Machine-hour rates flat in 3rd quarter.Custom injection molders' machine-hour rates hardly budged in the third quarter of 1993, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. survey returns from 130 plants nationwide. Based on past performance of machine-capacity utilization as a three-month leading indicator Leading Indicator A measurable economic factor that changes before the economy starts to follow a particular pattern or trend. Leading indicators are used to predict changes in the economy, but are not always accurate. of hourly-rate trends, a decline in average machine-hour rates would have been expected in the third quarter. In fact, custom molders in the Northeast and Southeast did see their average hourly rates decline; those in the South Centraland Western regions saw them increase; and molders in the North Central industrial heartland saw little or no change. And even North Central molders (the biggest sector of the population) posted lower machine-hour rates for presses of 100 or more tons, while rates for smaller sizes increased. TABULAR tab·u·lar adj. 1. Having a plane surface; flat. 2. Organized as a table or list. 3. Calculated by means of a table. tabular resembling a table. DATA OMITTED Nationwide average hourly rates increased for machines of 50-99 tons and 100-299tons (constituting over 52% of the population). Larger and smaller presses earned lower rates. Given the upturn in custom capacity utilization Capacity Utilization measures the rate at which a firm makes use of their capital productive capacities, such as factories and machinery. Capacity Utilization generally rises when the economy is healthy and falls when demand softens. in the third quarter, we'll we'll Contraction of we will. we'll we will or we shall we'll will ~shall probably report an overall increase in hourly rates for the fourth quarter of '93 (look for it in our March issue). From third-quarter 1992 to '93, hourly rates increased an average of 2.5%, although they were down in all regions except the North Central and South Central areas. Most size ranges showed increases, though 100-299 and 300-499 tons (54% of machines) were flat for the year. A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE We are grateful for responses from 92 readers to the questions asked about our quarterly hourly-rates survey in the October issue. Of those respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. , 84 (91%) said they'd like to see these surveys continue, despite limitations on theamount of detail they can provide. We'll keep publishing the surveys, and we'll continue to welcome advice from readers on how they can be improved. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion