Metalworking barometer headed up?: Drilling Performance

The International Manufacturing Technology Show, better known as IMTS, is nearly here again. Because it rolls around every 2 years in mid-September, IMTS is a convenient benchmark for the health of the U.S. metalworking industry, allowing comparisons with the last go-round, and the ones before that.

The 2014 edition will be my fifth IMTS, a small number compared to many industry veterans, but enough to gauge the general arc of the industry. At IMTS 2006, metalworking was in the midst of strong growth, and spirits were high. In 2008, things appeared to be going swimmingly, despite rumblings in the real estate market. Then, on Sept. 15, 2 days after IMTS 2008 ended, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, and, well, you know the rest.

Metalworking seemed to stop on a dime during the Great Recession. Yes, parts were made, but it seemed that almost no one was investing in machine tools, cutting tools or other equipment. Then, as the auto industry came back to life in 2009, metalworking began to recover as well. By IMTS 2010, U.S. manufacturing was growing strongly, though the recovery in the general economy was decidedly more tepid, and in 2012 the story was nearly the same. Today, the growth in manufacturing and metalworking has slowed somewhat, but the expansion continues.

Can it continue further? Will IMTS 2016 see us smiling or frowning? It appears that the manufacturing comeback still has legs—maybe more than any of us could have imagined in the dark days of 2008-09.

“For the last 3 years, manufacturing activity has been growing more rapidly than the overall U.S. economic GDP,” wrote Bill Greiner, chief investment officer of Mariner Wealth Advisors, Leawood, Kan., in a July 9 blog on the Forbes magazine Web site. “This is the first time this has happened in more than 50 years. I believe the factors that have led to this oddity are sustainable and that manufacturing and overall industrial growth will probably continue to outpace overall GDP growth rates in the United States for some time.”