 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Hubert Gammer, President of Gammer Group
International, Inc.
|
|
INDUSTRY
H. Gammer - UNFOLDING MEGATRENDS
IN THE FACTORY/PROCESS MANUFACTURING SPACE
The factory/process automation space is undergoing major changes
that will completely redefine the industry. Powerful exogenous forces
have been acting on the industry with accelerating speed for more
than a decade now creating new opportunities and challenges to the
manufacturers of automation products. As a result, the deck of industry
players is being reshuffled: the quick and nimble will thrive, the
slow to adapt will fall by the way-side. |
|
November
2007
M & A Digest
Main Page |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Key forces shaping the new face
of the industry:
(i) The introduction of new technologies (such as wireless shopfloor
communication technologies) are starting to tear down the wall traditionally
separating the process from the discrete world. (ii) The pervasive
adoption of “lean and mean thinking” leads to the stripping
out of entire service, maintenance and repair departments at the
manufacturers’ site. Suppliers of instruments and automation
control products that are able to offer “one-stop-shopping”
solutions have clear competitive advantages over “mere”
products suppliers.
(iii) The need for lower cost of manufacturing bases and new market
opportunities drive manufacturers closer to low labor cost countries
and/or new markets. Vendors of factory/process automation products
that follow their customers to new shores offering “one-stop
shopping solutions” will have a leg up
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Endress+Hauser has long
ago recognized the emergence of those trends and acted with agility
in addressing them. In an interview with GGI, Klaus Riemenschneider,
President of the Endress+Hauser supervisory board, sheds some light
on the measures the company has adopted over the last ten years
or so. Result: both the company’s top and bottom lines have
been growing faster than the ones of their peers – an unmitigated
success.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Hans Nagl
of ABA-Invest, an Austrian government agency, agrees: his country
too – long ago – has seen the shift of manufacturing
to lower cost Eastern Europe. As Hans explains, Austria has been
succeeding in becoming a logistics and manufacturing hub for many
multinational enterprises. Austria offers a premium location in
the heart of Europe, a highly educated and stable workforce, a population
steeped in the practices of doing business with Eastern European
cultures, a modern infrastructure with logistics and supply lines
to the Eastern European centers of commerce.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
On a slightly different note,
Roger Humm, our UK associate, examines how the sub-prime
lending crisis has affected mid-market M&A in the UK. As opposed
to the US and some European countries, the UK seems – so far
– to remain largely unharmed by the fall-out of this summer’s
financial crisis. The Northern Rock incident remains an isolated case.
In some quarters, though, the “housing market” and “personal
debt” are being closely monitored with a subdued degree of concern
about early signs of irrational exuberance. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
I hope that you enjoy this selection
of timely contributions and – as always – I encourage
you to write or call us with your comments. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
