PMA Business Conditions Report is released for March.
Press Release Summary:
PMA Business Conditions Report shows 43% of participants expect improvement in economic activity during next 3 months, while 52% predict no change. Increased orders are anticipated by 48% of companies and 54% of participants report shipping levels above 3 months ago. Companies with workforce on short time or layoff decreased to 42% in March. William E. Gaskin, PMA President, said members are experiencing 20-30% increases in orders and shipments compared to last year.
Original Press Release:
Business Conditions Report: March 2010
CLEVELAND, OH - According to the March 2010 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies expect business conditions to remain virtually unchanged from the February report, with expectations that orders and shipments will continue to rise or at least remain constant during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 142 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.
The March report shows that 43% of participants expect an improvement in economic activity during the next three months (down from 45% in February), 52% predict that activity will remain unchanged (up from 49% last month) and only 5% report that activity will decline (down from 6% in February).
Metalforming companies also forecast fairly steady incoming orders during the next three months. Increased orders are anticipated by 48% (compared to 54% in February), 42% expect no change (compared to 32% the previous month) and 10% predict a decrease in orders (down from 14% in February).
Current average daily shipping levels rose slightly in March. Fifty-four percent of participants report that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (up from 51% in February), 36% report no change (compared to 34% in February) and 10% reported that shipping levels are below levels of three months ago (down from 15% in February).
The number of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff continued to trend downward, with 42% reporting workers on short time or layoff in March, compared to 47% in February.
"Metalforming companies continue to expect improvement in their orders and shipments for the next three months," said William E. Gaskin, PMA president. "PMA's manufacturing members are experiencing 20-30 percent increases in orders and shipments compared to year-ago levels, when shipping levels were declining precipitously in Q-1 and Q-2 of 2009. Metalforming companies remain cautious about the mid- and long-term outlook, but in the near term, business continues to improve," he continued.
The monthly Business Conditions Report has been conducted by PMA since 1979. Full report results are available at pma.org/about/stats/BCreport. PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $113-billion metalforming industry of North America - the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming and roll forming technologies, and other value-added processes. Its nearly 1,000 member companies also include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. PMA leads innovative member companies toward superior competitiveness and profitability through advocacy, networking, statistics, the PMA Educational Foundation, FABTECH and METALFORM tradeshows, and MetalForming magazine.
