Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Contact us today:
(847) 934-4500
tdaro@bernardandcompany.com
Schuler intends to gain new market share through consistent digitalization.
In the 2018 fiscal year, Schuler increased its order intake by ten percent with successful sales in new markets and digitized applications. However, ongoing pressure to make business adjustments in Germany, international trade conflicts and special effects had a significant negative impact on the Göppingen-based press manufacturer’s sales. “We will consistently focus Schuler on new markets, digital business models and profitable core businesses,” said CEO Domenico Iacovelli, in office since April 2018, when speaking to journalists on Wednesday, March 6. In mid-2019, Schuler and Porsche plan to start building their joint high-tech press plant, which has now finally been approved for construction.
Order rise but 2018 sales down slightly compared to previous year
Schuler’s incoming orders rose to € 1,255 billion in 2018 (previous year: € 1,141 billion). Despite the rather low order backlog at the end of 2017, Group sales remained virtually unchanged at € 1,212 billion (previous year: € 1,220 billion). The regions of Europe and China grew, while business in North America suffered some losses.
Sales margins were subject to multiple burdens. The challenges posed by the new WLTP test procedure for automobile manufacturers led, particularly in Germany, both to the abandonment of new capacities and to the postponement of already agreed projects. At the same time, costs rose due to the collective wage agreements from recent years. Customer business in China suffered from the trade conflict between China and the USA.
In 2018, Schuler had extraordinary expenses in the low double-digit million Euro range due to capacity adjustments within the Group and write-downs on the capitalized goodwill of the die manufacturing subsidiary AWEBA. EBITA fell to € 45.3 (111.9) million. Schuler achieved consolidated earnings after tax of € 13.5 (67.4) million.
Cautious optimism for 2019 and beyond
The corporate headquarters in Göppingen, Germany.
At the end of 2018, Schuler’s equity capital ratio of 40.1 (38.1) percent of the balance sheet total was still above average in the German mechanical and plant engineering sector. The company employed 6,575 (6,570) people worldwide, 4,195 (4,237) of them in Germany – which is barely any fewer than in the previous year.
CFO Norbert Broger said, “2018 was a very challenging year in terms of operation and strategy. This is why it was all the more important that we were able to reverse the negative trend in incoming orders and achieve an increase of ten percent for the first time. We therefore entered the new year with a decent order backlog of € 926 million. Therefore, and thanks to the cost reduction measures already initiated, we are confident that we will be able to show medium-term earnings improvements.”
Concentration on the profitable core business
Irrespective of the positive order development, the pressure to adapt remains high, especially in Germany, said CEO Iacovelli. “In 2018, we therefore began making Schuler more dynamic and bringing customer-driven innovations to market more quickly. The aim is to concentrate on the Group’s profitable core business and increase profitability in the coming years. This includes the consistent segregation of loss-making business areas, wherever necessary.”
In recent months, Schuler has developed new product strategies for each business division. Expensive “over-engineering” needs to be a thing of the past. Schuler has already decided to withdraw from the unprofitable production of packaging machines and lines for the production of large-diameter pipes in 2019.
Expansion of service business and value creation in China
Cost benefits in production in China and Brazil are to be exploited to a greater extent and the global service network is also to be expanded in Germany. The locations in China will receive additional engineering positions.
“Smart Press Shop” with Porsche sets new standards
The new press shop as part of the joint venture with Porsche will set new standards for the automotive industry both in terms of performance in industrial manufacturing and in the digital networking of data streams in the production process.
Beginning in 2019, Schuler and Porsche will build what is said to be the world’s most modern press plant for the digitized automobile production of the future in Germany. Operation is scheduled to go on line in 2021. “The establishment of the corresponding joint venture between the two companies under the name ‘Smart Press Shop’ is perfect,” said Schuler CEO Iacovelli. “The new press shop will set globally high standards for the automotive industry, both in terms of performance in industrial manufacturing and in the digital networking of data streams in the production process,” he explained.
The new Smart Press Shop will supply the Porsche plant in Leipzig in particular with body parts at low logistical cost and with the lowest possible ecological impact. For Schuler, this joint venture is an example of close cooperation with the world’s leading automobile manufacturers. “At the same time, we are focusing on new markets and digital business models,” said CEO Iacovelli. Schuler intends to gain additional market shares in 2019 with new mechanical presses in the mid-price segment and consistent digitization of the main product lines. “For Schuler and our customers, digitization is not a vision, but a reality. And it is, above all, a great opportunity for all of us – not a risk,” explained the Schuler CEO.
For further information on Schuler Inc., North America, please contact:
Guido Broder, VP
Schuler Incorporated
7145 Commerce Blvd.
Canton, MI 48187 USA
734-207-7200
info@schulerinc.com
www.schulergroup.com
About the Schuler Group – www.schulergroup.com
Schuler offers customer-specific cutting-edge technology in all areas of forming technology – from networked presses to press shop planning. In addition to presses, the product portfolio also includes automation and software solutions, dies, process know-how and service for the entire metalworking industry. Its customers include automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as companies from the forging, household appliance and electronics industries. Presses from the Schuler Group also mint coins for more than 180 countries. As a provider of innovative system solutions, we support our customers worldwide in the digital transformation of forming technology. In the 2018 fiscal year, Schuler generated sales of € 1,212 billion. Schuler AG, founded in 1839 at its headquarters in Göppingen (Germany), has approx. 6,600 employees at production sites in Europe, China and America, as well as service companies in over 40 countries. The company is majority-owned by the Austrian ANDRITZ Group.
Continue readingBrands of the Schuler Group provide customers with a wide range of products and services to meet their needs
Part of the Schuler Group, a technological and global market leader in forming technology, BCN stands for machine brands Bliss, Clearing, and Niagara. BCN’s parts and products are available at the company’s 180,000 sq. foot facility in Hastings, Michigan. At this ISO 9001 certified facility, 150 skilled technicians and engineers manufacture quality parts for various pieces of equipment. These include face bridge mills, CNC lathes, CNC boring mills, surface grinders, rotary grinders, turret lathes, and many others.
Bliss Clearing Niagara technical services offer a complete range of related products — including spare parts, repair, inspections, remanufacturing, rebuilds, and modernizations.
Modernization services include complete press teardown and analysis, engineering analysis, repair or manufacture of parts and assembly that shows the original OEM specs. Also available are field service, on-site repair, trouble shooting, press relocations and press inspections.
Press rebuilds and upgrades are available for clutch and brake systems, overload systems, speed changes, automated die changes, can machinery and electrical controls.
Remanufacturing is offered on all brands of mechanical presses/hydraulic presses and some forging presses.
OEM users can quickly receive their needed parts, thanks to a unique parts record that contains over 300,000 parts. These include clutches, brakes, gears, bearings, conversions/upgrades, perishable parts, frames, and connections. In addition to the brands that make up BCN, they also carry USI, Toledo, Consolidated Press, Wilkins and Mitchell and Warco.
No matter the age of your part, BCN can provide you with timely and high quality retrofits, repairs, modernizations, replacements and services. Interested parties can contact Tony DeMerle, BCN’s Director of Sales.
For further information, please contact:
Tony DeMerle, Director of Sales
Bliss Press Systems
1004 East State Street
Hastings, MI 49058 USA
734-865-0949
Anthony.DeMerle@blisspressusa.com
www.blisspressusa.com
About the Schuler Group – www.schulergroup.com
Schuler is the technology and global market leader in the field of forming technology. The company provides presses, automation solutions, dies, process expertise and service for the entire metalworking industry and lightweight automobile construction. Its customers include automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as companies from the forging, household appliance, packaging, energy and electronics industries. Schuler is a leader in coin minting presses and implements system solutions for the aerospace, rail transport and large-dimension pipe manufacturing sectors. In the 2016 fiscal year, Schuler generated sales of 1.174 billion euros. After acquiring toolmaker AWEBA and a majority stake in Chinese press manufacturer Yadon, Schuler has a presence in 40 countries with roughly 6,600 employees. Schuler is majority-owned by the Austrian ANDRITZ Group.
Continue reading
Bliss Munitions Equipment will exhibit at the upcoming SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in January 2019. Bliss Munitions is a global, full-service ammunition equipment manufacturer.
Bliss Munitions manufactures a number of presses, including Cupping Presses, Draw Presses and Transfer Presses. Their Bullet Assembly Machines (BAMs) are used to manufacture projectiles for both pistol and rifle cartridges. They are versatile enough to convert from one caliber to another.
The SHOT Show is an annual trade show geared towards the shooting, hunting and firearms industry and is the biggest show of its kind. The show serves commercial buyers and sellers of military, law enforcement and tactical products.
The SHOT Show runs January 22-25 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bliss Munitions Equipment will be at booth 621.
For more information, please contact:
Anthony DeMerle
Bliss Munitions Equipment
1004 E. State Street
Hastings, Michigan 49058
Blissmunitions.com
734-865-0949
Tony.demerle@blissmunitions.com
New developments such as the servo press MSP 400 and the process monitoring system show the benefits of networked forming technology
Canton, Michigan – Schuler has developed solutions for the digitization and networking of forming technology with the new servo press MSP 400 or the process monitoring system for hot stamping systems. They are part of the “Smart Press Shop,” Schuler’s answer to Industry 4.0 (“Industrial Internet of Things”, IIoT). The main benefits for press operators have now been experienced by the visitors at Schuler’s Tech Day at the end of November in Puebla.
“The digital transformation of the press shop is already well underway,” says Carlos Valdés, CEO of Schuler in Mexico: “Not only the major car manufacturers, but also medium-sized suppliers can use the Smart Press Shop for more efficient production and fewer rejected parts. Thus, Schuler is putting forming technology on the fast track to the digital future.”
In the morning, Schuler celebrated their fourth group of apprentices completing their vocational training at the Cedual Training Center. The 16 industrial engineers and toolmakers prepared themselves for their job with theoretical and practical phases based on the German model. The training center, which Schuler founded in 2012, is equipped with a teaching workshop as well as an audiovisual lecture theater and three classrooms.
For more information, please visit:
www.schulergroup.com/smart_press_shop
For further information on Schuler Inc., North America, please contact:
Guido Broder, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Schuler Incorporated
7145 Commerce Blvd.
Canton, MI 48187 USA
734-207-7200
Guido.Broder@schulergroup.com
Image captions
Images 1, 2 & 3: At Schuler’s TechDay in Puebla, Mexico, visitors learned solutions for networking in forming technology.
Image 4: Schuler’s apprentices celebrate completing their vocational training at the Cedual Training Center.
About the Schuler Group – www.schulergroup.com
Schuler is the technology and global market leader in the field of forming technology. The company provides presses, automation solutions, dies, process expertise and service for the entire metalworking industry and for lightweight automobile construction. Its customers include automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as companies from the forging, household appliance, packaging, energy and electronics industries. Schuler is a leader in coin minting presses and implements system solutions for various high-tech industries. The company generated 1.233 billion euros in sales in the 2017 fiscal year and has a presence in roughly 40 countries with approx. 6,600 employees. Schuler is majority-owned by the Austrian ANDRITZ Group.
Ansteel orders system with two cutting heads to process steel and aluminum coils for the automotive industry
Chinese steel maker Ansteel has ordered the first Schuler laser blanking line for Asia.
Canton, Michigan – Ansteel is one of the largest steel producers worldwide and also known as the “cradle of steel industry” in China which contributed significantly to the rapid economic growth of the People’s Republic. Now, the company will also be the first Schuler customer in Asia to install a laser blanking line. This is also the first system worldwide that features two cutting heads for the processing of coil material with a width of up to 1,880 mm (74”).
Laser cutting systems for blanking lines have proven their reliability and high output in the series production of outer body parts already in Europe – another one will be delivered to the U.S – and are particularly suitable for production processes with frequent product changes, since no dies are needed. Schuler’s innovative DynamicFlow Technology enables a highly dynamic cutting process and high strip speeds for the coil material which is continuously moving forward. This process leads to an increased output and higher system availability, while also ensuring gentle transport of sensitive materials such as aluminum.
The new Laser Blanking Line 2.18 has two powerful cutting heads and can be used to produce blanks for various components made of coil material with a width up to 1,880 mm (74”). It is a cost-optimized alternative to the Laser Blanking Line 3.21 with three cutting heads, which is particularly suitable for the efficient production of outer skin blanks with a coil width of up to 2,150 mm (84”). It provides a wide range of options to optimally adapt the system to customer needs and has been successfully in production for several years now.
For more information, please visit:
www.schulergroup.com/laserblanking
For further information on Schuler Inc., North America, please contact:
Jeferson Valerio, Director of Sales
Schuler Incorporated
7145 Commerce Blvd.
Canton, MI 48187 USA
734-207-7200
info@schulerinc.com
www.schulergroup.com
About the Schuler Group – www.schulergroup.com
Schuler is the technology and global market leader in the field of forming technology. The company provides presses, automation solutions, dies, process expertise and service for the entire metalworking industry and for lightweight automobile construction. Its customers include automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as companies from the forging, household appliance, packaging, energy and electronics industries. Schuler is a leader in coin minting presses and implements system solutions for various high-tech industries. The company generated 1.233 billion euros in sales in the 2017 fiscal year and has a presence in roughly 40 countries with approx. 6,600 employees. Schuler is majority-owned by the Austrian ANDRITZ Group.
About Ansteel Group Corporation Limited – http://en.ansteel.cn
Ansteel is a state-owned steel producer headquartered in Anshan, Liaoning. The company originated from a merger and reorganization of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation, which was the first large-sized steel maker of the New China, and Pangang Group Co., Ltd., the largest vanadium manufacturer in the world. Ansteel has seven production bases in China as well as in Karara, Australia. The production capability amounts to 39 million tons of raw steel, 3,000 steel grades and more than 60,000 specifications of high-tech products which are sold to dozens of industries such as automotive, machinery, home appliances and so on in over 60 countries and regions.
Continue readingIn addition to the five euro coins with a polymer ring, machines from the Schuler Group will now also be used to produce similar ten euro coins
Canton, Michigan – Today marks the start of production for a new ten euro collector’s coin featuring a colorless polymer ring at the Karlsruhe Mint of the State Mints of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany. The first coins were officially struck in a ceremony attended by Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Finance Minister, Edith Sitzmann. These “tri-material” coins are produced on a joining machine, which connects the polymer ring to the metallic core and outer metallic ring, and on minting presses from the Schuler Group.
The front face shows a paraglider set in a mountainous landscape, while the back face includes an eagle, an inscription reading “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” (Federal Republic of Germany), and the twelve stars of Europe. The 9.7-gram coin is the first issue of what is to be a three-part series entitled “Air Moves.” It will be available in the two mint qualities “uncirculated” and “proof” starting in the spring of 2019.
Autumn of the coming year will then see the arrival of the next edition of the five euro collector’s coin. This issue, which will feature a green polymer ring, will also be produced using Schuler technology. The front face will depict a European hare representing the temperate latitudes in the “Climate Zones of the Earth” series. The coins are extremely popular among collectors and non-collectors alike.
Additional information will be available at the Technical Forum held on January 31, 2019 in Berlin before the official opening of the World Money Fair.
For more information, please visit:
www.schulergroup.com/minting
www.worldmoneyfair.de
For further information on Schuler Inc., North America, please contact:
Jeferson Valerio, Director of Sales
Schuler Incorporated
7145 Commerce Blvd.
Canton MI 48187 USA
734-207-7200
info@schulerinc.com
www.schulergroup.com
About the Schuler Group – www.schulergroup.com
Schuler is the technology and global market leader in the field of forming technology. The company provides presses, automation solutions, dies, process expertise and service for the entire metalworking industry and for lightweight automobile construction. Its customers include automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers, as well as companies from the forging, household appliance, packaging, energy and electronics industries. Schuler is a leader in coin minting presses and implements system solutions for various high-tech industries. The company generated 1.233 billion euros in sales in the 2017 fiscal year and has a presence in roughly 40 countries with approx. 6,600 employees. Schuler is majority-owned by the Austrian ANDRITZ Group.
Continue readingHuissel utilizes MSP servo presses for high production of complex stampings
Canton, Michigan – Huissel, well-known as a reliable die and sheet metal part supplier for the European automotive and supplier industry, looked to Schuler presses to help expand their market.
Huissel wanted to complete the die manufacturing process chain in Frankenthal, Germany, and the related delivery of sheet metal parts at the Enkenbach-Alsenborn site for its product line. According to the two managing directors, Peter Busalt and Gerald Schug, these market potentials could not be achieved with the existing machinery. A system was needed that would permit economical manufacturing of medium and high lot sizes while enabling easy operation. Huissel chose the Schuler MSP 800; the latest expansion of the newly developed servo press series of Schuler.
“We examined suppliers from Spain and Italy to Germany,” says Peter Busalt. “But only the MSP series from Schuler currently has the functions we need.” Gerald Schug adds, “The ease of operability of the machine was important for us, for example, because this aspect helps even inexperienced employees quickly achieve good results in regard to taking advantage of the full potential of the servo press.”
Operators can select from predefined movement curves or program them freely. A fixed component of the control system is the Smart Assist software from Schuler, which performs the setup procedure for the dies step by step – another advantage for Gerald Schug: “In this way, we can shorten the usual launch of production to a fraction of the previous time.”
The commissioning of the new press is also considerably faster thanks to a digital twin. Here, the virtual system model is connected to the real control system with the machine and system visualization system. All functions of the MSP 800 can be simulated on the computer in this manner. The functionality and operation of the system can therefore be tested and trained on the real machine.
Huissel will set up a new building in its Enkenbach-Alsenborn factory for the MSP 800. As a whole, this project is the largest single investment in the company’s 100-year history. Huissel also intends to attach dies that it has manufactured in its Frankenthal factory 25 miles away to the new servo press. The tie rod structure of the MSP 800, which offers particularly high rigidity, also guarantees the quality of the parts production.
Schuler presented the MSP 400, a smaller version of the MSP 800, to the general public at the EuroBLECH trade fair in Hanover for the first time. The smallest members of the group, the single-rod automatic blanking press CSP 100 and the double-rod automatic blanking press MSP 200, are already in use at stamping companies. What all these presses have in common is the innovative knuckle-joint drive with highly dynamic servo motors and additional smart functions, such as condition monitoring.
Schuler is currently in development and will soon offer a press force of 1,250 tons.
www.schulergroup.com/servopresses
For further information on Schuler Inc., North America, please contact:
Jeferson Valerio, Director of Sales
Schuler Incorporated
7145 Commerce Blvd.
Canton, MI 48187 USA
734-207-7200
info@schulerinc.com
www.schulergroup.com