全球化的脚步 ――弱势美元促使美国机床出口形势大好

HASS AUTOMATION 展位号：H27-B06



Gene F. Haas打算用质优价廉的哈斯CNC加工中心占领欧洲市场。

In the slipstream
of globalization
The weak dollar is working in favor of machine-tool exports
from the United States 
The role of  achine-tool wonderland?that is now being played by China, once corresponded, towards the end of the 1990s, to the United States. This period saw an absolute peak of American demand for machine tools, with an all-time record-breaking volume of some 8 billion dollars. The cause of this, according to the Frankfurt-based VDW (German Machine Tool Builders?Association), lies in an accumulation of special factors, including a high level of catch-up demand triggered after the recession that followed on from the first Gulf war. There was also a general flurry of investment euphoria brought on by the dotcom boom.
A set of negative annual growth rates then brought about a hard landing for machine-tool usage in the United States, with a final drop to 2.3 billion dollars. The experts foresee a return to cyclical growth up to 2010 with respect to absorption capacity, with realistic volumes of
4 to 4.5 billion dollars.
According to the VDW 2004 sector report, American industrial production is set to shrink even further, accompanied by a marked parallel increase in foreign investment by Americans in, above all, China, Mexico and South America. The capacities of American transplant car factories are increasing dynamically, with a steady growth of outsourcing to top-level domestic suppliers. This has led, according to the VDW report, to a probable reduction in the number of job shops used. Considerable capacity to add value in the car manufacturing, military aerospace or certain traditional sectors, along with the creation of core value in the context of more complex products, is sure to remain in the United States. 
The American machine tool industry presents itself in good shape. As can be seen in the report, which was recently published by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the flat results of 2004 are set to turn into a growth of 40% in orders and a 25% rise in turnover. The AMT forecasts positive short-term prospects. The demand for capital goods, including machine tools, is set to enjoy double-digit growth this year. As far as subsequent years are concerned, however, the pundits?opinions tend to diverge. The pessimists among them expect a flattening-out of growth at the start of 2006 because there has been a drop in demand from the main consumers of capital goods, such as the car industry or the construction sector.
The AMT predicts a growth in export business. The continuous drop in the rate of the dollar against the euro and the main Asian currencies could also lead, according to estimations by AMT, to rising sales in Europe and east Asia of American capital goods.  js
c German Machine Tool Builders?Association (VDW),
http://www.vdw.de/
Hall 13, Booth D53

Gene F. Haas,
intends to use low-price CNC
machining centers to conquer the machine-tool
market of  ortress Europe? His company, Haas Automation Inc. of Oxnard, California, is America  largest manufacturer of
machine tools.

Photo:
Haas Automation