong growth over the prior year.
Entering the year, we anticipated a volume surge, which was last in evidence in 2007. Instead, volumes remained steady and we did not see the sizeable surge that was expected in the Class 8 truck market, as well as power generation and off-highway/construction end market. The real anomalies were agriculture and non-residential construction, where those end markets went from flat to down. The silver lining, however, was that our service levels remained high even in the face of many manufacturers operating at capacity. As a consequence, we experienced extended lead times.
Careful scrutiny of the supply chain has revealed some inherent weaknesses and highlighted several manufacturers closing as a result. These weaknesses present opportunities with the OEM segment as these customers consider the merits and risks of their current supply chain.
In our particular case, we’ve been presented with additional opportunities to increase our scope of work as a direct consequence of the weaknesses in the supply chain. Together with the customers’ drive to focus on their core product offering, these new opportunities have facilitated us in building an even greater, integrated organisational structure in conjunction with our customers.
Given our customers’ expectations and the high standards we helped set, we continue to be laser-focused, everyday, on the small things that can add up to greater value for our customers and suppliers.
Few could have predicted our accomplishments in becoming a stand-alone business this year, In addition, we are delighted by our acquisition of Barton Cold Form Ltd in the UK, which allows us to expand our manufacturing capabilities so soon after becoming a stand-alone business.
Manufacturing will continue to be a key value added offering, which makes us a compelling choice for our customers, and a critical element of our strategy. As the global playing field becomes more equal and the manufacturing migration east has been halted with reshoring back to North America, we are excited by the prospects that this trend has provided.
With a strong US Dollar and with the recently announced increase in interest rates, we expect to see renewed interest in both Asian and European companies’ products arriving in North America. This represents both an opportunity and a risk, which we will monitor very closely in conjunction with our key customers. Quality, engineering and on time delivery will remain the top requirements for our customers – areas in which Optimas has a demonstrable track record of excellence.
The strain on liquidity and lending parameters from financial institutions will generate a higher risk of foreclosures, with company failures negatively impacting the supply chain. The commodity markets have continued to fluctuate outside historical trends, particularly evident in scrap metal prices.
Scrap metal pricing will rebound. The key question is when and how much. It is in everyone’s interest that supply and demand, so influential in commodity pricing, be restored and normalised in the very near future. The expectation for significant growth, predicted just a short few years ago, is yet to materialise for Latin America. This will contribute significantly to global demand. When it does, here at Optimas we will continue to follow and support our key customers as they meet the market needs in the developing economies around the world.
Our customers and the markets they serve have an insatiable thirst for new technologies and innovation. We believe Optimas is uniquely positioned to meet these needs with over 180 subject matter experts in engineering and quality. These resources are often deployed in our customers’ operations. We are ready to further invest in centres of excellence, available locally to support specific customer needs.
At Optimas, 2016 will bring an increased focus on improving our market leading speed and agility to enable us to meet our customers’ changing needs and requirements, protect supply chain pipelines and offer custom solutions. Additionally, we are looking to continue our investment strategy in technology, manufacturing, and operations, to continue to convince our customers that Optimas should naturally be their supplier of choice.