This year's Plansee Seminar reflects the globalization trend

(Breitenwang/Reutte (Austria) May 30) With a strong commitment to technology and innovation, Michael Schwarzkopf, chairman of the Executive Board of the PLANSEE group, today inaugurated the 16th International Plansee Seminar in Reutte. “Innovation creates the lead that the European economy needs to survive in global competition. As soon as competitors are able to copy products, manufacturers in high-wage countries will lose“, stated Schwarzkopf. The Plansee Seminar has taken place regularly over the last 52 years, with topics covering the latest technological findings in the area of powder metallurgy. This year more than 500 scientists from 35 countries are participating.

In his opening speech Schwarzkopf described the environment in which the suppliers of powder metallurgical products have to sustain. “The enormous growth in Asia and particularly in China and India forces manufacturers to set up production sites in these growth regions. For the numerous medium-sized companies in this field this is not an easy task.“ Furthermore the pressure on sales prices is increasing. “On one hand this is caused by intensified global competition, on the other due to the raw material price hype, which leads many customers to think about substituting our products.“ Last but not least, additional costs such as drastically increased energy prices put pressure on the companies. In this context Schwarzkopf also mentioned the planned EU regulation for the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (REACH). The regulation draft which is planned to be passed by the European Parliament in fall, covers 1,200 pages. “These are definitely not the stimulating signals which urgently are needed by the European economy.“

According to Schwarzkopf, the current challenges are also reflected in the presentations at the 16th International Plansee Seminar. “The focus clearly is the improvement and optimization of existing products and business processes“, says Schwarzkopf.

The Seminar is being held until Friday, June 3. Covering the topic of ‘Powder Metallurgical High Performance Materials’, 230 contributions will be presented on the material groups refractory metals and cemented carbide. There is a remarkably high number of contributions from China.