Following the slight downturn in aerospace manufacturing after events such as the grounding of the 737 MAX by Boeing, growth in the demand for bearings and other power transmission components began to wane. However, the aerospace sector is projected to see 3.1% growth through 2023.
October 9, 2019With no established commercial cultivation of natural rubber in the US, demand for natural rubber is met by imports from countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. Due to the necessity of natural rubber in various products (e.g., tires), rubber product manufacturers and other industry participants are researching ways to produce natural rubber outside of tropical climates, including in the US, to try to avoid price volatility as well as the relatively high price of natural rubber in the current natural rubber supply.
October 9, 2019Roy Amara once said, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”. In the machine tool market, additive manufacturing promises to be revolutionary, enabling the production of parts that would be nigh-impossible to create with conventional machine tools. How is additive manufacturing going to impact the types of parts and profitability of machine shops in the future?
February 22, 2019The fabricated metal products industry is one of many targeted in the Trump administration’s recently imposed tariffs, and like other industries, the potential outcomes are largely unknown. Retaliatory tariffs are mounting. Will the smaller actors in the US fabricated metal products industry maximize their capabilities and expand to meet rising demand?
August 15, 2018Aerospace equipment shipments are projected to see growth through 2022. However, as these aircraft are increasingly designed with lighter composite materials, metal service centers may have trouble adapting to this decline in demand from aircraft producers.
June 20, 2018US demand for paper industry machinery (including parts and attachments) is forecast to reach $3.6 billion in 2022. Suppliers will benefit from increases in paper and paperboard production, which will support investments in new, more efficient machinery and upgraded parts.
April 9, 2018The development of smaller, more advanced process nodes has slowed as the semiconductor machinery industry has struggled to produce the technology expected to improve the costs of manufacturing smaller nodes. However, many producers now seem to be ready to move forward.
February 9, 2018From 2013 through 2016, sequestration, a system of budget cuts meant to enforce spending caps set by the Budget Control Act, led to stagnation in US shipbuilding output. Now, plans to dramatically increase the size of the US naval fleet from 275 ships to 355 promise to reinvigorate US shipbuilders.
November 14, 2017Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has the potential to revolutionize both prototyping and manufacturing in the field of industrial casting. By fusing metal powders, manufacturers can rapidly create near-net castings from designs, reducing the costs of metal finishing and material removal. The aerospace industry is ground zero for such innovation, with players like GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, taking the lead.
November 13, 2017US lime demand is forecast to reach 18.9 million metric tons in 2021. Rising manufacturing output and construction activity will support lime consumption.
October 16, 2017