A busy Open Day

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The open day organised by Filame on Tuesday 17 May for the technical schools of Walloon Brabant and Hainaut was a great success with the visit of several students and their teachers.

They showed a particular interest in Filame’s different technologies and manufacturing processes, technologies and processes that are not necessarily available or taught in the schools.

They also showed interest in Filame’s apprenticeship proposals and in the technical training and career opportunities offered by Filame.  In this respect, Filame is currently offering a number of setting operator positions on a range of CNC machines.

Visit the Filame stand at Global Industrie

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Filame is present at Global Industries in Paris until May 20th (stand 5U81).

You can discover all the know-how of our company in the field of wire and flat metal parts manufacturing.

We are waiting for you to discuss your projects in this field.

Filame is present at Advanced Engineering 2022 in Antwerp

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The Advanced Engineering show is the reference event in Flanders for the latest technical developments for the manufacturing industry.

Filame exhibits all its know-how in the manufacturing of precision parts for various industries such as aeronautics, medical, automotive, solar, …

Come and see us at booth 149 on May 11 and 12.

The price of alloy surcharges for stainless steel is rising again

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As the Filame Group does every month, we have consulted our panel of suppliers in order to estimate as accurately as possible the development of the price of the alloy surcharges for the stainless steels that the Filame Group uses on a regular basis.

For the month of May, there was a very significant increase, sometimes of more than 10%, for the various alloy surcharges.

Tensions in the markets have not calmed down and international events, especially the war in Ukraine, which has become a long-term problem, have not really evolved.

It should be noted that all suppliers also apply an energy surcharge of up to €120/ton to account for the increase in energy costs. This surcharge is in addition to the energy surcharge of about 250 euros/ton that has been effective since the beginning of the year.

Filame recalls that the price of the alloy surcharge is set from month to month by the various suppliers according to the quality of the stainless steel they supply.  Thus, there may be differences among the various suppliers, but the trend is the same among all of them.

Moreover, the applicable price is the one on the day when the material is delivered. Therefore, there may be variations in these pices between the time of order and the time of delivery, especially since delivery times are still very long.

Filame therefore draws the attention of its customers to the fact that, if necessary, depending on changes in the price of materials and the time of delivery thereof, it may have to adjust the prices of current quotations/orders versus the time of the quotation/order itself.

The price of alloy surcharges

Filame will be exhibiting at the Global Industrie tradeshow from May 17 to 20 in Paris

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Filame will be exhibiting at Global Industries, the European exhibition for industrial subcontracting technology from May 17 to 20.

You will have the opportunity to see and understand all the innovations and cutting-edge industrial processes, and therefore better anticipate the transformations of the industry and the perspectives that these open for the future.

Filame will be present on the AWEX booth, location 5U81.

Filame strengthens its 3D printing capabilities

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Over the last few years, Filame has been investing in its 3D printing capabilities, in particular for the production of tooling for the manufacture of strip metal product prototypes. This strategy allows us to strongly reduce the costs hereof while increasing the speed of manufacturing. Filame is pursuing its strategy in this area.

Thus, as part of the development of its rapid tooling creation capabilities for serial products, but also to strengthen its prototyping capacity, Filame has just expanded its capabilities with the acquisition of a Creabot F430 3D printer.

In addition to a greatly increased printing speed, this printer especially works with new materials* whose main advantage is their hardness.

This means that Filame can now not only 3D print prototyping tools, but also production tools for small series (e.g. bending blades).  In addition, the Creabot F430 allows for the production of more complex prototypes, the production of highly precise inspection jigs and even the production of spare parts for our machine park.

As such, the extension of the 3D printing capacities provides Filame with the capacity to offer these productions at more advantageous costs and with significantly higher dimensional precision (0.03 mm).

* (PLA – ABS – HIPS – PC – TPE – Nylon _ PETG – AS – PP – PVA – Glass fiber infused – Carbon fiber infused – Metal Fill – Wood Fill)

Filame is exhibiting at Advanced Engineering on May 11 and 12 in Antwerp

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Filame will be present at Advanced Engineering, the leading exhibition for innovation in the Belgian manufacturing industry, on May 11 and 12, 2022 in Antwerp.

You will discover the current trends and the latest topics in the field of product development. Filame will be exhibiting its know-how in the manufacturing of metal parts out of wire and strip. 

Come and visit us at Antwerp Expo (Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 191 – Antwerp), booth 149

New sharp increase in the price of alloy surcharge for stainless steel

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Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and strong tension on the price of nickel, especially after the suspension of the LME at the beginning of the month, which caused the price of a ton of nickel to rise by €14,000/T over one month (an increase of about 69%), the price of the alloy surcharge for all grades has risen sharply, after a slight downturn in February and March.

It should be noted that the price of the alloy surcharge is set on a month-to-month basis by the various suppliers according to the grades of stainless steel they supply.  There are therefore differences between the different suppliers but the trend is the same for all of them.

This increase in the price of extra alloy, coupled with an increase in the price of steel, will lead to strong increases in the prices of the different grades of stainless steel.  These increases will of course vary between suppliers and wholesalers depending on the type of packaging (sheet, coil, wire), the quantities and dimensions requested, the rolling or work hardening qualities, etc.

Evolution in table and graph form

What can we still predict in terms of the evolution of steel and stainless steel prices?

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In order to keep its customers regularly informed about the evolution of material prices, and in particular steel and stainless steel prices, Filame regularly questions its panel of suppliers to get their forecast on the evolution of prices over the next weeks and months.

As reported by Het Staaljournaal, the events in Ukraine have created chaos on the steel market.  This was compounded by the problems with nickel on the LME, which led to a suspension of the nickel price.  Trading did not resume until the end of last week.  At the same time, these events also had a significant effect on the price of energy and therefore on the production prices of steel, stainless steel and aluminum, whose production requires large quantities of energy, even though the upward trend in energy had begun with the events in Ukraine.  The aluminum market is also strongly impacted.

In this context, several steel mills are maintaining high prices and offering reduced tonnages for hedging purposes.  Moreover, as some buyers, especially those who did not replenish their stocks in previous months after last year’s difficulties, are trying to obtain new stock for fear of running out later, there is an effect on demand that is also pushing prices up.

It is therefore difficult to predict with a reasonable degree of certainty the evolution of the price of steel and stainless steel materials and their availability.  Prices are often set on a day-to-day basis according to availability and there is often no way to obtain commitments in this regard for periods longer than 24 hours.

Filame’s supplier panel reports a price increase of € 410/430 per ton of steel.  For spring steel wire the increases are about 450 €/ton.

As for stainless steel, although the alloy surcharge continued to rise in March, the effect of the nickel crisis on the LME has not yet been reflected in the price.  We will have to wait for the indications for April and May, knowing that the price of extra alloy is set monthly.  Nevertheless, the increase in the price of steel will already have an influence on the price of stainless steel, whose share of steel in the price represents between 40 and 50% of the total price.

In this context, Filame indicates that its price offers are subject to changes in the price of the material and that, depending on the date of the order compared to the date of the offer, Filame may have to adjust its prices according to the purchase price of the material at the day of its delivery.

Bruderer BSTA 30

Filame increases its capacity in automatic high-speed presses

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Filame has acquired 3 Bruderer BSTA 30 automatic high-speed presses.

This acquisition enables Filame to significantly increase its production capacity for small parts in large series, particularly in the fields of automotive retaining parts (quickie washers, starlock ® washers, axle lock washers, Belleville washers, etc.), in steel or stainless steel, spring or non-spring quality.

Filame is thus confirming its position as a key player in these markets.

These Bruderer BSTA 30 presses have a capacity of 600 strokes per minute, which gives Filame a total production capacity of 108,000 parts per hour on its three presses.

Filame can, if required, equip these new presses with multi-pallet unwinders to increase the uninterrupted production time.  Filame can also configure its presses with a waste chopper at the press exit or a belt rewinder, depending on the needs for speed and precision.

These Bruderer BSTA 30 presses, coupled with Filame’s specific know-how in the design and manufacture of precision tools for high-speed presses, and its existing fleet of presses in these fields, give Filame an unrivalled ability to meet all its customers’ production needs from small parts to very large series and in extremely short lead times.