1. 4
Over the last several months, I have come to the conclusion that the best
way to describe the ring & cylinder business is to articulate the 5 core
markets we serve. We make metal rings and cylinders for: wind towers,
defense, rail cars, HVAC, and power generation. Certainly, there are a few
things that we make that are outside of these 5 markets, but these are
our core.
WIND TOWERS – The US, and the world, continues to invest in wind
energy, and as the technology advances it is becoming more price
competitive with oil and natural gas. It is estimated that 4,000 wind
towers domestically are being erected each year. We make a product
called a door frame, which provides the structural support for the tower
at the entry door where service workers enter the tower. In 2017, we
will produce approximately 1,600 door frames, generating revenue of $6
million. That is approximately a 40% market share! We continue to grow
our presence with wind tower manufacturers, and we just landed a 3 year
agreement with Trinity for their door frame business.
DEFENSE – Our specialization within the defense industry is turret rings.
For example, this year we were awarded the turret rings for the JLTV
truck from Oshkosh. The U.S. market value for defense turret rings is
substantial and our share of that is $500,000. We believe that this
market has strong growth potential for us.
RAIL CAR – Our niche within the rail car industry is oil tanker cars, with the
primary product being the bonnets and nozzles on the top of the tankers.
The oil industry continues to remain depressed, which has dropped the
market size for bonnets and nozzles. Our current market share for these
products is 6%. It is expected that the oil tanker car business will begin
to rebound in 2019, and we will be positioned well to serve our customers
when this occurs.
HVAC – The rings we make for the HVAC industry go into chiller units
that provide air conditioning. These chillers can be found in various
commercial buildings, including the tall sky scrapers in metropolitan
skylines. Our biggest customer within the HVAC segment is Trane, they
make up approximately 95% of our HVAC presence, which is $2.2 million;
15% of the total market.
POWER GENERATION – For Millerbernd, this segment is comprised
of electrical motors, generators and gas turbines. Our product mix is
comprised of manufacturing motor frames for customers like Baldor and
Regal Beloit, along with making weldments and rings for Generac and
GE Gas Turbine. Our competition for these products is coming from both
offshore and domestic companies. Millerbernd currently has a market
share of less than 5%, making this another major growth opportunity for
us.
With each market being unique, we need to focus on what we do well at
MMC and to better understand what the market trends are telling us and
react accordingly.
I look forward to 2017 and all the challenges that will come along with it.
RING SALES
- Jason Casperson
August 3 - Todd Baumann - 20 Years
August 10 - Mark Cuhel - 31 Years
August 16 - Tim Schlueter - 27 Years
July 26 - Jim Stifter - 40 Years
July 27 - Jeff Mallak - 31 Years
August 2 - Steve Fiecke - 42 Years
“In 2017, we will produce
approximately 1,600 door
frames, generating revenue
of $6 Million”
Wind HVAC
Power Generation
Rail Car
Defense