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Taking It To The Streets
pricing woes still plague nonwovens producers in auto market
By Ellen Wuagneux, Associate Editor
Global competition is up. Prices are up. Quality demands are up. Environmental regulations are up. But automotive market suppliers are striving to keep costs down—a tough task, indeed, considering the grueling pricing pressure they face from virtually all sides. The good news is that sales volumes continue to be attractive and growth opportunities with select OEMs are there, two factors that keep this difficult market worthwhile for many nonwovens producers. Another boon is that OEMs are always looking for cutting edge technology, so innovation, unique applications and new product ideas are rewarded, as long as they hit the right price targets.
“Overall, in the automotive world, it is still a challenge to meet cost criteria, maintain quality or even supply better quality at a lower price,” observed Detlev Käppel, technical nonwovens division director at eswegee Vliesstoff GmbH, part of Textilgruppe Hof. “In the end, the goal is to achieve sufficient margins. The soaring cost of energy and raw materials and requests for lower prices exacerbate the current situation. In our opinion, the OEMs/Tier One suppliers have to face the situation and deal with it in a realistic way if they want to have reliable suppliers at their requested quality level in the future.”
