On the front cover of a recent issue of Automotive News, I saw something that struck me. 这是一篇专题文章，里面有一篇对斯科特·昆塞尔曼的有趣采访, Senior Vice President of Purchasing and Supplier Quality at Chrysler Group. Kunselman was quoted as saying, "If I can build another car, am I willing to pay a couple of pennies more for a part? Absolutely." Very interesting...

I was a buyer once, 30-plus years ago, 还要记住，我们每天最关心的是交货和质量. Sure, pricing was always a factor, 但这并没有引发影响制造工厂运营的日常担忧.  When I read this quote, 这让我想起了维持生产和支持需求激增的业务优先事项.

我的第一个观察围绕着铸铁件市场的产能动态问题. 以下是我们所知道的:在2008年和2009年的大衰退期间，大约有100万吨铸铁从北美市场上消失了. To provide some context to that number, 100万吨可以生产1.5亿个刹车片或1亿个差速器. That's a lot of tonnage out of the market. And, 这是基于Stratecast和Knight Wendling等服务公司的行业需求和供应数据得出的, 目前没有足够的产能来支持预测的业务量.

以下是报道内容:《威尼斯人平台注册送38元》(Automotive News)的文章提到了北美产能的增加，或者说是日本汽车市场上OEM的“工厂狂潮”, but also by the commercial truck, construction, and agricultural OEM's, implying that demand is increasing, again, and more iron foundry capacity will be needed.In addition to what we read in our industry publications, 我们听到的第一手情况是，市场动态可能会拯救并增加产能.

当然，一些铸造厂已经增加了产能，包括沃帕卡. We restarted our Etowah, Tennessee, facility in October 2011, which put back about 200,000 tons into the market. 我们听说MTI正在增加新的设备，墨西哥的Cifunsa也是如此. But even with this announced new capacity, the demand is still likely to exceed supply, 根据目前对铸铁行业产能增长计划的了解.Waupaca's customers understand this capacity dynamic, and have for more than 2 years, because of our collaborative relationships. 我们鼓励整个行业的人与他们的代工合作伙伴举行战略会议，以彻底讨论这种产能状况, 努力支持等式两边的新投资.

正如《威尼斯人平台注册送38元》的文章所指出的那样，建设一个“绿地”工厂并不是一个快速解决方案, relative to capital-intensive industries like tires. In many ways, iron castings follow the same scenario. A new plant generally takes one year to design, one year to build, and another two to three years to operate at full capacity, especially at an efficient level. This means we're talking about a 4-to-5 year start-up. 所以我们的行业应该尽快开始讨论这个挑战.

这种规划和投资不仅在北美需要, 但在世界所有地区，如果主要产业达到预期增长, whether in China, India, Europe, or South America.考虑到产能动态，我们几乎总是会回到定价问题上. In the late 1980's and 1990's, extending to the early 2000 years, iron foundries, like many manufacturers, fought fiercely with each other over pricing, driving market pricing down. 这与OEM要求逐年降价相结合, further driving margins down.

2000年北美市场最大的晶圆代工厂是Intermet，但现在已经不存在了.The Automotive News article mentioned that in high, capital-intensive industries like foundries, 公司必须有丰厚的利润，才能鼓励投资者做出艰难的决定，以超过1亿美元的成本建造一个新的铸造厂——这取决于成型生产线和核心设备的数量. 投资规模的障碍与使新工厂高效运行所需的时间长度(4至5年)相结合, as noted previously.

关于企业战略所有者在投资决策方面的差异，已经有很多说法和文章, and private equity firms. Waupaca Foundry knows these ownership environments, given our prior ownership by a strategic owner, ThyssenKrupp, and today's ownership by a private-equity company, KPS Capital Partners.

一家公司必须赚取有吸引力的利润，并产生强大的现金流，以鼓励今天的任何投资者进行大规模的资本投资, whether a current plant expansion, greenfield, or acquisition. 而文章则引用了息税前营业利润的改善, 文章没有详细说明当前的利润率是否足以鼓励所有者进行必要的资本增长投资.  《威尼斯人平台注册送38元》的这篇文章引用了罗兰贝格(Roland Berger)最近对2012年前六个月北美50家上市供应商的研究.

虽然文章提到了息税前营业利润从一年前的5%提高到了6%。, 这篇文章并没有详细说明6%的息税前利润是否是一个有吸引力的业绩指标，以鼓励所有者进行大规模的资本增长投资, especially in capital intensive industries. 公开讨论为显著的运力增长提供有吸引力的环境所需的利润率和现金流并不容易. But, it needs to happen.

As a real example of these discussions, 一些OEM采购经理最近向我承认，铸铁厂可以在其他行业获得更好的利润, and most understood that in order to secure foundry capacity, the OEM needed to address necessary pricing issues. 这种关于能力和所需投资的战略讨论应该持续一到两年, but also include a 10-year outlook or longer.总而言之，产能状况是铸铁市场内一个真实而紧迫的问题.

The challenge is to have honest, open dialogue about various industry volume scenarios, commitments of volume and related capacity on both sides, 并公开定价问题，这可能成为资本增长承诺的障碍. 只有通过有意义的讨论和承诺才能纠正目前的局势.