Week 2 in Manufacturing News

Manufacturing 2020: 3 Major Predictions; Tariffs Are Having a Bigger Effect on U.S. Manufacturing Than Initially Thought; UK hit by sharpest deterioration in manufacturing in 7 years; Eurozone activity picks up despite manufacturing slump.

Manufacturing 2020: 3 Major Predictions

2020 really should be an exciting year. After decades of incremental productivity growth, the result of lean initiatives, automation and stern discipline, manufacturers will use technology not to optimize, but to create.

1. 5G Will Have More Machine than Human Customers
2. The B2B2C Model will Compete More Earnestly with B2C
3. More than Half of Manufacturers will have Invested in AI

Source: Manufacturing Business Technology.

Tariffs Are Having a Bigger Effect on U.S. Manufacturing Than Initially Thought

The U.S. manufacturing sector contracted for the fifth straight month in December, with the monthly reading from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) hitting its weakest point in more than 10 years. The purchasing manager’s index (PMI) fell to 47.2.

Source: Forbes.

UK hit by sharpest deterioration in manufacturing in 7 years

Gloom deepened at the end of 2019 amid political uncertainty, according to PMI survey. The IHS Markit/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index sank to 47.5 in December from 48.9 in November, although it was marginally higher than an initial flash estimate of 47.4.

The weight of Brexit-related uncertainty was confirmed on Thursday by a Bank of England survey of nearly 3,000 chief financial officers from small, medium and large UK businesses. Some 53 percent of companies reported that Brexit was one of their top three sources of uncertainty in December.

Source: FT.

Eurozone activity picks up despite manufacturing slump

Business activity in the eurozone ticked up more than expected in December, boosted by a rise in the domestically-focused services sector that outweighed another slide in the manufacturing sector, according to a closely watched survey.

The IHS Markit eurozone purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.9 in December, taking the key indicator of economic health above last month’s preliminary estimate for it to remain unchanged from its 50.6 level in November.

Source: FT.