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 SACMA's article:

SACMA Group
Frederic Nathan, sales management

The ending of 2015 is a year to be remembered for a long time in SACMA Group – new customers, new machine models introduced into the market, and record annual sales.

The four key factors that have enabled SACMA Group to achieve these results in such a dynamic and demanding market were a worldwide presence; a major presence at events and associations; the introduction of new products and a commitment to constant evolution; as well as investments, widespread actions and the efficiency of our after sales service.

Regarding the worldwide presence, SACMA Group enjoyed a significant distribution of its sales around the world in many countries – Germany, the USA, Italy, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Sweden, the UK, France, Spain, Brazil, India, China and Taiwan. For the first time SACMA Group provided more than 25 machines to the US to meet the growing demand of the automotive market. The company also started to supply its warm formers to the aerospace industry. Ingramatic also contributed to this successful year in the US thanks to its ability to provide machinery that is able to run the parts after heat treatment with or without washers, and thanks to its fantastic quick changeover ability with its CNC thread rolling machines. In Germany, SACMA provided many machines for the tier one suppliers due to its ability to run net shape parts with its six dies progressive headers. The warm formers also enable customers to run parts with exotic materials – more and more requested for the new generation of engines following the downsizing philosophy. The Winning Technologies® trend of SACMA Group is constantly updated thanks to its R&D departments always being attentive to the market and concerns of its customers. The large and worldwide success is due to the innovations implemented by SACMA and Ingramatic but also the performing turnkey solutions provided by both brands.

To emphasis this successful trend, SACMA participated at major events worldwide showing its Winning Technologies in Mumbai, Moscow, Shanghai, Tokyo, Stuttgart and Milan. Fastener Fair Stuttgart 2015 was a very important show for SACMA Group as a sign of esteem and gratitude to the customers who have already chosen SACMA and Ingramatic machines and for all of the customers who joined the Winning Technologies club for their 2015 projects. Then in September, SACMA Group sponsored the biggest event ever organised in Europe in collaboration with the UPIVEB (Italian Association of Fasteners Manufacturers) introducing the FASTENERS MEETALY 2015: Challenge the future – the first World Congress fully dedicated to analyse the future of the fastener world. More than 500 guests atteneded this huge meeting with prestigious speakers such as Bosch, Fiat Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Company and all the presidents of fastener associations including EIFI (European Industrial Fasteners Institute) and IFI (Industrial Fasteners Institute) from the US.

To intensify its presence and help the customers in their project, and to better understand the overview of the worldwide market, SACMA Group decided to become an associate member of the American Industrial Fasteners Institute and the French association ARTEMA ‘Groupe Fixations’. SACMA Group shares its experience about the market and spreads the latest available technologies with the members, to keep them always competitive and able to challenge the future.

The dynamism of SACMA has been awarded on the market. Particularly appreciated were the new models, but also ‘to introduce on the market’ for SACMA and Ingramatic means to sell only fully tested and completely ready products to be used in the production facilities of their customers. The company policy has never been to show prototypes or products for which there are not certain guarantees of their immediate availability and functionality. This was the truth with the warm forming headers production line and with the models net shape parts formers such as the SP670-AS, SP470 and SP270; or the super long stroke machines such as the SP460-L and SP360-SL.

The completion of the Ingramatic I-Thread threaders range, thanks to the unique and numerous technological solutions with which they are equipped, has represented a significant leap ahead and is an enormous satisfaction for Ingramatic staff. Ingramatic has introduced many new models such as the RP520-V and RP620-V with vibratory bowl feeders, and in November the warm forming line with the RP420-WF for the aerospace market. The bestseller RP72-L-R1 model was replaced by the new I-Thread model RP720-R1 – equipped with servomotors for die match adjustment and CNC double starter unit. The RP720-R1 extends the capacity of the previous model thanks to its new QTC washer assembly unit with a 300mm disc diameter allowing the assembly of washer up to 85mm external diameter.

A necessary condition to keep this dynamism and propositional attitude is to be provided with an appropriate production capacity. SACMA Group has invested during the last 2 years approximately 25 million euros, 75% of these investments have been destined to improve and increase the tooling machines in its facilities.

SACMA Group knows very well how important machine reliability is – especially in such a competitive market. The company philosophy is ‘the best service of the world, is when no service is required’ and therefore, the efforts are concentrated on making high-quality machines. However, SACMA and Ingramatic are present with their after sales service structures on the main markets, which allows them to make quick and competent interventions. In 2015 the after sales service centres in the US and China were enhanced by hiring specialised technicians.

In 2016 the strategy will be intensified. New SACMA header models will be introduced such as SP48L and SP38SL and Ingramatic will launch the warm forming threaders family, as well as the new models RP120 and RP220 for small screws with an exclusive technology.

During the first months of 2016 we will also be presenting an innovative service for the customers: The SACMA Training Centre. It will be located in SACMA Germany and will represent a space where the customers can receive personalised training for the use of the headers and threaders, having at their complete availability new generation machines – one SACMA header and one Ingramatic threader.