Business Conditions Report is optimistic for next 3 months.
Press Release Summary:
According to the August 2009 PMA Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies predict a spike in business conditions over the next 3 months. This report shows metalformers feel more optimistic about general economic activity than they have since February 2004. Other results pointed to 62% of metalforming companies forecasting increases in incoming orders and 39% reporting increased average daily shipping levels. Also, portions of workforce on short time or layoff have declined.
Original Press Release:
Business Conditions Report: August 2009
CLEVELAND, OH-August 19, 2009-According to the August 2009 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies predict a spike in business conditions during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 137 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.
The August report shows that metalformers are feeling more optimistic about general economic activity than they have since February 2004. Fifty-seven percent of participants anticipate an improvement in overall economic activity (up from 37% in July), 35% expect that activity will remain unchanged (compared to 47% last month) and only eight percent report that activity will decline (compared to 16% in July).
A high percentage of metalforming companies also forecast an increase in incoming orders during the next three months. Sixty-two percent predict an increase in orders (up from 46% in July), 27% expect no change (down from 39% the previous month), and 11% of companies anticipate a decrease in orders (compared to 15% in July).
Current average daily shipping levels also increased in August. Thirty-nine percent of participants report that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (compared to 31% in July), 37% report no change (up from 32% in July) and 24% report that shipping levels are below levels of three months ago (down from 37% reported last month).
The number of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff decreased to 72% in August, down from 81% in July. While this is the lowest level since January 2009 when 64% of companies had workers on short time or layoff, the level remains at a substantially higher rate than August of 2008 (25%). The decrease may also reflect that companies have eliminated the positions of employees formerly on layoff status but whom they do not plan to recall in the near future.
"PMA member companies have moved sharply from the 'down' and 'same' categories to the 'up' category of optimism regarding current business conditions and their expectations for incoming orders and shipments," commented William E. Gaskin, PMA president. "Data from this month's survey corroborates the trend reported in the PMA June orders and shipments report, which demonstrated that the typical PMA member company has incoming orders that have now crossed the 12-month rolling average of orders (which had been declining for the past year) and that shipments will soon do the same."
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 $91-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 1,100 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, METALFORM tradeshows and MetalForming magazine.
