Business Trends

The measured optimism that MHEDA Suppliers were feeling last year at this time was largely validated, with many Suppliers seeing sales increases, and sales records in some cases. Though manufacturers of material handling equipment saw gains in some areas offset by declines in other areas, a similar sentiment permeates the supplier sector this year as it looks ahead to 2017. ...

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Each year in the 1st Quarter issue of The MHEDA Journal, we survey the industry to try to paint a complete picture of what can be expected from the economy in the coming year. To do this, we solicit forecasts from our partner associations like MHI, ITA and CEMA. We also speak to MHEDA members from both the distributor and ...

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MHEDA Convention Speaker Brian Beaulieu predicts growth in 2016 By Steve Guglielmo and Brian Beaulieu ITR Economics CEO Brian Beaulieu will be presenting at the MHEDA Convention on Monday, May 2nd, 2016, from 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The MHEDA Journal had an opportunity to speak with Brian about his presentation, “Prosperity in the Age of Decline” and about what ...

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By Robert Reinfried, Exec. Vice President, CEMA The Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reports that overall industry orders (bookings) for the first 6 months of 2015 increased 5.78% compared to the same period in 2014, with total orders of $5.72 billion. CEMA estimates industry billed sales (shipments) for the first 6 months of 2015 increased 7.87% compared to the same ...

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Growth but No “Break Out” Boom By The MAPI Foundation, Reprinted with permission from MAPI A number of factors have challenged economic growth in 2015, among them a second straight severe winter, the West Coast port strike, a strong dollar and collapse of oil prices, but assuming the first two were anomalies, there should be marginal improvement for 2016 according ...

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By Brian Feehan, President, ITA With no shortage of headline-grabbing news from Washington, DC; “Will the Federal Reserve Raise Rates? Will Congress Pass a Debt Ceiling Increase and Negotiate a Budget? Will US Foreign Trade Policy Initiatives Pass Congress? Will Presidential Election Politics Gridlock Washington?” Some of these headline questions have been answered – Congress passed a debt increase and ...

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By George Prest, CEO, MHI After experiencing near historic highs in 2015 for Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing (MHEM), MHI predicts a modest slowdown in U.S. material handling equipment manufacturing in 2016. MHEM orders are expected to be $31.1 billion in 2015, but fall in 2016 by 11.3 percent to 27.6 billion. Domestic Demand is expected to be 30.7 billion in ...

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By Chris Powers On these pages last year, MHEDA Suppliers predicted heady times and spoke of possible revenue records to be set in 2015. Many suppliers brought those expectations into fruition, as 2015 was by and large a positive one for the industry. The outlook is still positive for 2016, although MHEDA Suppliers are a little more measured with their ...

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MHEDA dealers across North America anticipate growth, though not as robust as years past By Steve Guglielmo Every year, the 1st Quarter issue of The MHEDA Journal is devoted to forecasting the industry for the year to come. To do this, we not only get forecasts from our partner associations like MHI (page 65), ITA (page 66), MAPI (page 72) ...

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Three realities in Today’s Industry By Ben Rudman Despite the maturity of the material handling industry, OEMs have continued to find ways to grow and improve margins and—increasingly—that’s been through mergers and acquisitions. In today’s market, it can be tough for manufacturers to stand out. Game-changing technologies aren’t introduced on a regular basis, and differentiating features are often quickly copied ...

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