Manufacturing Report: Economy Continues to Strengthen

America’s economy continues to strengthen under President Donald Trump‘s agenda according to a report on manufacturing by the Institute for Supply Management released Monday.

The broadest measure of sentiment in the manufacturing sector, the Product Managers Index, rose 2.9% to 57.8% in June demonstrating a manufacturing sector that is seeing growth and expecting more in coming months. Factories picked up at the fastest pace in three years.

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 15 reported growth in June in the following order: Furniture & Related Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Paper Products; Machinery; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Chemical Products; Transportation Equipment; Computer & Electronic Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Fabricated Metal Products; Wood Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; and Petroleum & Coal Products.

The report is informed by surveys of manufacturers in 18 sectors and the respondents had a very positive outlook for American manufacturing.

• “Overall, demand is up 5-7 percent and expected to continue through the end of the year, at least. ” (Transportation Equipment)
• “Business is still very robust. Have continued to hire to match increased demand.” (Computer & Electronic Products)
• “Business is strong both domestically and internationally. Supplier deliveries are quick domestically, international supply chain is slowing. We are in a hiring mode.” (Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products)
• “Overall, business is strong. We are seeing price increases for packaging and handling materials as well as some MRO supplies” (Plastics & Rubber Products)
• “Demand is picking up; meeting budget expectations.” (Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components)
• “We are very busy quoting new business, so our customers have a good outlook on the rest of the year.” (Fabricated Metal Products)

New orders, production rates, manufacturing employment, supplier deliveries, and customer inventories all showed considerable improvement over already positive May numbers  (any indicator over 50% indicates strength.)

President Trump’s deregulation agenda is clearly at play as some are enjoying changes already made and others are looking forward to changes to come.

• “Environmental regulations have strong effects on our business. We continue to watch for any changes as a result of the new administration.” (Paper Products)