All
Suppliers
Products
CAD Models
Diverse Suppliers
Insights
By Category, Company or Brand
All Regions
Alabama
Alaska
Alberta
Arizona
Arkansas
British Columbia
California - Northern
California - Southern
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Manitoba
Maryland
Massachusetts - Eastern
Massachusetts - Western
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Brunswick
New Hampshire
New Jersey - Northern
New Jersey - Southern
New Mexico
New York - Metro
New York - Upstate
Newfoundland & Labrador
North Carolina
North Dakota
Northwest Territories
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ohio - Northern
Ohio - Southern
Oklahoma
Ontario
Oregon
Pennsylvania - Eastern
Pennsylvania - Western
Prince Edward Island
Puerto Rico
Quebec
Rhode Island
Saskatchewan
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas - North
Texas - South
Utah
Vermont
Virgin Islands
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Yukon

Auto Manufacturers Drive Demand for Plating Services

Tony Uphoff
1/27/2019 | 5 min read
Subscribe
Auto Manufacturers Drive Demand for Plating Services

Hello again.

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, U.S. manufacturers of durable goods added 22,000 new jobs in the month of March, while the manufacturing industry, in general, has created over 232,000 new jobs since the beginning of the year. This employment data bodes well for the industry, and for the economy overall.

The Bureau’s data for March also showed that more than 9,000 new jobs were created in the Fabricated Metal Products manufacturing sector. Metal Fabrication is a core process throughout industry, with fabrication shops turning out countless different metal parts and components for OEMs, contractors, and Value Added Resellers.

Further down the supply chain, a great number of those metal parts will typically need some type of surface finishing, such as a coating or plating, for things like decorative appeal, durability, corrosion resistance, friction reduction, and more.

On that note, for this week’s Thomas Index we took a look at sourcing activity on the Thomasnet.com platform for various Plating Services, and our data shows some upward trends. In fact, we see a month-over-month increase in sourcing activity in ten different categories for industrial and precious metals plating. In addition to the two broader categories of Electroplating and simply Plating, there’s increased sourcing demand for Plating using the specific metals of Silver, Copper, Brass & Bronze, Zinc-Nickel Alloy, Tin, Cadmium, Chromium, and Hard Chromium

To better understand who these buyers are, Thomas provides advanced web analytics tools, and the plating suppliers on our platform that use those tools share with us that many of the potential customers they’re connecting with are within the automotive industry. In fact, according to a report by Grand View Research, auto manufacturers are the largest revenue segment for the overall metal plating industry and are increasing their reliance on metal plating to protect more automotive parts than in the past.

Moving on from Plating, here’s a quick look at the top ten products and services being sourced over the past four weeks at Thomasnet.com. With steep metal tariffs in place, steel continues its run at the top of the list.

  1. Steel
  2. Sheet Metal Fabrication
  3. CNC Machining
  4. Valves
  5. Machining
  6. Metal Fabrication
  7. Contract Manufacturing
  8. Electronic Manufacturing Services
  9. Food Products
  10. Electronic Contract Manufacturing

If you’re a supplier of Plating Services or any of the categories on this top ten list and more, buyers are looking for what you offer right now at Thomasnet.com.

Well, that’s what our data shows this week. The best way to get this weekly Thomas Index report – and other useful industry news – is to sign up for our daily Thomas Industry Update. You can do so by visiting Thomasnet.com.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next week.

Next Up in Thomas Index
Bridge Collapse Reverberates Throughout Supply Chain
Show More in Thomas Index