Townsend Polymer Services & Information, a global consulting leader in the plastics industry, is developing its third multi-client study to examine the long-term outlook for Long Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics (LFT) in both pre-compounded pellets and the direct in-line process.
The global LFT industry has seen segment growth rates of 12 percent to 15 percent annually since 2003. Demand for LFT materials in both Europe and North America has continued its upward climb over the past several years as end users realize the advantages of this technology and more applications switch from metal to LFT composites. Both pellet applications (primarily involving complex parts made via injection molding) and direct in-line applications (primarily involving simpler, largely flat parts made via compression or injection molding) have shared in the growth. And, the race is on for "first mover advantage in the Asian market.
The LFT automotive market has seen incredible growth in recent years, with millions of dollars invested in innovative equipment and materials as the number of plastic pellet suppliers has grown, machinery has been improved, and plastic processors have greater choices on product and processes than ever before. Overall, the market has been driven by the lowest, cost-in-use of LFT.
But Townsend has also seen increased threats to some participants in the LFT industry. The largest end-use market, the transportation sector, has been targeted with LFT concentrates and LFT hybrid materials. Also, new cost-effective injection and compression molding techniques, particularly using polypropylene, have offered designers and engineers greater degrees of freedom to reduce molded part cost.
The "marketing push of the 1990s has been replaced by a "purchasing pull in the LFT industry. This fact when coupled with the new supplier entrants has led to reduced profitability for some players. Thus, a restructuring and repositioning of the LFT portfolio is underway for some.
Those examining the market for growth potential or evaluating capital investment opportunities need to be thoroughly informed. Any business being evaluated should be judged on how well prepared and positioned it is in the market. Townsend is accepting subscriptions now for the study, which will answer:
- What will determine winners and losers?
- What changes in strategy are needed?
- Who will capture the growth in the market?
Some of the key issues, drivers and trends to be explored during research of this global study include:
- What are the volumes of LFT automotive and non-automotive segments by end use application?
- Which specific applications will be largest by 2011 and why?
- How fast will the LFT material processes (pellets, concentrates, direct in-line) grow?
- How do the strategies of the 20 largest LFT pellet suppliers compare and contrast?
- Will LFT compounding capacity additions slow to achieve a supply demand balance? Who wins?
- What alternative technologies are having an impact on the LFT market?
- What are the implications of commoditization of the LFT polypropylene segment?
- What is the development rate of emerging LFT applications for non-polypropylene resins?
- Who are the 50 largest global LFT molders and what are their prospects?
- What are the current state and opportunities for the Chinese, Korean or Brazilian markets?
- How fast is the entrepreneurial stage of the market being replaced by corporate strategies?
- What lies "over the horizon for LFT technologies?
The study will be global and is to be organized into the following five regions: Europe, North America, Japan, China and "Rest of The World. The product focus of the work will be on the following materials: polypropylene; polyamides; other thermoplastics; and glass, aramid, carbon, nickel coated graphite, natural and stainless steel fibers. Glass mat thermoplastics (GMT) are excluded. The application focus will encompass use of pellets, concentrates, and direct in-line materials for injection, compression and compression/injection molded parts.
This is the third major LFT multi-client study to be produced by Townsend in the past six years, and is the most comprehensive review of the LFT industry available today.
For more information on the LFT study, or to request a prospectus, please contact either:
Ron Babinsky at rbabinsky@townsendpolymer.com, 281.873.8733 x159.
Abbe Scheiner at ascheiner@townsendpolymer.com, 610.372.6716.
For more information on Townsend or its upcoming conference on Emerging Markets in the Plastics Industry, please visit www.townsendpolymer.com.