STATE FOCUS | PENNSYLVANIA Doing the heavy lifting


As Pennsylvania’s manufacturing sector gains momentum, demand for overhead cranes and hoists is surging. Myra Pinkham explores how state investments, industry trends and federal policies are shaping this growing market.


P


ennsylvania overhead crane and hoist manufacturers and distributors have been seeing a pick-up in business with companies either building new facilities or upgrading the cranes that are operating in existing plants in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. This comes at a time when nationally the manufacturing sector has been improving, and adding and upgrading production plants with


more plans to do so in the coming few years. In fact, some national economic indices


indicate that US manufacturing activity could be on an upswing. For example, after 26 months of contractionary readings – under the 50% level that indicates future growth – the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers index moved into positive territory in January with a reading of 50.9%.


This is good news for Pennsylvania’s overhead crane industry given that, according to the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), manufacturing has always been the backbone of Pennsylvania’s economy and has been a big contributor to its gross state product, which was $804.4bn in 2024 with 0.8% growth over the past five years. Also, Pennsylvania’s 2024 non-residential construction


26


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63