Today's manufacturer
42
IEN / FEB '16
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What Will 2016 Hold for the
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The news from analysts is spotty, though there are some major bright points
impacting the industrial market.
By Anna Wells
A
s each year comes to a close, it's tempting to try to establish
a hard stop, and shut the door behind us as we preview the
new opportunities ahead. But in most cases, manufacturing
included, it's hard to look forward without looking back.
The manufacturing mar-
ketplace has been the sub-
ject of some challenging re-
ports, both now and in late
'15. The one generating
signifi cant attention is the
Institute for Supply Man-
agement (ISM)'s Manufac-
turing Report on Business
(ROB), a monthly analysis
of the Purchasing Manag-
er's Index (PMI). Once you
brush aside the acronyms
and get down to the data,
you can see that the re-
sults haven't been good. In
December, ISM reported a
PMI that has contracted for
the fi rst time since October
of 2013. ISM's Production
Index also reported con-
traction in production for
the fi rst time since August
2012.
Following this, the De-
cember PMI (reported in
early January) registered
48.2 percent, a further de-
crease of 0.4 percentage
point from the November
reading of 48.6 percent.
The Benchmark
Changes
And PMI isn't alone in its
doom-and-gloom. In fact,
before these contractions
MAPI (Manufacturing Alli-
ance for Productivity & In-
novation) posited that the
manufacturing sector may-
be hasn't been quite as fat
and happy as what's been
reported post-recession. In
a September report, MA-
PI's Dan Meckstroth urged
the industry to take a close
look at the revisions that
have been applied to the
data coming from several
federal statistic agencies,
including the Federal Re-
serve's industrial produc-