Gurelan returns from IMTS Chicago optimistic

Gurelan is back from summer taking part in one of the most crucial events of the year for the manufacturing industry, the IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show), which took place between 12 and 17 September at McCormick Place in Chicago. The IMTS is the largest manufacturing technology show in North America. With more than 1,815 exhibiting companies, this is the ideal showcase for discovering the latest technologies that offer the fastest and most efficient means of solving the challenges faced by manufacturers and their suppliers.

As the show is bi-annual, this also marks the first time it took place since COVID-19, as it was cancelled in 2020. And it is clear that the excitement was at an all-time high, shown by the fact that there have been more than 86,000 registrants, reaffirming the need to meet in person. After all, it was four years of concentrated technology advancements focused heavily on addressing workforce shortages and supply chain issues.

It is an excellent opportunity for Gurelan, as a benchmark in the die-casting of Zamak and Magnesium parts in the Basque Country, to strengthen relations with the companies who design, build, sell, and service the continuously evolving technology that lies at the heart of manufacturing.

How IMTS Chicago is an opportunity for Gurelan?

Against the background of ongoing geopolitical instability and tensions with China, the US is experiencing a high demand for castings, such as Zamak and Magnesium die cast parts for the automotive sector, and local foundries have no capacity to meet the industrial demand at the moment. In addition, in the wake of the pandemic, there is a severe shortage of skilled labour in the die-casting sector, as we recently explained in Gurelan’s blog.

When it comes to die-casting parts, given its great experience, quality and high level of specialisation, Gurelan can be a highly competitive choice for US industrial and manufacturing players most affected by today’s global economic climate, including electric and traditional vehicle manufacturers, as well as an attractive alternative to China for companies pursuing a China+1 supply chain strategy.

IMTS Chicago to open up an agile and complex marketplace

At IMTS Chicago, members of the Gurelan team were optimistic to see that the US market offers great opportunities, especially in the automotive sector. Mexico and Asia are the main suppliers of parts and components for the vehicle industry, but after the pandemic and the supply disruptions, as well as political and economic problems with China, the major American manufacturers are now looking for new alternatives.

In early May, Gurelan and FUNDIGEX USA visited the USA to participate in CastExpo, and this time Gurelan has travelled to America to position itself as a benchmark for an industrial ecosystem around the foundry sector that is extremely resilient, highly technological, sustainable, innovative and unquestionably essential. Spain is the fourth producer of casting parts in Europe, and ranks as number one when it comes to exports. As an experienced actor in a market that offers high quality components and a first class after-sales service, Gurelan offers itself as an alternative to supply a very flexible, promising, but complex American market, more difficult to access.

North American customers in the metal casting sector are in search for new thinking and a wider choice of technologies to mitigate market instability and supply chain disruptions that are affecting all industries, from automotive to agricultural machinery manufacture, power infrastructures, equipment, the machine tool sector…

Through its participation in this type of international trade events on the other side of the ocean, Gurelan seeks to improve the competitiveness of its Zamak and Magnesium castings for the North American market, in order to offer new products and services abroad, and also to generate stronger and more internationalised value chains.

Euroguss Mexico: another opportunity to open up the North American market

Within this context of expanding the American market, Gurelan will participate next February in EUROGUSS Mexico 2023. After the postponement in 2020 due to the pandemic and the digital EUROGUSS MEXICO Virtual Weeks 2021, the die casting industry will finally come together face-to-face at the Expo Guadalajara Exhibition Centre. Mexico is well-known for its large number of plants of important manufacturers, suppliers as well as R&D centres from the automotive industry and is the focus of the entire value chain of light metal casting. The exhibition, which is part of the EUROGUSS Family, thus creates the ideal access to the growing Mexican market.