Mold Orders on An Upswing
Canadian Plastics
Despite a slow start to the year for some moldmakers, anecdotal evidence shows business has picked up again in the second quarter."The dam has broken," says Tom Meisels, vice-president, F.G.L. Precisi...
Despite a slow start to the year for some moldmakers, anecdotal evidence shows business has picked up again in the second quarter.
“The dam has broken,” says Tom Meisels, vice-president, F.G.L. Precision Works Ltd. (Concord, Ont.). “With all the quoting that was going on this spring, it had to break sometime. I believe people were holding back, and they are now relaxing and spending money.
“We’ve been just swamped in the last month, and I hear that it is picking up all through the industry right now.”
F.G.L. produces large injection and compression molds.
In Windsor, Louis Papp, consultant with the Canadian Association of Moldmakers, says there was a softening in the industry during the fall of 1998, but that business is now back to expected levels.
“Automotive model changes were delayed, some companies were changing to design sources in Europe and the Far East, while others were bringing work from Europe to North American shops,” he says. The market has settled and the mold business rebounded in May and June.
Several other Toronto-area moldmakers we polled noted a similar slowdown in the first quarter of 1999, with April, May and June showing increased business.
Automotive changeover was again cited as a reason, as well as fear of inflation.