Trade winds shifting for Canadian exporters

These days Canadian exporters are finding that there is more truth than not in the old adage that states, “When one door closes, another door opens.”

Specifically, the slowing economy in the United States has prompted Canadian exporters to re-focus on other market opportunities, such as the blistering hot market of the European Union, with an encouraging level of success.

Traditionally, the U.S. has always been Canada’s largest export market. For example, according to data from Statistics Canada, prior to 2002, the U.S. purchased approximately 85% of Canada’s exports annually.

However, by 2006, that percentage had fallen to 78.9%. Economists anticpate that the slowdown in the U.S. economy will continue for the foreseeable future further slowing sales of Canadian products south of the border.

At the same time, Export Development Canada (EDC) reported that Canadian exporters have increased their sales into Europe by 12% annually since 2002. In addition, in 2006, the United Kingdom became Canada’s second largest trading partner replacing Japan.

According to a recent global export forecast summary released by EDC, the European Union is only one new dance partner in terms of trade for Canadian exporters.

“The increased ease of global commerce has opened Canada to new trading partners. Technology, together with trade deals and agreements, has brought a huge reduction to the sizable barriers, that isoated large parts of the world.

“Far-off regions are now almost as close to us as our traditional markets, and interaction with them is now almost as easy: costs are much lower, and the risks are a fraction of what they once were,” the EDC says.

Another signal that the federal government is serious about reducing Canada’s dependence on trade with the U.S. came with the recent announcement by International Trade Minister David Emerson that Ottawa had reached a new trade deal with Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

In making the announcement, Emerson noted that the new trade agreement is part of an overall effort to “grow non-U.S. trade more rapidly so we’re not has heavily concentrated on the U.S. market.”

Looking ahead, the EDC says that although while global growth will slow, it shouldn′t pose any problems that Canadian exporters can′t handle.

While “Slower global growth will be a major challenge…there is still good reason to believe that Canadian exporters can adapt to the evolving trade paradigm. Investment intentions remain robust for 2007. And although growth in Canadian exports was less than 1% in 2006, there was a notable increase in diversification in export sales away from the United States to faster-growing emerging markets.

“But to succeed ultimately, maintaining a sharp focus on the changing trade paradigm is fundamental. Getting to know Canada’s new trading partners, interacting with them, transacting with them, is a recipe for success,” the forecast summary notes.

Getting to know our new trading partners will be crtical since it appears that Canadian exporters will be doing even more business with them in the future.

Jerry Cook
Editor, MPP
jcook@clbmedia.ca

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Combined open house highly successful

Ferro Technique sold an AccuteX EDM during the two-day combined open house event.

The second edition of a unique combined open house held by four major Canadian machine tool distributors has proven to be even more successessful then the inaugural event held in 2006.

This year’s two-day event featured open houses held simultaneously at the facilities of Elliott-Matsuura Canada Inc., Oakville, ON, Ferro Technique Ltd., Mississauga, ON, MAG Canada, Mississauga, ON, and EMEC Machine Tools Inc., Mississauga, ON.

This year’s combined open house was very succcessful, says Brian Donnelly, vice president of Ferro Technique. “The combined open house is important to us for a couple of reasons. First, it obviously gives us a chance to bring in new customers and showcase the facility. However, it also gives us the opportunity to bring in existing customers, thank them for their business, and show them the latest technologies.”

The open house event proved to be timely for a number of reasons. For example the event gave the opportunity for Ferro to highlight the recent move by Doosan to a common global branding. “Previously, there was Doosan Infracore and Doosan Mecatec. Now, these companies are joined together under the Doosan Infracore brand,” explains Donnelly.

The open house was also successful for Ferro from a sales standpoint, adds Donnelly. “We hadn’t sold any machines at last year’s event but we have sold a machine at this year’s open house.We sold an AccuteX EDM here at the open house.”

Elliott Matsuura, which recently began distributing the Toyoda line of equipment, displayed the BM850 vertical machining center.

At Elliott-Matsuura’s facility, the open house gave the firm the opportunity to showcase two new lines of equipment that it recently began distributing-Bystronic and Toyoda, says Michael Carr, president of Elliott-Matsuura.

As a result, one machine that was in the spotlight at Elliott-Matsuura’s open house was the Toyoda BM850 vertical machining center. The BM850 vertical machining center featured an extremely rigid cast iron based combined with four Y-axis box guide ways to eliminate saddle overhang while the extra-wide column expands machining capability.

Another highlight at Elliott-Matsuura’s open house was the Bystronic ByVention laser cutting system which needs only 20 ft. x 20 ft. of floorspace. It includes an automatic sheet feeder of 5 ft. x 10 ft. which feeds the sheet in 30 in. increments and allows for auomatic unload of finished parts during the cutting process.

In addition, for the first time at Elliott’s facility, Charmilles EDMs and Mikron machining centers were also displayed.

The combined open house also gave MAG IAS Canada Inc. (formerly UBJ-Boehringer Inc.) the opportunity to introduce itself to the Canadian market, says Juergen Moeglich, president of MAG IAS Canada. MAG IAS Canada was formed in the wake of the recent acquisition of UBJ-Boehringer by MAG Industrial Automation Systems.

Also, the event provided MAG IAS Canada with the opportunity to showcase the Emco line of equipment that the firm recently began distributing. “We had previously distributed the Emco line of equipment and now we are back together again,” says Moeglich. “The open house was the perfect opportunity to re-launch the relationship between MAG IAS Canada and Emco.”

One highlight at EMEC’s open house was the Okuma MULTUS B300W intelligent multitasking machine. The B300W is a high accuracy machine which offers superior thermal stability. The machine’s construction offers superior thermal balance and Okuma’s thermal deformation compensation system.

In addition to the variety of machines and technologies on display at each venue, a number of suppliers of ancillary equipment such as cutting tools, probing systems, CAD/CAM solutions, and more were also featured at each facility.

This year’s event also included an expanded seminar program covering topics such as high speed machining, five-axis machining, advantages of probing, and more.

In total, over 200 manufacturing companies and more than 300 visitors attended the two-day event. Shuttle buses transported attendees to each facility to view the equipment on display.

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