Keeping things moving Gates

Turkey, Spain and Germany. This investment has allowed ZML to add spheroidal cast iron to its current grey cast iron production. This is particularly important as this new type of cast iron is able to offer a performance similar to that of steel and therefore is in demand from not just the automotive industry but increasingly also the household appliances sector. The new line was completed in the spring of last year (2012).

Investment has also been focused on the copper wire division, in which the company doesn’t cast copper, but cuts and enamels it. In view of the fact that copper prices are at their maximum historical value, clients are increasingly interested in substitute materials. For this reason, over the past three or four years ZML has developed and introduced its range of enamelled aluminium wire.

The aluminium division has not been undergoing significant investments and will mainly be concerned with developing new product design with clients, but logically there is the intention of keeping up with the market in terms of new products.

Research and development is carried out by internal technicians, aided by external universities such as Trieste and Padua. ZML holds regional and ISO certifications, such as ISO/TS and ISO 14001:2004. All the new production lines are at the cutting edge, environmentally as well as productively. The company has important achievements to be proud of in the environmental field, such as having more than halved its water consumption in the past five years or so. The ultimate objective is that of a nil waste policy, with consumption reduced to a minimum. ZML subscribes to the European Foundation for Quality Management excellence model (EFQM), seeking to implement the best possible practices at various in-company levels.

Focused on export

Export markets are crucial to the company’s activity, with over 70 per cent of output exported, mainly all over Europe (98 per cent of export) and on a smaller scale to South America (2 per cent of export). Export has been growing since 2006 and now foreign markets, especially in German-speaking countries, are very substantial. This is partly due to the fact that ZML, based near Pordenone in the Italian north eastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, is geographically close to them, making their supply easy in logistical terms. But it is also down to the fact that in the post-economic crisis era foreign markets are growing at a faster pace than the Italian market is having a bearing

on this. Around 80–85 per cent of aluminium production is for export, along with 65 per cent of the cast iron output and as well as 65 per cent of the copper wire produced. Export could grow by another 10 per cent for the reasons previously mentioned, but also because of the shorter payment terms encountered outside Italy.

ZML has no intention of diversifying its core business to other market segments, but wants to widen the range of products on offer which could, as in the case of the cast iron line, bring in new clients. The company plans to optimise its activity, without necessarily searching for large volume growth, requiring substantial investment. n

L.M.& P. Srl has been operating in the fi eld of injection mould production for light alloy die-casting since 1973.

Today L.M.&P. Srl is an ISO 9001 certified company able to manufacture heavy moulds up to 15 tonnes.

LM&P srl - Mansuè Treviso Italy - Via delle Industrie, 4 Tel: +39 0422 741197 | Fax: +39 0422 741718 E-mail: info@lmpstampi.it | www.lmpstampi.it

KEEPING THINGS MOVING

Gates has a century-long history of providing people and industries with the hoses, belts, accessories and services that keep equipment and operations running smoothly and efficiently. And on its 50th anniversary, Gates Europe is poised for further expansion from the Urals to the Cape and across to China, as Frank Baart, marketing manager of the Industrial Division Europe, tells Colin Chinery.

‘IF it moves you, there’s a good chance Gates has a part in it’, runs the mission-encompassing slogan of the Gates Corporation, global market leader in the production of hi-tech rubber belts and hoses for industrial, hydraulic, agricultural and automotive applications.

And Gates is an indisputably impressive mover, with Daimler, Volkswagen, JCB, Claas and John Deere among top OE clients in its European Industrial division alone.

This year, Gates is celebrating its halfcentennial in Europe at its Belgian headquarters in Erembodegem, and nearby Ghent from where its hub distributes products made in Europe and across the globe.

“Right from the start, by bringing on new ideas, by looking at the market a bit differently and by giving more service to the distributors and end-users, we soon made our inroads here in Europe,” reflects Frank Baart, marketing manager, Industrial Division. Drivers of success

Fifty years on and specialisation, research and quality control continue to drive Gates’ success, and an operation that started in western Europe is moving increasingly into eastern Europe – where Gates has logistics and production facilities – Russia, the CIS, Turkey and the Middle East.

In the global automotive industry, the name Gates is synonymous with high-quality problem-solving value-adding products and services. Gates not only supplies all major car and machine manufacturers, but also the aftermarket. And as a result of its close cooperation with OE manufacturers, Gates leads the way in design and manufacturing methods, its products excelling thanks to their reliable performance and long life.

Alongside the auto sector, energy exploration and extraction, infrastructure, agriculture, transport and general manufacturing, are other major end-user markets. Put more simply, Gates can be found ‘wherever people work or play’. “If you see something that is moving, whether on the road, in a machine, a windmill or whatever, we have products that make those things move,” says Mr Baart. “And the term motion has a dual interpretation, because it is also the emotions that move us. And we are very much emotionally connected to our products.”

Your complete programme

Serving these vast and diverse markets are two product areas: Power Transmission and Fluid Power. The complete industrial Gates Power Transmission programme includes V-belts, multi-ribbed and synchronous belts, flexible couplings, tension testing tools, tensioners, pulleys and complete drive systems.

The industrial application range extends from minimum drives on computer printers