US factory activity expands at fastest pace since 1983
Source: The Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
an hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. manufacturers expanded in March at the fastest pace in 37 years, a sign of strengthening demand as the pandemic wanes and government emergency aid flows through the economy.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said that its measure of factory activity jumped to 64.7 last month, from 60.8 the previous month. Thats the highest since December 1983. Some of the gain may reflect a bounce-back from February, when harsh winter weather in Texas, Louisiana and other southern states knocked some oil refineries and petrochemical plants offline.
Measures of new orders, production, and hiring all jumped, and more companies reported optimistic outlooks about future business conditions. Many firms, however, also reported difficulties in keeping up with demand, as snarled supply chains have delayed the shipment of parts and many firms have struggled to hire enough new workers.
Extended lead times, wide-scale shortages of critical basic materials, rising commodities prices and difficulties in transporting products are affecting all segments of the manufacturing economy, said Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISMs manufacturing business survey committee.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/new-orders-coronavirus-pandemic-economy-4d0ce21e1428fb2e71ef6a7ab07eca01
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)since Jan 29th...its nothing special just cut and stamped to size. It arrived this A.M. Yet last week I went to a factory near me and purchased 6 solar powered roofing systems in an hour after a tour of the place. Just about any place in the US and beyond the uses roof vents of all types comes out of this place even to the big box stores...They had a built up inventory and things just hummed along on the assembly lines. They would have made them for us on the spot, but once he got the calculation needed they came off the line in a color we wanted.
It is nice to go to an old factory building more than a 100yrs old and see that it clean and cared for.