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Products
Our products (some 6000 different items) are manufactured for the most part by cold forming, starting from a wire coil, or by compressing and sintering metal powder. Only few of our products are made of composite materials. As a rule our products are components of end products or larger sub-systems, such as mobile telephones, CD players, ABS, safety belts, window and door fittings, etc., to name only a few.
EU Directive 2002/86/EG governing automotive scrap is applicable to AP (Automotive Products) products with regard to the use of hazardous substances and recyclability.
Similar requirements will apply as from July 1, 2006, to old electrical and electronic appliances under Directive 2002/96/EG (RoHS Directive).
Modifications to products and new developments can usually only be made in cooperation with the customer. Our room for manoeuvre in this respect is very small. It is clearly apparent from the summary eco-balance that the use of stainless steel is of great ecological and economic relevance. Stainless steel is used almost exclusively for construction fasteners. In this case the use of stainless steel fasteners means greater security, significantly longer service life, no heat treatment and no additional anti-corrosion protection. There is therefore only little potential for improvement here.
Product lifecycle
In the case of components with a diameter < 2 mm, installed in mobile telephones, CD players, ABS or restraint systems, the product lifecycle of the system is the decisive factor. The individual component must satisfy these requirements. This means that our products are usually longer-lived than the end product or the sub-system. We cannot afford a failure to occur in an end product or a sub-system due to a faulty SFS component. Lifecycle analyses of such products are therefore hardly appropriate and figure in product development only in very exceptional cases. In view of the trend away from component suppliers to systems suppliers, this situation could change in the AP Division in the medium term. However, this would also only occur in very close cooperation with the customer.
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