Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener market

Named after the Roman god who is often depicted as having two faces – due to its ability to look to the future and to the past – the Janus Perspective is a unique feature that includes a wide cross section of global fastener business leaders, who have all contributed their retrospective of 2021 and thoughts on prospects and challenges for 2022.

Thomas Christoffel, CEO

In times of uncertainty in the industry a technology leader cannot sit back and be merely reactive to the many challenges. Instead, the fundament for future growth must be built in these times of change. That is why Hatebur put its efforts in 2021 into digitalisation, technological innovation and R&D.

The pandemic years 2020 and 2021 have been difficult for everyone. Travel restrictions, lockdowns, economic downturn, uncertainties in all the major industries. We also felt the effects of Covid-19 at Hatebur.

However, a crisis can also be a chance. In 2021, our international teams focused on digitalisation, technological development, product innovation, and research, making sure that our company is well positioned for future growth.

Let me give you a few examples. In a time of cancelled industry trade fairs and a lack of direct customer contact, we started a virtual showroom where customers from all around the world can experience our technology and learn about our products in exclusive, digital tours. Our engineers introduced and refined technologies such as the servo-electric linear infeed, the servo transfer unit, and the servo direct drive – opening up a wide range of untapped possibilities; making parts transport more reliable; improving the tool life of the forming tools; and saving production costs for our customers.

We also launched Hatebur Connect, providing interconnectivity of all control components and state of the art data analysis for machine operators – a major step towards increased efficiency in production and troubleshooting. Our second brand, Carlo Salvi SpA, introduced a new machine concept with the CS 513 TH – for the first time offering a header with an integrated thread rolling unit, unlocking new market segments, and reducing investment costs for our customers. Last but not least, we took further steps in utilising synergies between Hatebur and Carlo Salvi, for example when it comes to the manufacture of control cabinets. With these and other achievements, we are convinced that Hatebur is on track to be well positioned for the future and we look back at 2021 with a sense of accomplishment.

When it comes to major industry trends, 2021 – with all its disruptions – has been an eventful year. A few trends dominated the automotive and fastener industries:

• Semiconductor crisis: While early in 2021 the outlook for the automotive industry was quite positive, we saw initial delivery problems in the second quarter, before the semiconductor problem took full effect in the second half of the year. This led to a lack of predictability and made long-term planning almost impossible. A low utilisation rate was one of the results. The trend towards electric mobility also plays a role in the semiconductor crisis because electric cars require more semiconductors than combustion-engined ones. All of this had direct effects on the automotive supply chain. Looking into the future, we believe that the semiconductor situation will gradually, but not quickly, improve and normalise in 2022 and beyond.
• Electric mobility: Subsidies and support measures have led to an acceleration of the transformation of the automotive industry towards electric mobility. This trend is here to stay and we expect electric mobility to play an ever bigger role in the coming years. The transformation creates some uncertainty, but it also offers unique opportunities. We continuously evaluate the trends and our R&D experts try to always be a step ahead and identify the potentials and requirements of tomorrow.
• Sustainability: Sustainability is already much more than just a buzzword and without a doubt it will be a growing trend in the automotive industry and other industries in the coming years. We expect that this will have effects throughout the whole supply chain. Not only when it comes to CO2 reduction, and other environmental protection efforts, but also work safety and security.
• Production relocation: In various industries, including the fastener industry, we witnessed the trend towards the relocation of production capacities from the Far East back to Europe. It became apparent that global supply chains and transport channels can be vulnerable and producing in Europe for the local markets has advantages.
• Shortage of skilled workers: This is a challenge that will likely increase in importance in the years to come. As companies are eager to innovate and maximise efficiency, the competition for the brightest minds will intensify.

At Hatebur, we rely on our technological expertise and our R&D team to position ourselves for the future. Which parts will need to be manufactured in ten or twenty years from now? What are the production potentials? What are the machine concepts of the future? We are determined to focus on the answers to these questions, to improve existing technologies and machines, as well as develop clever and innovative solutions.