PMPA Business Trends February 2018
With 81 companies responding, the PMPA Business Trends Index for February 2018 declined 6 points or 4.4% to 129, the highest index for February on record. At 129, the index is up 10 points or 7.4% above the five-year average for the February sales index of 119.4. While our January value of 135 was a new record, the six-point drop to 129 in February is still in very high territory for our shops. What it feels like- with every order on the books a priority, we are running out of options to add capacity and move orders to the front of the line. Our scheduled overtime remained the same as last month’s, we are doing everything in our power to produce and ship customer orders. What to watch- Lead times. Lead times in our shops and Lead Times on raw materials. Last month, almost three quarters of shops reporting (74.3%) reported sales increases up by ten percent or more in January. This month, that percentage fell to 12.3%, with 61.7 % of shops reporting sales declines in February, compared with January which was-admittedly a record month for sales.