France: Airbus has decided to further increase the production rate for its A320 Family to 50 aircraft per month from Q1 2017, matching market demand. Additionally, the aircraft manufacturer is adjusting the A330 production rate to six a month from Q1 2016 as it transitions towards the A330neo.
“As an aircraft manufacturer, it is our role, for our employees, partners, customers and investors to anticipate market demands whilst delivering on orders and managing revenues,” said Didier Evrard, executive VP Programmes. “Given the success of the A320 Family, both CEO and NEO, we work closely with our supply chain, assess our manufacturing capabilities and decide on the most appropriate rate. On widebodies we are adjusting A330 production in preparation for transition to NEO while in parallel the A350 XWB is on a steep ramp-up.”
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US: December US cutting tool consumption totalled US$168.2 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT — The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) collaboration, was up 7.2 percent from November’s total and up 20.3 percent from December 2013.
“The 2014 calendar year closed with a flurry and the overall growth in the cutting tool industry reporting was 5.0% percent year over year,” said Tom Haag, president of USCTI. “This is an indication that our market is steady and strong despite some volatility in the monthly statistics this past calendar year. December was a reflection on the auto industry perpetuating its strong growth while aerospace markets continue to work on an enormous backlog. The December sales closed a year with a strong message that manufacturing is still driving growth in our economy.”
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Singapore: Seco continues its strong focus on educating, training and informing those in the manufacturing industries with the release of four metal cutting books in a new series called ‘Metal Cutting – Best Practices’. The books cover current trends and techniques in metal cutting and will be published throughout 2015.
Patrick De Vos, corporate technical education manager of Seco Tools, AB and Jan-Eric Ståhl, a professor in the Division of Production and Materials Engineering at Lund University, Sweden, collaborated to write the books. The series offers practical guidelines to help customers tackle metal cutting challenges and achieve maximum productivity in their machine shops. The four topics covered are: tool deterioration; machinability and workpiece materials; cutting materials and geometries; and tool compensation techniques.
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Birmingham, UK: Manufacturing software developer Delcam has appointed Pete Baxter as VP. Mr Baxter joins Delcam from its parent company, Autodesk, where he was a VP of sales and served as the country manager for Autodesk in the UK.
“In his new role, Pete will be responsible for managing the global Delcam business, and for leading the company in the next stage of its growth. Pete brings extensive leadership experience and knowledge that will be critical in helping Delcam develop closer connections to Autodesk, to the benefit of both organisations and our customers,” said Buzz Kross, Autodesk senior VP, Design, Lifecycle and Simulation.
Read more...Seoul, South Korea: Kia Motors Corporation has said its 2014 full-year global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, Recreational Vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles, recorded a total of 2,907,757 units sold. This figure represents a 5.9 percent cumulative year-on-year increase compared to 2013.
In 2014, the automobile manufacturer posted a year-on-year sale increase in China, North America, general markets* and South Korea of 17.5 percent (678,196 units sold), 7.0 percent (650,241 units sold), 2.1 percent (524,345 units sold) and 1.6 percent (465,200 units sold), respectively. Meanwhile, 2014 sales in Europe* experienced a slight drop of 0.1 percent (589,775 units sold).
For the month of December 2014, global sales of Kia vehicles grew by 20.7 percent with all major regions experiencing year-on-year growth. Sales in China, North America, South Korea, general markets and Europe grew by 35.9 percent (69,111 units sold), 34.2 percent (48,939 units sold), 17.1 percent (48,018 units sold), 12.0 percent (41,349 units sold) and 2.4 percent (44,975 units sold), respectively in December.
Note:
* ‘General markets’ include the regions of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia (excluding China and Korea), the Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
‘Europe’ includes both Western and Eastern European markets.
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France: Airbus has exceeded its targets for 2014, achieving a new record of 629 aircraft deliveries for 89 customers of which eight are new, comprising 490 A320 Family aircraft, 108 A330s, 30 A380s and also the first A350 XWB. This production achievement means that the company’s aircraft deliveries in 2014 were up for the 13th year in a row, surpassing the previous record set in 2013.
Airbus also achieved 1,456 net orders from 67 customers (of which 14 are new) — the company’s second best year ever, comprising 1,321 single aisle aircraft and 135 widebodies. As a result, by year end, the backlog had climbed to a new industry record of 6,386 aircraft valued at US$919.3 billion at list prices.
At 2014 year end, the company commanded more than 50 percent market share for aircraft above 100 seats. Among the numerous sales achievements was the A330neo’s success in attracting 120 firm endorsements within just six months of its launch.
“2014 has been an excellent year and the teams in Airbus not only delivered on, but exceeded their targets and commitments,” said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus president and CEO. “Airbus also made strong progress towards a faster, simpler and more agile company, while our strategy of incremental innovation is helping to consolidate our market-leading position in all categories.”
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Singapore: St Aerospace has secured contracts worth S$310 million (US$248 million) in the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2014. These new orders involve projects ranging from airframe, component and engine maintenance, to VIP completions and engine wash.
Included in the 4Q2014 contracts is a five-year Maintenance-By-the-Hour (MBH) contract signed with a returning airline customer in Asia, which operates a fleet of Boeing 737NG aircraft. Under the agreement, the company will provide MBH support services covering component repairs, consignment of spares, as well as access to its inventory pool of rotables worldwide.
Additionally, the aerospace sector’s VIP completions division secured heavy maintenance contracts for three Boeing 757 aircraft, for a Head of State and two VIP customers.
On engine total support, the company’s Singapore-based engine facility has signed a two-year contract with a regional low cost airline for the engine MRO of its CFM56-7B engines. Additionally, multi-year contracts have been sealed with customers in Asia Pacific, Europe and the US for EcoPower engine wash services.
In 4Q2014, the aerospace sector redelivered a total of 238 aircraft for airframe maintenance and modification work. In addition to airframe redeliveries, a total of 12,145 components, 50 landing gears and 43 engines were processed, while 1,927 engine washes were conducted for both commercial and military customers.
The fourth quarter’s aircraft redeliveries included the first Boeing 767 aircraft to a Japanese airline, and two additional Boeing 767 for a North American airline, after a full cabin reconfiguration programme.
On aircraft capability, the aerospace sector’s airframe facility in Guangzhou has received maintenance organisational approvals from the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, for Airbus A320 aircraft, further extending the geographical range of its maintenance capabilities.
On passenger-to-freighter conversions, ST Aerospace completed the critical design review phase for the engineering development of the A330-300P2F conversion, marking a step forward for the A330P2F programme.
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US: November US cutting tool consumption totaled US$156.9 million, according to the US Cutting Tool Institute (USCTI) and AMT (The Association For Manufacturing Technology). This total was down 18.9 percent from October’s total and up 0.4 percent from November 2013.
“Although this month registered the lowest volume of cutting tool shipments we’ve seen since 2013, this 18.9 percent decrease is in part due to the record breaking sales we had in October,” said Brad Lawton, chairman of AMT’s Cutting Tool Product Group. “Year-to-date shipments are on par with 2013. As manufacturers’ backlogs continue to grow, we expect shipments to rebound before the end of the year.”
Over at the manufacturing technology segment, AMT said the number was down 15.5 percent from October and down 14.5 percent when compared with the total of US$442.01 million reported for November 2013.
“Despite a downward monthly trend in manufacturing technology orders, we remain bullish on the US industry market overall, with robust factory production and strong performance in the automotive sector,” said Douglas K Woods, AMT President.
“Many manufacturers took a ‘pause’ in November to assess the challenges from the previous few months, such as contraction in China, Europe and Russia, less activity from the oil and gas industry due to the dramatic drop in prices and perhaps a little bit of the ‘IMTS Effect’ pulling some sales forward. Overall, however, we anticipate 2015 to be another year of positive growth, with manufacturing leading the US economy.”
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Singapore: Gian Paolo Bassi has been appointed the CEO of 3D design software brand SolidWorks. He will spearhead the development of the company’s future product and technology strategies designed for the desktop and the cloud as well as collaborating with the brand’s user community.
Read more...Italy: The Italian industry manufacturing machine tools, robots and automation systems have ended 2014 on a positive note. Luigi Galdabini, president of UCIMU-Sistemi Per Produrre, said: “The recovery, which had started at the end of 2013, materialised in 2014. Among all indicators, the most relevant datum is that of domestic consumption which has finally come back to a positive sign, showing the new willingness to invest of the Italian users.”
According to the preliminary figures processed by the Studies Department of UCIMU, production in 2014 achieved €4.695 billion (US$5.572 billion), a 4.6 percent growth compared to the value of the previous year.
Part of this improvement can be attributed to the growing domestic market. The association says production is growing and Italian consumption are starting up again, registering a double-figure increase and driving the manufacturers' deliveries and import. All in all, Italian consumption added up to €2.420 billion, an 18.2 percent increase compared to numbers in 2013, highlighting the recovery of investments made by the Italian manufacturing industry in production systems.
Manufacturers have taken advantage of this trend that resulted in deliveries in the domestic market growing by 21.1 percent, to €1.335 billion. On the other hand, imports recorded a lower increase (+14.9 percent), amounting to €1.085 billion.
On the export front, the figures are described as “stable” by UCIMU. The numbers are confirmed to remain on the level of 2013, reaching €3.360 billion (-0.7 percent). This is due to the general slowdown of the world trade and, in particular, by the decision of the European Union to limit exports of machine tools to Russia, as a consequence of the tension between the Federation and Ukraine.
The association says in the first nine months of the year, the main destination countries of ‘Made in Italy’ machines are China, (-18.6 percent) €264 million, the US (-8.4 percent) 258 million, Germany (+0.2 percent) 231 million, Russia (-16 percent) 110 million, France (+0.8 percent) 102 million, Turkey (+0.6 percent) 81 million, Poland (+17.1 percent) 71 million, India (-35.5 percent) 62 million, Mexico (+11 percent) 61 million, Brazil (-37.3 percent) 60 million.
Leaving 2014 behind, the forecasts for 2015 are positive, says the organisation. Manufacturers' deliveries are expected to keep on growing, achieving €1.390 billion, marking a +4.1 percent, driven by the positive trend of domestic consumption which will reach €2.530 billion, ie: +4.5 percent compared to 2014. Imports will also benefit from the bright demand expressed by the Italian users, increasing to €1.140 billion, +5.1 percent versus 2014.
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