Feature Article
The PIC Market & Covid-19 by Stephen S. Pilbury
in recent years (since the financial crisis of 2008/9) all the markets the PIC industry serves have been stable or growing. Market pressure has been from global competition entering the local/regional markets and from high cost base producers taking short term advantage of manufacturing in low cost countries, only to find that they have developed a new competitor rather than a supply partner at a later date. Suppliers have seen and had to manage the same issues: • Local suppliers being acquired by regional and global competitors
O
• Changes in Environmental and Chemical control laws eliminating the use of certain raw materials
• Modern oil refineries upgrading plant to allow them to crack “oil” for fuels, reducing the higher molecular weight paraffin, micro waxes and polymers • Ceramic mines and processing plant going
12 ❘ June 2020 ®
ver the 49 years I have been working within or supplying the Precision Investment Casting Industry, there have been many market cycles but
off-line, impacting supply and demand
• Chemical plants going off-line outside planned maintenance periods
• Government driven trading restrictions • Global changes in shipping (availability) None of our previous business experiences have prepared us for how Covid -19 has impacted all supply lines and all PIC markets at the same time. Currently, with no real end point in sight, we all have to plan for personnel safety and the financial survival of our business over the next 1-3 years.
Markets Served In April 2020 not one car was produced in Europe and vehicle sales of all fuel types in the UK was only 4.3K, 97.3% down on the same period last year and 43% down on the year to date figures. The biggest seller in April was a medium sized delivery van – a reaction to the immediate increase in on-line shopping and speedy door to door deliveries.
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