Metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain steady

According to the September 2007 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metal forming companies expect business conditions to remain fairly steady during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 159 metal forming companies in the U. S. and Canada.

When asked what they expect the trend in general economic activity to be over the next three months, 28 percent of participants reported that conditions will improve (compared to 29 percent in August), 53 percent predict activity will remain the same (down from 56 percent the previous month) and 19 percent anticipate a decline in business conditions (up from 15 percent in August).

Metal forming companies expect incoming orders to dip slightly during the next three months. Just 36 percent of respondents forecast an increase in orders (down from 43 percent in August), 44 percent expect no change (compared to 40 percent last month) and 20 percent anticipate a decrease in orders (up from 17 percent in August).

However, current average daily shipping levels compared to the past three months improved in September. Thirty-two percent of companies reported that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago (compared to 28 percent in August), 39 percent reported no change (up from 36 percent in August) and 29 percent reported that September shipping levels are below levels of three months ago (compared to 36 percent in August).

The number of metal forming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff decreased to 11 percent in September, down from 13 percent in August.