AMBA Finds Optimism in US Mould Industry

Results of the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA) Summer 2005 business forecast show continuing optimism in the US mould making trade as business remains steady. Of the 124 survey respondents, 21% reported that current business is excellent (compared with 14% in the Summer 2004 forecast), 49% reported business to be good, and 26% said business is fair. Only 4% found business to be poor, and no one said it was bad.

Three-month projections solicited by the AMBA survey were roughly the same as last year: a large plurality of respondents (46%) expect their company’s business to remain the same, while 36% expect to do moderately better over the short term. Only 6% of companies participating in the survey projected any three-month decline in business.

Twenty-seven percent reported that quoting was up compared with three months before, 50% said quoting was the same, and 23% reported that quoting was down. Shipments were up for 41% of the respondents and the same for another 45%.

The forecast notes that profits are up for 27% of the respondents (compared with 21% a year ago) and about the same for 57%. Though profits were down for 17% of the respondents, that was a better report than the 21% who said in the Summer 2004 forecast that profits had declined.

Employment figures also are holding steady; 34% of the companies responding to the AMBA survey reported employment up and only 7% down, with the rest unchanged. Survey participants have an average of 22 shop employees and 4 design and engineering employees. The former work 46 hours per week, while the latter put in 48 hours.

AMBA is the largest industry trade association in the United States for mould manufacturers and affiliated companies, serving 325 member companies in chapters throughout the country.