FSC：Foundries May Be Forced to Shut down, Stop Production, Merge, Restructure or Change Product Lines in the Following Two Years

Recently, the 31st Global Foundry Sourcing Conference was successfully held in Shanghai. Organized by the Foundry-Suppliers.Com (FSC) and Suppliers China Co., Ltd. (SC), the event attracted a number of buyers including the Hyster-Yale Group, Paccar, Siemens, Emerson Fluid, Emerson Marine System, Thyssenkrupp Dynamic, Haldex Vehicle, Bonfiglioli, Armstrong, Maschinenfabrik LASKA, Modine Thermal, MHI Turbo, HITACHI, SULZER, NOVEASTERN, Pohu Drive, Gudel, ALLFI Group, LMW, IDEX, EQI, and FallTech. Among them, Australian Multotec, Hasse Automation, Casappa Hydraulic, Borunte Robot, and Promote introduced their global procurement strategies, development and support of suppliers in China, requirements on suppliers, and supply chain management during the conference. 

31^st Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2024 in Shanghai

31^st Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2024 in Shanghai

31^st Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2024 in Shanghai

Casting products purchased by the participating buyers mainly involve the fields of pump valves, mining machinery, engineering machinery, ships, machine tools, agricultural machinery, automobiles, energy and electricity, power transmission, rail transit, food machinery, papermaking machinery, and general machinery. The machining processes required include sand casting, precision casting, die-casting, lost foam casting, forging, welding, etc. and most buyers are looking for rough or precision machined parts and components; from the materials of the castings needed: demand on products of ferrous metals such as cast iron and cast steel account for over 70% the procurement demand, while that on non-ferrous metals such as aluminum alloy are developing rapidly, accounting for nearly 30%. Buyers' requirements on suppliers are also higher. In addition to traditional requirements for casting R&D and quality control capabilities, they also have new expectations for heat treatment, surface treatment, qualification certification, etc. In this event, there are several procurement projects with higher requirements. 

Logos of part of the participating purchasers in the 31^st FSC

Procurement presentation by Australian Multotec

Procurement presentation by Hasse Automation

Scene of the 31^st Global Foundry Sourcing Conference 2024

Procurement presentation by Borunte Robot

FSC has invited over 200 excellent casting enterprises and supporting service providers to participate in the conference according to needs of buyers. In addition, we have specially invited Anhui Shantin Mechanical & Electrical Inc, Hubei Rosewell New Material Technology Co., Ltd., and VCI Antirust New Materials (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. to introduce their equipment, main products, supporting fields, development direction, R&D and management capabilities, which have attracted high attention from buyers. Suppliers including Zhangzhou Haili Machinery, Xuancheng Chieftech Metal Technology, Wuxi Xinan Technology, Zhejiang Sanren Machinery, Chaojing (Suzhou) Aviation Precision Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Nanfang Casting, Huzhou Nanfeng Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Wuxi Universal Precision Casting Co., Ltd., Shandong Useen Casting Co., Ltd., Shandong Xuguang Derui Advanced Materials Co., Ltd., and Hebei Meishanke Automotive Parts Manufacturing Co., Ltd. have set up booths at the venue to display casting samples of various materials, attracting buyers to visit and negotiate, and greatly improving the efficiency of on-site negotiations. 

Purchasers are visiting sample booths

Purchasers are visiting sample booths

Purchasers are visiting sample booths

Product introduction by Anhui Shantin Mechanical & Electrical Inc

In his opening speech, General Manager Wang Longhe from the Foundry-Suppliers.Com said, “This year, the number of new orders is obviously less than the same period of previous years. The inquiry is far from expected in this conventional peak inquiry season. The overall demand of transnational buyers is low, the number of new projects reduces greatly compared with the same period of previous years, and the buyers are reluctant to develop new suppliers. Except for those who have production bases in China, buyers from the North America are reducing their exploration of suppliers for new products in China and transferring to countries and regions with lower costs. We also noticed that the volume of inquiries from emerging markets such as Russia is increasing, and a large number of European SMEs have not yet successfully source castings in China. These markets will have great potential in the future. 

Opening speech by FSC'S General Manager Wang Longhe

FSC’s suggestions: There will be more opportunities to focus on certain products. Enterprises should actively develop high-end products and obsolete outdated capacity. FSC persists in carrying out strict audits on buyers, and inviting only high-quality buyers to bring procurement projects. The participating casting buyers are mainly multinational groups, overseas buyers, procurement centers and key enterprises in Asia-Pacific area and China, including over 20 Global Top 500 enterprises. During the face-to-face negotiation session in the afternoon, buyers and suppliers have under gone proactive and effective negotiations, which have achieved remarkable results.

East Key is negotiating with supplier representatives

Siemens Healthineers is negotiating with supplier representatives

Paccar is negotiating with supplier representatives

Hyster-Yale Group is negotiating with supplier representatives

Heli Casting is negotiating with supplier representatives

Thyssenkrupp Dynamic is negotiating with supplier representatives

PJSC is negotiating with supplier representatives

Witzenmann is negotiating with supplier representatives

Noveastern is negotiating with supplier representatives

Emerson is negotiating with supplier representatives

FSC’s prediction: Foundries may be forced to shut down, stop production, merge, restructure or change product lines in the next two years. In general, under the background of a shrinking global need and the overcapacity of China’s foundries, it will be hard for low-end suppliers to develop further and there will be opportunities for high-end suppliers. 

Opportunities coexist with challenges, and difficulties with hopes. FSC will continue to introduce Chinese casting enterprises to the world, enhance our position in the global supply chain while accelerating the digital work, improving the service ability, overall facilitating the development and transformation of the casting industry, and contributing to the development of the foundry industry!

Suppliers China Co., Ltd.