MANUFACTURING TRENDS: THE ECONOMY


IMTS 2016 in September provided the machine tool and manufacturing technology industry a boost it needed after business was down for much of the year.


Manufacturing’s Bumpy Ride


After an up-and-down 2016, more of the same may be in store next year


Bill Koenig Senior Editor


T


he US manufacturing economy had its ups and downs in 2016. According to the Institute for Supply Manage- ment, it began the year by contracting, something that had begun in the fall of 2015. When spring arrived in


March, a fi ve-month streak of mostly modest expansion began. Then a month of contraction in August, followed by growth. “The year has been lackluster on the whole,” said Bradley J. Holcomb, chair of the ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “We can expect more of the same for this year. People seem to be hanging onto their money and being conser- vative. I think people are being a little bit cautious and prudent.” Business investment “is almost nil,” said Nalanda Matia, direc- tor of econometrics solutions at Dun & Bradstreet. “Business investment has been almost zero in the past few GDP reports. The economy seems to be running on consumer expenditures. The consumer is driving the economy.”


December 2016 | AdvancedManufacturing.org TRENDS 3


Photo courtesy of the Association for Manufacturing Technology


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