The continuing shift in the economy toward online shopping and home delivery is driving the construction of new warehousing spaces, and benefiting a number of material suppliers in the process.
March 18, 2021While the shortage of microchips for automobiles may be one of the most visible examples of supply chain issues limiting the ability of manufacturers to ramp up output, it's not the only one. The Biden administration has ordered a review of all supply chains critical to the US economy in an effort to identify weaknesses and work to remove them going forward.
March 8, 2021A shortage in aluminum cans continues as a variety of factors contribute to the shortage.
February 26, 2021A healthy outlook for heavy industries worldwide will support the nearly $45 billion global refractory market.
March 17, 2020Iron ore miners have suffered for a while. Cheap imports and global steelmaking overcapacity have dragged down prices for domestically manufactured steel, thereby reducing demand for iron ore. However, the industry is expected to see robust growth through 2023 for three reasons.
April 22, 2019The aluminum industry is looking up. Historically low aluminum prices have finally risen due to the effect of the US government’s tariffs on imported primary aluminum. However, the future of the industry may not be quite so bright if the tariffs are repealed.
April 10, 2019The July 2018 rollback of the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards has roused debate, but any change that occurs is likely to be minimal at best.
February 22, 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, 2018