September 2020
Craftsman’s Cribsheet #87
A glossary of basic steel testing terminology.
Month: September 2020
Published September 2020
By Carli Kistler-Miller
Rich Hoster, president of Smith & Richardson Inc. in Geneva, Illinois, shares his business experiences with COVID-19 challenges.
Published September 2020
By Carli Kistler-Miller
The schedule for PMPA’s Annual Meeting in Ridgedale, Missouri from October 22-25 was scrapped and revamped to address the issues our members are facing in today’s COVID-19 world.
Published September 2020
By Miles Free III
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” – Peter Drucker
Let’s Talk Automation
John Tuohy of FANUC America will review all things automation such as why you should automate your machine tools, myths of automation, challenges we face as machine shops, solutions to these problems and the next steps in automation.
4th consecutive month of manufacturing and economic recovery!
“The August PMI® registered 56 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from the July reading of 54.2 percent. This figure indicates expansion in the overall economy for the fourth month in a row after a contraction in April, which ended a period of 131 consecutive months of growth. The New Orders Index registered 67.6 percent, an increase of 6.1 percentage points from the July reading of 61.5 percent. The Production Index registered 63.3 percent, up 1.2 percentage points compared to the July reading of 62.1 percent. The Backlog of Orders Index registered 54.6 percent, an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared to the July reading of 51.8 percent. The Employment Index registered 46.4 percent, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the July reading of 44.3 percent. The Supplier Deliveries Index registered 58.2 percent, up 2.4 percentage points from the July figure of 55.8 percent.
“Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 15 reported growth in August, in the following order: Wood Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Textile Mills; Chemical Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Primary Metals; Fabricated Metal Products; Machinery; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Paper Products; and Transportation Equipment. ”
PMPA’s Latest Business Trends Report for July 2020 shows our industry following this same track.
Chart courtesy Calculated Risk Blog. We’re a fan.
PMPA Business Trends July 2020
With 79 companies responding, the PMPA Business Trends Index for July increased 39.3% to 117 compared to the year’s low in April of 84. It came in up 4.5% above June’s 112 value. This 117 value is down just 2.8 points or 1.4% from the 5-year average for July of 119.8. Our shops’ 4.5% increase in July compared to the Federal Reserve’s reported increase of 3.0% in industrial production- and compared to the reported 3.4% increase for manufacturing output- shows that our precision machining shops continue to recover faster than the broader manufacturing industry.
ITR Economic Report – August 2020
Apparently our optimism is congruent with theirs.
As voiced in ITR Economics’ most current economic report…“The current downturn was caused by a natural disaster and not by economic fundamentals, which has important implications for the subsequent recovery trend …
Even more encouraging is that the US Personal Savings Rate spiked to record highs, signaling that consumers were able to set aside part of the stimulus money.
Taken together, the aforementioned evidence is cause for measured optimism…
Full recovery is expected to come faster this cycle relative to the Great Recession, which took about five years..”
Read the full August 2020 report below, as prepared especially for PMPA by ITR Economics.
The Institute for Trend Research (ITR) quarterly reports focus on major areas of economic growth and decline in key market segments for the Precision Machined Products Industry. They are provided to PMPA members as part of the association’s overall business intelligence program and are used as a management tool to help PMPA members plan for what lies ahead and which markets they should focus on in a complex manufacturing environment.