And why you should be too!
I could give you a lot of stories about how fulfilling my career has been making things that matter.
I could give you a lot of stories of the wonderful people that I have met in manufacturing- at all levels of the industry.
But today, I’m just going to provide you with some facts.
In order to have avoid confusion, I am going to use the Gross Domestic Product contribution from Manufacturing as the indicator best describing Manufacturing’s importance to our economy. Some could look at employment or productivity or other indicators, but from my perspective, I believe that how much US Manufacturing contributes to our Country’s GDP is the valid indicator.
The contribution to US GDP from Manufacturing has been growing and on quite a tear since 2009. (The vertical axis is in $ billions, ie.: ”reaching an all time high of 2154.90 USD Billion in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a record low of 1798.60 USD Billion in the first quarter of 2009.”
Chart source: 10 year Chart from Trading Economics United States GDP From Manufacturing
Here is another Trading Economics Chart for United States GDP from Manufacturing since January 2016.
What is it like for Precision Machining shops like ours?
I personally track a Business Trends Sales Indicator for the Precision Machining Industry Segment.
Our forecast for 2019 is based on a very strong correlation indicator (r^2 of .96). We believe that we will finish 2019 up 4% over 2018.
And the last two years-2017 and 2018- were both up 7% over prior years.
In addition, all five of our highest months reported-ever- have been in 2018 and 2019.
Why am I bullish on US Manufacturing? As long as people around the world aspire to a USA Middle Class lifestyle, they will need manufactured goods to attain it. And US manufacturing is the third largest segment of contribution to US GDP.
Trading Economics: United States GDP From Manufacturing
PMPA Business Trends Report