NEWS


Faurecia optimism as Q3 sales beat forecasts


French automotive Tier 1 supplier Faurecia has posted Q3 sales that it said were “significantly higher than initial forecasts”, despite continuing uncer- tainty over Covid-19. The company has consequently revised its financial guid- ance upwards for the second half-year. The results showed a


“strong sequential improve- ment at constant scope and exchange rates”, said Faurecia. Q3 sales were 7.0% down on the same period of 2019, as against 19.7% and 50.0% down in Q1 and Q2 respectively. This in large part reflected negative currency effects of €170m, as some sales trends were positive. Sales improved in each consecutive month, with September sales 1.2% higher than in September 2019. Faurecia also enjoyed 15.4% sales growth in China in Q3 at constant scope and exchange rates, thanks to double-digit growth in sales of commercial vehicles,


Above: Patrick Koller, CEO of Faurecia, is positive about the automotive market


though there were equally marked falls in Europe and North America. The Seating and Clean Mobility businesses, which represent 65% of group sales, performed well. This was driven by sales to international manufacturers and new customers, as well as sales of commercial vehicles in South America. The other two business-


es, Interiors and Clarion Electronics, still underper- formed the market. The former, which accounts for 30% of total sales, was impacted by a 45% fall in


sales due to the postpone- ment of manufacturing programmes; the latter saw a 23% fall in sales mainly attributable to the decline in sales of Nissan, its main customer. This effect will continue into Q4 but peter out in 2021, Faurecia said. In the expectation that global automotive produc- tion will fall by 5% in H2 rather than the 15% IHS Markit anticipated in July, Faurecia has revised its expected figures. Group sales in H2 have been marked up from around €7.6bn to at least €8bn; the operating margin to at least 5.5% against around 4.5%; and net cash flow up from about €600m to at least €700m. “We anticipate a strong


rebound in the market over the next two years and confirm that Faurecia is on track to achieve its sales, profitability and cash generation ambition by 2022,” said CEO Patrick Koller. � www.faurecia.com


Rinco expands site in US


Rinco Ultrasonics, a maker of ultrasonic welding equipment, is to expand the tooling capabilities at its US manufacturing headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut, adding 370m2


of space.


The company said it will also take on two full-time machinists, as well as one full-time design engineer and part-time machinist, and acquire a Haas CNC milling centre, a Trak lathe with a Proto Trak SLX controller and several Trak K3 knee mills. Rinco Ultrasonics said


that the investment at Danbury came in response to growing demand for faster deliveries and highly complex welding applica- tions for the automotive and medical markets. It has also brought ultra- sonic tooling in-house in order to assume com- plete control of docu- mentation, testing and other key functions. � www.rincoultrasonics.com


Engel opens training centre in France The centre has an 80-tonne E-victory injection machine 4 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2020


Engel France has opened a new and fully digitalised training and education centre at its Wissous site, near Paris. “The idea behind this is to stage Injection Moulding 4.0 hands-on for trials and to improve understanding with state-of-the-art machinery,” the company said. Covering 200m² of floor space, the centre features an E-victory injection machine with 80 tonnes of clamping force and an electric injection unit equipped with a Viper robot and modules from the Engel Inject 4.0 range. The iQ weight control and flow control smart assistance systems are also available for trials. � www.engelglobal.com


www.injectionworld.com


IMAGE: ENGEL


IMAGE: FAURECIA


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