PMPA/ITR Economics Forecast Report February 2022
Now is when your efforts at managing can really make a difference!
Despite all of the angst and nail biting issues in the press these days, the US economy is strong and will continue to be strong in the coming years. Continued (but SLOWER!) growth is likely for the next couple of YEARS. Fears of an impending recession are misplaced, but slowing growth provides us with opportunities to reflect, reconfigure, and rebuild for a successful and sustainable longer timeline. Automation, workforce retention, upskilling, and talent acquisition should be our top management priorities going into this slower growth phase of the business cycle. Inflation is here as well- raw material prices up by high double digit percentages demand that you reexamine your new AND EXISTING contracts to make sure that you are not including fifty dollar bills of excess unrecovered costs in every box of parts you ship. Most of the markets that we serve remain in accelerating growth, but a couple have moved into a slower growth phase. None of our bellwether markets are in recession.
The Institute for Trend Research (ITR) quarterly reports focus on major areas of economic growth and decline in key market segments for the Precision Machined Products Industry. They are provided to PMPA members as part of the association’s overall business intelligence program and are used as a management tool to help PMPA members plan for what lies ahead and which markets they should focus on in a complex manufacturing environment.