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| The concept of a global economy is now accepted by everyone from the man in the street to the sophisticated economic pundits of Wall Street. Everything from the fierce competition for the tiniest increase in incremental sales to the daily fluctuations of the interdependent stock markets further proves the point ... all is now global. |
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| A few short years ago, "partnering" meant working with your local vendor or that supplier a few miles down the interstate. Integrating computer systems speeded orders from the vendor, and just-in-time manufacturing allowed timely delivery to the final customer. Companies worked together to achieve improved efficiencies and economies of scale. |
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| Under a global economy, partnering has moved to a new order of magnitude, and economies are measured on a grand scale. Now the alliances are not merely down the street or across the state. Partnering is now intercontinental, because the markets truly have become global. And the partnerships being formed are between world-class powers ... firms with advanced skills to offer, and the need for strong allies to penetrate markets and exploit new niches worldwide. |
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| Such is the case of the joint venture partnership formed by Trion Industries, Inc. of the United States and HL Display of Sweden. Both are leaders on their respective continents and in their respective fields. Each offered the other complementary skills, complementary distribution systems, and help in immediately amassing market share. |
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| Trion Industries, Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of display and scanning hooks and one of the top 50 retail and point-of-purchase fixture manufacturers in the United States. The firm revolutionized merchandising with the introduction of the first straight-entry display hook in 1965, and has since earned over 58 United States and international patents for point-of-purchase innovations. The company's 450,000 square foot computerized production facilities feature the greatest number of automated wire forming machines of any factory complex in the industry. |
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| HL Display AB, too, has over 30 years experience in the field. The firm is one of the leading European manufacturers of plastic products. HL offerings for display and store fixturing include over 300 styles of label and sign holders alone, not to mention divider systems, signholder frames and accessories, and components. |
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| This joint venture partnership of two industry powers has proved hugely successful for both. Technology transfer has allowed each company to undertake manufacture of totally new products for their respective markets. Specialists in sophisticated co-extrusion, HL Display helped install equipment and train Trion personnel in the necessary techniques. Trion now produces over 96 co-extruded profiles on site, with the capability to manufacture 230,000 feet per day. In return, Trion engineers and craftsmen are guiding HL in the production of wire forms and metal stampings, positioning them to become a major European source of this line of display products practically overnight. Tooling and design data is exchanged regularly by both companies, further speeding changeovers and assuring that exacting specifications are met. |
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| The synergy and exchange of ideas and technologies has also resulted in major innovations. By combining wire forming and co-extrusion, Trion introduced the patented Flip Scan� Scanning Hook ... a unique application of metal wire back and polymer front. The extruded Flip Scan holder literally "flips up" and out of the way for faster, easier, less labor-intensive stocking. It also allows use of quick-change, inexpensive, plain paper labels in place of hard-to-remove, costly, pressure sensitive labels. The advanced technology of the Trion/HL partnership allows production of the Flip Scan at the absolute lowest price in the industry. A world-class product at a globally competitive price. |
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| Leveraging each partner's geographic advantages, Trion is exclusive Western Hemisphere manufacturer for HL European-design display and fixturing applications. Likewise, HL Display is exclusively licensed to distribute the Trion product line throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. With a stroke of the pen, the joint venture agreement made "the sum greater than the total of the individual parts" ... each company received benefits from technology transfer to immediate market penetration ... benefits far in excess of the simpler "partnerings" of recent business history. And given the exponential rate of change in business, the ongoing shrinking of global distances, and the consolidation of markets, the Trion/HL alliance is a pattern for the future. An alliance that bodes well for the industries themselves, as well as for the ultimate consumers, who receive higher-quality, more-innovative, lower-priced products. Global products for the global marketplace. |
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