May 2012 Business Conditions Report has been released by PMA.
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Press Release Summary:
According to May 2012 PMA Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies expect softening in business conditions during next 3 months; only 24% of participants anticipated improvement in economic activity. Metalforming companies also forecast downward trend in incoming orders, with only 34% anticipating increase. Average daily shipping levels declined in May, with 44% reporting same shipping levels as 3 months ago and 19% reporting decrease.
Original Press Release:
Business Conditions Report: May 2012
CLEVELAND, OH-According to the May 2012 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies expect a softening in business conditions during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 126 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.
The May report shows that only 24% of participants anticipate economic activity to improve during the next three months (down from 37% in April), 60% predict that activity will remain unchanged (compared to 51% last month) and 16% report that activity will decline (up from 12% in April).
Metalforming companies also forecast a downward trend in incoming orders during the next three months, with 34% anticipating an increase in orders (compared to 43% in April), 46% expecting no change (up from 41% in April) and 20% predicting a decrease in orders (up from 16% last month).
Average daily shipping levels declined in May. Only 37% of participants report that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (down from 46% in April), 44% report that shipping levels are the same as three months ago (compared to 41% last month), and 19% report a decrease in shipping levels (up from 13% in April).
The percentage of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff increased to 10% in May, from 9% in April. However, this number is lower than May 2011, when metalformers reported 14% of their workforce on short time or layoff.
"PMA's manufacturing member companies report softer, but still quite positive, business conditions in PMA's May Business Conditions Report," said William E. Gaskin, PMA president. "For the first three months of 2012, metalforming companies reported strong orders and shipments, up 10 percent vs. Q-1 in 2011, so the general uptick in manufacturing that has led the economic recovery continues to be reflected in our numbers. Compared with PMA's May 2011 Business Conditions Report, the 2012 outlook is similar in that softening is expected over the next few months, but with 10 percent growth in the first quarter, business levels continue to be more positive."
The monthly Business Conditions Report has been conducted by PMA since 1979. Full report results are available at www.pma.org/public/business_reports/pdf/BCREP.pdf. 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.
