Manufacturing activity stalls in August (highlights of the full report).FALLS CHURCH Falls Church, independent city (1990 pop. 9,578), NE Va., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; inc. as a town 1875, as a city 1948. There is diverse light manufacturing, including telecommunications equipment. , Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 1995--July's strong gain in new and unfilled orders halted this month, reported the August APICS Business Outlook Index APICS Business Outlook Index A national manufacturing index that surveys several manufacturing firms on a monthly basis. If the index is above 50 it signals expansion, if it dips below 50 it indicates contraction. . Overall, the August Index fell slightly -- from 50.3 to 49.1. Specifically: -- The Current Conditions component (manufacturing shipments, employment, industrial production, inventory stocks) slipped from 48.1 to 47.4; -- The Future Conditions component (durable goods durable goods Goods, such as appliances and automobiles, that have a useful life over a number of periods. Firms that produce durable goods are often subject to wide fluctuations in sales and profits. Also called consumer durables. new orders, production plans, unfilled orders, actual-to-desired inventory/sales ratio) fell from 52.5 to 50.7 "In company after company, we saw evidence that the rise in new orders last month translated into an increase in shipments this month, but orders fell in August and hence production did not rise," reported consultant economist Dr. Michael Evans Michael (or Mike) Evans may refer to: In religion:
APICS Educational Society for Resource Management (formerly American Production and Inventory Control Society) APICS American Production & Inventory Control Society ). "Inventory stocks were slimmed down even further; yet only a bare majority of firms found that their actual inventory/sales (I/S I/S Information Systems I/S Income Statement ) ratio was at or below desired levels." Evans also noted that there was no pickup in manufacturing employment. "That component of the index fell well below 50 in April and since then has averaged about 45 with relatively little monthly variation," said Evans. "Last month, we stated that the APICS survey results, when combined with other economic indicators Economic indicators The key statistics of the economy that reveal the direction the economy is heading in; for example, the unemployment rate and the inflation rate. , suggested a 2% annual rate of growth for the second half of the year," said Evans. "With the slight drop in August, coupled with the negative impact of the backup in bond yields on consumption and housing, we have revised that estimate to 1-1/2% growth in the second half of the year." The Index is based on a confidential monthly survey of about 100 manufacturing firms, compiled by Evans Economics and APICS, a not-for-profit, 70,000-member educational society of manufacturing professionals. Media can receive the monthly report by fax and companies can become part of the survey by calling Barbara Gleason, APICS, 703/237-8344. CONTACT: American Production & Inventory Control Society, Inc. Barbara Gleason, 703/237-8344 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion