Positioned for continued growth Alteams

POSITIONED FOR CONTINUED GROWTH

Alteams Group has just opened a new factory in Poland that will be the key to driving its European business to new levels. Peter Mercer reports.

IN June of this year Alteams, the specialist in cast aluminium components for the communications networks and mechatronics sectors, officially opened its new manufacturing plant in Poland. Work on the 10,000m2 plant, at Lebork, in the Pomeranian region, began in 2013 and the first customer delivery was made earlier this year. All the essential processes for aluminium castings production are in place, including high-pressure die-casting, CNC, surface treatment, assembly and supply change management. Currently there are 80 employees at the plant and by the end of 2014 there will be over 100. Alteams plans to build sales from the plant to some €30m with 300 employees and expand the working area to 10,000m2 .

“The strategy behind our decision to build a factory in Poland was to improve our competitiveness in cost, flexibility and time to market as a local supplier of pressure die cast components to the European market,” explains Alteams Poland’s President Matti Huttunen. “Since 2002 Alteams has had manufacturing operations in China and since 2007 in India to serve our global customers but since those customers are indeed global in their operations, many are also major players in the European market. In the telecoms sector there is a fast growing demand for components for the next generation of network infrastructure and in mechatronics the pressure to deliver much better energy efficiency is also driving growth. The amount of all wireless applications globally is forecasted to reach 50 billion by 2020.

“Our Lębork factory will therefore play a key role in our growth strategy for our European business. It will be smaller than our Chinese plant but applies the same advanced technologies, more automation and will have a complete set of services. Poland is close to many of our key customers’ operations in central and eastern Europe and we can serve them from Lębork within 48 hours. The plant has good logistic connections, including also the seaport of Gdynia and the international airport at Gdansk. Poland was also an attractive investment choice because of its stable political and economic environment and the rapid growth of its economy.

“Initially the plant will supply key customers in Europe in the communications networks sector and go on to supply mechatronics customers in the course of next year.”

Two business sectors

Alteams Oy was established in Finland in 2002 through the merger of Laihian Metalli and Jyskan Metalli and the group later acquired the Swedish Stilexo, but the experience of its predecessor companies in casting goes all the way back to the 1940s. Today the company is one of the biggest light metal foundries in Europe with some 1500 employees and a turnover of around €100 million. Its core business is the manufacturing of cast aluminium components for communications networks and mechatronics as well as related services such as design of castings and tooling and further processing of castings into assemblyready components. Globally, Alteams is the largest supplier of cast light metal components to the international telecom sector.

Key applications for Alteams’ castings in communications networks include microwave radios, receivers and transmission units, high performance RF units, antenna mounted integrated units and power supplies. In the mechatronics sector applications cover frequency converters, electrical motors, inverters, hybrid converters, control units, human/machine interface, HV switch gears and professional LED lighting. The company’s mechatronics customers are leading international players in power electronics, renewable energy, energy transmission and distribution, drive technology, industry automation, marine engine and power generation, e-mobility and clean technology.

The continued success of Alteams’ manufacturing operations is of course supported by the long-term relationships it has

built up with its key suppliers. Among these are such internationally recognised names as Bühler Group, suppliers of die-casting machines; Yamazaki Mazak which supplies CNC machinery; Fanuc for industrial robots and Arrow Engineering Oy which specialises in production monitoring systems.

Operations in Asia

With the start-up of its Polish plant Alteams now has a total of six manufacturing sites, including three in Finland and one each in China and India. The Chinese factory, at Suzhou, is by far the biggest facility in the group and is the largest volume supplier in China of high-pressure die-castings for the communications networks sector. The Chinese operation was originally established in 2001 by Stilexo of Sweden and Tecknit of the USA and became part of the Alteams group in 2002 when Stilexo Industri AB and Stilexo-Tecknit (China) merged with Alteams Oy. The company built a new factory on the Suzhou site in 2005 which was further expanded in 2008.

“Our Chinese plant also has a remarkable role to play in our future growth. Global telecoms companies have to be in China so Alteams has to be there too since components for networks are still the largest part of our business,” says Matti Huttunen. “But demand from the mechatronics sector is also growing fast and we see very significant potential there, particularly in industrial control systems, drives and energy saving applications. In fact, there is an increasingly wide range of industrial segments in which mechatronics are playing an ever more important role and that provides us with excellent future opportunities.”

All the Alteams factories are supported by the company’s own mould manufacturing facility which is also located at Suzhou. Designers and manufacturing staff at Alteams Hi-Tech Tools work closely with production experts at all the company’s foundries to ensure that they have the benefits of the highest quality tools. Having this in-house mould-manufacturing facility enables the company’s foundries to meet short and reliable lead times and facilitates the confidential exchange of information on designs and IP rights.

Alteams’ Indian operation Ashley Alteams was established as a joint venture with Ashok Leyland in 2007 to manufacture cast advanced components for communication networks and commercial vehicle engines initially for Askok Leyland’s own consumption. Ashok Leyland is, in fact, an operation focused on producing commercial vehicles. Ashley Alteams moved into a new factory and started production there in 2009. An inhouse surface treatment facility was added the following year.

Complete package

Alteams’ logistics centres are located in Finland and in Tallinn, Estonia, from where 24/7 support is delivered to customers in Europe and Asia. The company delivers to any part of the world in any mode required, from one-off packages to large consignments in shipping containers. Its delivery timetables are continuously updated through constant communication between its foundries, logistics centres, sub-suppliers and customers. If required Alteams can coordinate directly with customers’ sub-contractors.

“We now have manufacturing plants in all our key markets and we are confident that we are excellently positioned to grow along with our global customers in both telecoms and mechatronics,” says Alteams Group management team member Mr Huttunen. “We are not just another sub-supplier bidding for one contract after another. We are focused on being the first-choice partner to our customers, helping them in long-term relationships with design, development and so on and not just manufacturing. We have such relationships with many of our customers in China and now our new plant in Poland will be central to our drive to offer customers in Europe the same combination of advanced technology, manufacturing efficiency, competitive costs and effective logistics.” n