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Casteel Reporter
May 15, 2013
The Casteel Commentary reflects on changes in the producer price index for steel castings and for capital equipment. Interestingly there appears to be a 30 year capital investment cycle since the first records in 1947. This suggests that the recent pricing action and capacity shortfall should provide the opportunity to recapitalize and modernize our industry…
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April 15, 2013
The Casteel Commentary considers the relative value of intermediate materials and capital equipment for the past 50 years. It is clear that for much of that time the capital equipment makers have maintained a higher relative value compared to materials suppliers. Since 2003 the value of materials has risen sharply while the value of capital equipment has been stagnant. We need to recognize that this is a global market response indicating that our customers have maintained adequate capacity for the market but material suppliers like us have not. Our relative rising prices is a market signal of the need for us to make additional capital investment in capacity…
February 15, 2013
Given the massive market distortions and rapidly changing market requirements, we are likely to see another crisis or downturn to force these needed changes. Beyond this painful event, our industry remains poised for prosperity and growth…
Market Forecast
January 15, 2013
The 2013 SFSA Market Forecast
This month’s Casteel Commentary forecasts conditions to expect next year. It includes a report card for last year and I was surprised at how close the forecast was to reality. I would not expect to forecast as well this year but you can decide for yourself how useful this exercise is for planning. I expect a slow stagnant economy but better conditions for steel foundries that for the economy as a whole…
December 15, 2012
This month’s Casteel Commentary focuses on the need that young people have to belong and the opportunity that gives us in steel casting to provide them with meaningful employment. This means that we need to be aware of their needs and interests but it also means that we can have an advantage over most other employees in recruiting and retaining key young people…
October 15, 2012
The Casteel Commentary discusses the advantage we currently hold in the marketplace with senior and experienced technical and operating people. As we recruit and plan for the future we need to institutionalize our competitive advantage by extending our greater subject matter expertise…
July 15, 2012
One of the key challenges facing the steel casting industry is recruiting and retaining the next generation of staff. While finding talented technical people is difficult, developing skilled workers must be done by us. The SFSA Board has committed to developing an apprenticeship program for members to use to develop skilled workers for our plants. This month’s Casteel Commentary outlines the approach proposed for this effort…
May 15, 2012
The Casteel Commentary considers the opportunity to eliminate a significant competitive barrier to using steel castings, the divorce of machining from the casting operation. If the foundry supplies the finished machined component, they have assumed most of the quality risk and that is of value to the customer. By integrating machining and casting the foundry is capable of creating a more efficient and higher quality process. With the loss of expertise in our customer’s organizations, taking the casting design and machining as a core part of the business will make us more competitive…
March 15, 2012
This month’s Casteel Commentary addresses the lack of subject matter experts in industry. This is systemic and provides a window of opportunity for us. If we as suppliers have the expertise, we can make it difficult to move our products to alternative suppliers offshore or other processes…
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