Concern among American manufacturing executives over the economy is expected to continue through May, according to Cahners Publishing Co., which reported a dip in confidence in April, the first in four months.
The next Cahners Business Confidence Index, to be released May 27, probably will not reflect much change from the April report, said Cahners economist Darryl Delano.
“The general direction is probably the same,” he said. Cahners reported the April business confidence index dropped by 1.3 to 66.4 following four consecutive months of rising business confidence.
“When the Fed increased interest rates, Wall Street went into a 10-day free fall,” said Delano, “so it was inevitable that manufacturers would react, along with the rest of the business community.
Confidence waned in five of seven business components tracked by the index. Only research and development (up 0.9) and new products (up 1.1) posted higher ratings in April.
The National Association of Purchasing Management’s index of business activity also decreased in April, to 54.2 percent from 55 percent in March.
The association’s prices-paid index, a key indicator of inflationary trends, declined to 49.6 percent from 50.9 percent.
Manufacturing concerns: Human relations issues were the greatest concern of manufacturing companies subscribing to Ernie– Ernst & Young’s Internet-based on-line consulting service for entrepreneurial companies.
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The accounting and consulting company said a major concern of subscribers was developing compensation programs to help retain top talent.
Although human resources issues accounted for 31 percent of the questions asked by all companies, 40 percent of the questions asked by firms in the manufacturing and services industries were on that topic.
Manufacturing companies also appeared to be more concerned with marketing and sales issues, while financial-services companies were most concerned with strategic planning.
Besides compensation strategies, the most frequently asked human relations questions concerned labor laws and government policies, training and development, recruiting and work-force trends.
The service is for companies ranging between $25 million and $200 million in revenue.
Prize idea: A prepainted metal jacket of a breadmaker manufactured by Fullerton Metals Co. of Northbrook won grand prize in the 29th annual National Coil Coaters Association design awards competition.
Fullerton produced the product’s outer metal shell for West Bend Co., of West Bend, Wis., sole domestic manufacturer of automatic breadmakers.
MSC Pre Finish Metals Inc., a division of Material Sciences Corp. of Elk Grove Village, was the primary coater for the product.
“We like to pay homage to the different creative uses in coated metal,” said Dan Consiglio, marketing and communications manager for the Chicago-based association. Painting coils of sheet metal before they are molded into products often can be economical and environmentally preferable, said Consiglio.
“What is neat about this year’s winner is you have an appliance manufacturer who won with a breadmaker,” said Consiglio. About 40 to 50 percent of coil-coated metals are used in building materials, he explained, so that many earlier winners came in that category.
The automotive sector is an emerging market for prepainted metals, he said. “We’re seeing a bigger push into the automotive market, which is something we are excited about.”