WCA September 2018

Industry news

Alloy Wire International targets Japan as part of Far Eastern sales drive

A UK manufacturer is targeting a major sales drive in Japan as it looks to boost its presence in the Far East. Alloy Wire International (AWI), which supplies more than 60 different ‘high performance’ alloys to clients in automotive, aerospace, oil and gas and nuclear, has invested £100,000 in establishing a new sales partner in Tomoe Engineering Co and launching a dedicated Japanese website and suite of marketing materials. The company has also gone one stage further by joining its new sales team at its first ever Tokyo exhibition, showcasing its range of materials and three-week delivery lead times to an audience of nearly 90,000 delegates. It was a major success, with lots of new enquiries taken and a foothold now established, paving the way for a sales push that could generate £250,000 of new contracts over the next 18 months. Angus Hogarth, sales director at AWI, said: “Export orders now account for more than half of our £10m turnover and we’re continually finding that our wire, technical expertise and service are in demand all over the globe. “Japan, with its high-tech industries and precision engineering, is perfectly suited to our capabilities. It offers us massive potential and we made the decision about 18 months ago to make a concerted effort to target customers in this marketplace.” He continued: “The first step was to forge a relationship with a local Japanese company and that was quickly sorted with the appointment of Tomoe Engineering Co, a $240m industrial specialist. This gave us the platform and from there we have travelled more than 48,000 miles, spending time training their staff and creating Japanese marketing materials and a website. “We have recently returned from M-Tech (Mechanical Components & Material Technology) Expo…wow, what a show. Nearly 90,000 people visited

❍ On the Alloy Wire stand at M-Tech are, from left, Osamu Koiwai, Ryo Hiratsuka, Mark Venables, Angus Hogarth and Hisashi Ohshita

flat and shaped wire in a range of materials that is growing by the month, with more than 60 currently available to choose from. Investment in pursuing new business with Japan is paying off, with orders up 1,000 per cent on this time last year and website traffic up to 1,200 visits per month – compared to an average of 90 during 2017.

during the three days and we saw a lot of possible new customers, who handled wire samples on display and expressed surprise at the extent of the size range available – from 0.025mm to 21mm diameter. “They were also impressed to find out how closely we work with Tomoe Engineering Co and the fact we can get wire to them within three weeks of a client placing an order.” Alloy Wire International makes round,

Alloy Wire International — UK Website : www.alloywire.com

New CEO at Ungerer Klaus Lenz has been appointed as the CEO of Ungerer Technology GmbH. Mr Lenz has close to 40 years of experience in the metal strip industry and started his career at ThyssenKrupp in Krefeld, Germany. He has been involved in several projects and company/equipment optimisations worldwide such as at ShanghaiKrupp stainless, China; ThyssenKrupp stainless in Mobile, Alabama, USA; Fives DMS and Andritz/Sundwig, and several more projects worldwide before joining Ungerer. His main focus is to maintain the company and its technological leadership through new developments in the field of measurement systems, where Ungerer

has introduced several key technologies. Ungerer Technology GmbH – Germany Website : www.ungerer.com

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2018