CLEVELAND, OH—July 23, 2019—Metalforming companies remain concerned about near-term business conditions, according to the July 2019 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report. Prepared monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 111 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.

The July report reveals little change from the June report in predictions for business conditions, with 60% of participants expecting no change in economic activity during the next three months (up from 59% in June), 16% predicting an improvement in activity (compared to 20% last month), and 24% anticipating a decline in activity (up from 21% in June).

“PMA’s monthly Business Conditions report shows that metalforming manufacturers are continuing to perform well, but are concerned about business activity going into the second half of the year,” said PMA President David Klotz. “In addition, manufacturers continue to experience challenges finding workers to fill available jobs with more than 500,000 job openings in our sector. That’s why PMA launched METALFORM EDU, an online training program to help companies build their own talent pipeline by providing access to the right training, on demand. PMA recently expanded the courses and licensing options for METALFORM EDU to help members recruit, train and retain a high-caliber workforce now and in the future. A number of these courses also are available in Spanish.”   

Metalforming companies’ predictions for incoming orders remain similar to recent months, with 49% forecasting no change in orders (compared to 53% in June), 27% expecting an increase in orders (up from 25% in June), and 24% anticipating a decrease in orders (up from 22% last month).

The July report also showed that 51% of participants responded that current average daily shipping levels are the same compared to levels of three months ago (up from 42% in June), 23% report that shipping levels are higher than three months ago (down from 32% in June), and 26% report a decrease in shipping levels (the same percentage reported in June).

The percentage of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff increased to 9% in July, up from 6% in June. At this time last year, 6% of the participating companies reported workers on short time or layoff. 

The monthly Business Conditions Report has been conducted by PMA since 1979. Full report results are available at https://www.pma.org/public/business_reports/images/BCREP.pdf. PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $137-billion metalforming industry of North America—the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating, spinning, slide forming and roll forming technologies, and other value-added processes. Its nearly 800 member companies also include suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. PMA leads companies toward superior competitiveness and profitability through advocacy, networking, statistics, the PMA Educational Foundation, FABTECH and METALFORM Mexico tradeshows, and MetalForming and 3D Metal Printing magazines.