Since last October, containerboard prices have increased $120 per ton. This rapid rise is unprecedented. Box price increases have followed, albeit slowly. When box makers sign contracts with their customers, especially the big national accounts, these clients usually put limits on when box price increases can occur.

　　Most box makers are making more money than they were a year ago. Are they spending these latest financial gains on machinery? While there are exceptions, the quick answer is no. At least not yet.

　　"Let's hope they're making money," says Jay Field, sales product manager, Rite-Size Machinery, Hudson, Mass. "But I think they're just like everyone else, catching up with their costs and finally raising the bottom line. Still, we have seen a great increase and steady flow of tire kicking, although not a lot of people are driving away with the end product."

　　"We are definitely having a better year this year than last," states Fred Harrison, president, Hycorr Machine Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich. "But we can't attribute it to that. Our sales organization is stronger than it was in the past. So that's one factor that may account for part of [our better year]."

　　Randy Schiller, vice president, sales, MHI Corrugating Machinery Division, Hunt Valley, Md., agrees that you would expect better box prices would lead to the box plants spending more money. But ultimately it's about having a solid machinery to sell, he stresses.

　　"Our EVOL [flexo folder-gluer] is selling because people see it's a great machine," he says. "There's so much demand for it that we're having installation problems. But it's hard for me to say with any degree of surety that this is in response to the higher [containerboard] prices.

　　"People have been backing off from buying capital equipment for a variety of reasons, one of which has been depressed prices. With manufacturing marching offshore and consolidation, people have just been holding back. But you can only hold back so long before you start having an obsolete shop. And so you just have to move to get new equipment."

　　A couple of years ago MHI conducted a marketing study wherein it learned that the top installed base for flexo folder-gluers were with S&S, Langston and Ward. These companies are either gone or no longer around in their original form. So many box plants running these machines are slowly finding it more difficult to get support for them, he notes.
Active No Matter What-Graphic West, Manchester, Conn., sells used equipment to box makers. Used machinery is active no matter what happens to board or box prices. But a few months ago the company started offering a laminating line from a Swedish company.

　　"I don't have a six month or year period to compare, but we have seen tremendous interest in the lamination side," says Bill Rice, sales representative. "It's hard for me to say if that's because of the trend in material prices."

　　Since 2000 all of the aforementioned companies have seen their peers struggle and, in some cases, not make it or morph into a new entity. How have they managed to stay in business? There's no one answer, of course. But the answers serve as tips in how to run a business today.

　　In the case of Graphic West, used equipment provides diversity.

　　"As the new machinery market has dwindled, that has put an upswing in the used machinery market," Rice says. "Instead of spending $1 million for a new machine, people will gladly spend $200,000 for something that has been refurbished."

　　For Hycorr Machine it's all about maintaining low debt levels. Building custom machinery is Rite-Size's secret to continued success.

　　"We have felt the need to have products readily available because when people get around to making the decision, after vacillating for so long, they've exhausted any lead time involved," Field states. "So they need equipment now. Before they could be comfortable with a specific lead time. So we try to produce machinery on spec and close the gap."

　　Finally, diversity within the company is MHI's ace in the sleeve.

　　"One of the advantages of MHI is that it does other things than just corrugating machinery," Schiller says. "If one business goes soft, then we can do tire making machines or create nuclear power plants and continue to spend on research and development. We have a big financial shell where we can weather the financial downtimes much better than our competitors."

　　Machinery suppliers can't assume that their coffers will start filling in the months ahead. It ultimately still comes down to one simple question: Do you have a product that box makers want to buy? If you do, the money will be found.OBM

 

[时间：2006-09-22  作者：Mark Arzoumanian  来源：信息中心]