Structural crisis in automotive industry holds back investment

Martin Drasch (left), the new CEO of Schuler, answers questions from journalists. Photo: Schuler

Like many other companies in the mechanical engineering sector, Schuler is currently facing a structural crisis in the automotive industry. At the recent EuroBLECH trade fair in Hanover, Martin Drasch, the new chairman of the board of management, said: “Due to the persistently low passenger car sales, the press shops are not working to capacity and automobile manufacturers are holding back on investments.”

Nevertheless, Mr Drasch was able to name some important orders from the year to date — such as an order for a blanking line for a steel service centre in Mexico, a laser blanking line for the Czech Republic, a transfer press for Brazil and a hydraulic hot-stamping line for Saudi Arabia.

At EuroBLECH, Schuler presented a new development for the hot stamping of large components with a space- and energy-saving rotary furnace, along with many other innovations, including the fully automated production of efficient electric motors using Backlack technology and various digital solutions such as ‘Intelligent Notifications’ for monitoring machine conditions or ‘DigiSim Unlmtd’ for simulating the parts flow in transfer presses. These and other applications are now bundled in the Metris platform from Andritz, Schuler’s parent company.