2015: What keeps you up at night?

It’s a great time to be a metal fabricator in the U.S., right? The unemployment rate is around 5.3 percent, which is lower than the 5.7 percent mark during the go-go 1990s. Energy prices are much more affordable than five years ago as the U.S. is hydraulic fracturing its way to energy independence. Material prices continue to decline in the face of oversupply and foreign competitors.

Forgive fabricators, however, if they don’t take to the street in celebration of the good economic tidings of joy. They have work to do, and they are concerned about finding the right employees to keep up with expanding opportunities. In the meantime, they are keeping an eye on a global economy that is in turmoil outside of North America’s borders, the uncertainty on the health care front, and any news coming out of Washington, D.C.

That’s the general feeling of the metal fabricators that responded to the “What Keeps You up at Night?” survey, which was sent out in late May. (E-mail surveys were sent to about 10,000 fabricators in The FABRICATOR’s circulation base, and 1 percent responded to the questions.) Most admit to being busy, but being responsive to customer demands and new market opportunities is a constant pressure that is seemingly hindered by the government. In some instances, fabricators feel the government could do more to assist in creating a pipeline of manufacturing talent out of vocational schools. In many other instances, however, survey respondents just want the federal government to back away.

In many ways fabricators are still concerned about some of the same things that kept them awake two years ago, the last time this survey was taken. It’s still about finding talent and investing in fabricating technology when feasible. They remain cautiously optimistic, but ever vigilant after experiencing two major economic downturns since the dawn of the new millennium.

This survey, of course, is by no means a scientific one, but it does offer an idea of the general mood of the metal fabricating base in the U.S. The results are noteworthy in the sense that the fabricated metal product sector of U.S. manufacturing is expected to generate $361.3 billion in revenue and employ 1.3 million people in 2015, according to market research firm IBISWorld. The sector has demonstrated more value-added growth over the past 10 years than the primary metals and transportation equipment manufacturing sectors. The fabricating market is hot, and fabricators are concerned with keeping up.

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