Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

Middle class and concerned

August 23rd, 2012
By: Vicki Bell

Every time I see the words “middle class” in an article title, I read the article. Why? Because I relate. I consider myself middle class, and I want to know if what is happening in my middle-class life also is happening to others in my economic circle. I’m looking for reassurance that the lifestyle we have worked for and continue to work for is sustainable.

I am grateful to be middle class—to live in a country that actually has a middle class. I like to think that everyone in the U.S. has the opportunity to achieve a middle-class life, but I’ve grown more and more skeptical about this possibility over the last few years. I’ve witnessed too many friends and family members having difficulty finding jobs and paying bills—living from paycheck to paycheck with little hope of ever getting ahead. This concerns me, and I am not alone in my concern. (more...)

Crazy to think things are getting better?

August 10th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

Positive thinkers make me nervous, and motivational speakers make me roll my eyes. I'm a self-motivated individual who has a clear understanding of the reality around him. I believe in the ability to scale mountains, but those that believe they can move them through sheer will deserve to have Tony Robbins take their $350 in exchange for an autographed book and an afternoon of self-help babble.

So back in 2008 I laughed as manufacturers tried to convince me that the media was causing the economic downturn initiated by the collapse of the real estate market. So if everyone had ignored the facts around them, the economy magically would have improved overnight? Reality wasn't going to cooperate. (more...)

Don't fear the summer swoon

July 5th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

Is the U.S. manufacturing slowdown a speed bump or a sink hole? Honestly, the answer really doesn't matter.

The June 2012 Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey—the Purchasing Managers Index—declined 3.8 percentage points from the May numbers, falling to 49.7 percent, which typically means U.S. manufacturing went into contraction. This is noteworthy because the retrenchment comes after almost three years of consecutive months of growth; the last time the survey came in under 50 percent was in July 2009.

Enlightened manufacturers might show some concern, but they are looking ahead because they know U.S. manufacturing is about to undergo a big change. The work is going to be there for those that can deliver quickly and be cost-competitive. (more...)

Manufacturing expansion to press ahead

May 25th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is being a buzz-kill.

The nonpartisan government agency that watches the cost of legislative action reported this week that if the President George W. Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire around the same time that automatic spending cuts in the federal budget are enacted in the first half of 2013, the U.S. could slip back into a recession. The CBO estimates that the U.S. economy could shrink by 1.3 percent in early 2013.

That's a pretty alarming warning, but who's really concerned about a potential crisis? We've got a presidential election under way. 

(more...)

Manufacturing on the rise; pay not so much

April 20th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

Leave it to the guys at Yale University to screw up a simple headline.

I came across this article--"U.S. Battle to Revive Manufacturing—Part I" in YaleGlobal Online Magazine—but really didn't get sucked into it until I read the subhead "Job growth urged by U.S. presidential candidates may not support high standard of living." Now that's burying the main point.

(more...)

Learning from other fabricators

March 9th, 2012
By: Dan Davis

Put two metal fabricators in the same room, and you might find a scene reminiscent of the Hatfields and McCoys. Those two individuals don't want anything to do with each other because one only wants to steal the other one's customers.

Thankfully, all metal fabricators don't feel that way. It's one of the reasons that The FABRICATOR's Leadership Summit has evolved into such a great learning experience for company leaders and managers in this industry. The metal fabricators in attendance aren't afraid to share winning strategies and difficult challenges with their counterparts from all over the U.S. because, more than likely, they aren't competing for the same customers and they actually can learn from the interchange. It's one of the reasons that some of these fabricators have formed formal groups—the Precision Sheet Metal User Groups (PSMUG), as the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) has officially labeled these small groups. They know that they can learn the best lessons from others that may have been in similar situations. The FABRICATOR's Tim Heston covered the PSMUGs in December, and when reading it, you realize why those groups are so important. (more...)

Don't fear the inevitable end-of-year slowdown

November 3rd, 2011
By: Dan Davis

Are you worried about the new year? I'm not.

That wasn't the case back in 2008.

I remember a conversation I overheard at the 2008 FABTECH International &AWS Welding Show in Las Vegas that year. I was probably in search of a Diet Coke, so I was standing in line with a bunch of people waiting for their special coffee creations. CNN was on, and the talking heads were discussing the deteriorating economy.

"The media is trying everything it can to run this economy into the ground," a voice in line said to no one in particular.

I nodded my head because I was trying to be nice. I actually was in agreement with the talking heads. I was amazed how the metal fabricating industry had held on for so long in the face of the real estate collapse. Sure enough, that moment came at the very end of 2008 or the very beginning of 2009 for most metal fabricators. (more...)

Optimism for 2012

August 18th, 2011
By: Dan Davis

As the stock market implodes and everyone plans for what they believe to be an impending recession, I'm asking people to take a deep breath. Metal fabricators are optimistic for 2012, and so am I.

Is the stock market truly something we want to use as a measuring stick for overall economic health in the U.S.? On Aug. 17 market watchers voiced some pleasure that production in U.S. factories, mines, and utilities increased 0.9 percent, according to the Federal Reserve in Washington. The increase was almost double the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and represented the biggest gain of the year. On Aug. 18 that news was quickly forgotten as the Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported a drop in factory activity for the Mid-Atlantic region—actually the lowest level for the region since March 2009. I guess one region speaks for the entire U.S. manufacturing community.

I'm not feeling the dread that the stock traders are experiencing. I'm actually hopeful. (more...)

Will metal fabricating activity continue to grow?

March 25th, 2011
By: Dan Davis

Financial writers are funny people. They make people laugh even when they aren't telling a joke.

For instance, read John Carney's CNBC story "Have Consumers Gone on Strike?" In the story he makes the point: "What seems to be happening is that businesses have been ramping up their production and hiring in expectations of strong consumer demand. Consumers, however, have failed to provide that expected demand."

He and his Wall Street-watching brethren actually are surprised by this turn of events? Does he bother to read anything or watch any show that goes beyond simple stock market performance? How can he be surprised that consumers are sitting on their wallets? (more...)

Gauging metal manufacturing's health

March 18th, 2011
By: Dan Davis

The reader's e-mail request led off with a commonly seen note that his company was reworking its Web site, but it ended with a not-so-common question: What is the best barometer to indicate that the recession has ended in metal manufacturing? The e-mail writer wanted to link to some of these sources on the company's Web site.

A good question required a thoughtful answer, so I started thinking. Then I started searching. Then I started wondering: How do you find common barometers for companies in the metal fabricating industry, which are alike in the processes they employ but different in the diverse customers they serve? The answer was that any type of economic barometer would have to be pretty generic. (more...)