Curled Metal

Curled Metal Inc. (CMI) examines a new potential product: using wounded, flattened curled metal as a cushion pad for piles driving hammers.

We evaluated our company’s position in the industry, and found ourselves in an excellent starting position to further develop our products and match them to the industry’s needs. Our market share is adequate and we can advance further with our strategy improve and reposition our products in the coming years. We have underutilized capacity, which we intend to improve, while increasing automation to reduce costs. We have plans to improve our promotion to improve product awareness and with the appropriate product lines we will increase price to improve margins and better align our high-end product image. Our current financial position is optimistic, showing our leverage (Assets/Equity) at 2.0, when our goal is to maintain 1.5-2.0 overall. By utilizing the analysis tools we are learning what elements are driving demand, how to effectively tailor our products through R&D, how best to adjust our marketing and pricing, while lowering input costs, in order to improve margins and to ensure our stakeholders are all satisfied.

The majority of our available resources, approximately 60%, will be allocated to High End and Performance sensors, as at the end of six years our goal is to control 35% market share in these two categories to become industry leaders. As mentioned above this will be done by increasing the amount of spending in research and development, production, and the marketing and sales budgets to match the projected sales forecast. The remaining resources, around 40% total, will then be distributed among the other three products as we would like to maintain a market share between 20-30% in each of the remaining categories. Being active in the secondary markets allows us to offset the

The inclusion of lithium in Reynolds X100 makes sure to block any dislocations within the alloys crystal structure, giving it an outstanding fatigue resistance.

Since we are focusing our efforts on the low end segment of the market, our product can be determined as a cash cow. A cash cow is generally a leading product in mature markets, generating more cash than is used. This allows companies to use that cash to pay for administrative costs, as well as paying for dividends to shareholders and even fuling R&D. We were able to come to this conclusion based on where our product stood in the segment. Our low-end product has a lower market growth rate at 11.7% than most other companies. however, our product has a high market share comparative to other companies. When these two factors are taken into consideration using the BCG Growth-Share Matrix, we can conclude that our product is a Cash Cow.

Situation analysis: CMI is looking to diversify its portfolio. It wants to introduce a new high performing cushion pad into the pile-driving market. CMI will initially target small engineering/construction and independent pile-driving contractors. CMI will have the first-to-market advantage, as there are currently no direct competitors for metal pads. In terms of channels, CMI would distribute its pads through manufacturing representative.

Our analysis of this case is to advise Hans Thorborg to move to producing the plastic rings. It is important for PWI to evolve with the industry, and refusing to transition to the new product could have a devastating impact on their future sales. Although PWI has a strong presence in the market, it’s stated in the case study that the plastic rings have at least four times the wearing properties of the steel rings. Therefore, while the steel ring currently lasts for an

CMI could position CM pads as new industry standard, while emphasis on cost efficiency with superior performance. It should demonstrate to the market that CM pads had several

The analysis of the table-1 reveals that future sales have been projected to grow at the rate of 20% per annum. The validity and reasonableness of there projections is questionable. There seems to be a very remote possibility of meeting their projections given the current scenario of the Letsgo. The points are raised about the validity and reasonableness of the projections:

Cumberland Metals Industries developed a new type of cushion pad for pile drivers made of curled metal. The 11.5 inch “Cumber-Coil” was tested by two different companies on two different projects and was found to far exceed the performance of the existing market-dominant product, the asbestos pad. The Cumber-Coil weighed half what the asbestos pad did and boasted a 33% faster driving time, 60% reduction in heat generated, and 400% less time wasted changing pads.

Curled Metal Inc. (CMI) specializes in selling metal-based products to various markets. With over $55 million in annual sales (FY 2007, Exhibit A), they’ve managed to capture 80% of the automobile industry’s market share by developing and selling a highly specialized product, Slip Seal, designed just for auto manufacturers. They’ve seen a recent slip in sales (a loss of nearly 10% from 2006 to 2007, Exhibit 2), and the pressure is on them to diversify their product line and decrease dependence on the auto industry. They’ve recently developed a new product that aims to revolutionize the pile-driving industry. The introduction of the CMI Cushion

|Little Black Bag (small circular purse) |22” Spinner (suitcase) |Lanyard |Case for iPhone 5 |

In spite of the huge market they represent, not all companies in recent times have been successful in fully recognizing their importance and reaching them. Many times they are treated as a niche segment at best or not recognized at all. Bad design choices and marketing campaigns based on prejudiced and old preconceived notions have led to many a well meaning products bite the dust in the market or perform way below

Slip casting has been a large impression on society through its commercial applications. Because of its low cost and ease of mass-production, many everyday items have been casted using slip such as: figurines, doll faces, dishes, flowerpots, lamp bases, toilets[1]. The recycling ability of slip is another asset, since the loss ratio is an inevitable part to the slip casting procedure.