MTI Board of Trustees Approves Funding for Newly Enhanced Quarterly Forecasting Report

The MTI Board of Trustees met this past week in Nashville, Tennessee for their annual Fall Board Meeting. The Trustees had a full slate of big topics on their agenda. One of the big steps that the Board took was to approve funding to enhance MTI’s quarterly heat treat sales forecasting report provided by ITR Economics.

ITR Economics is one of the leading forecasting firms in the country and MTI has been working with them since 2015 to provide quarterly forecasting of heat treat sales, as well as two leading economic indicators that track heat treating sales.

This week, the Board approved funding for ITR to include in MTI’s quarterly report a 1, 2, and 3 year forecast for the seven prime industries that drive heat treat sales. Each of the seven industry sectors outlined below will have a full page of information and graphs sharing the key information on the three year forecast for each sector.

MTI’s Benchmarking Committee Chair, Michael Mouilleseaux from Erie Steel stated, “This is a huge enhancement in our quarterly reporting because it minimizes the uncertainty members feel in the market. To be able to see clear and viable forecasts for the next three years for the key industries that drive our plants, provides a member great confidence to make big decisions on daily management, labor, and equipment purchasing issues.”

Another enhancement in the forecasting is that ITR Economics will expand our quarterly webinar that they present on heat treat sales forecasts to include commentary on the  industry sector reports. This will give members the inside intelligence on how each sector will perform over the next 3 years.

The new report is due to start with MTI’s February 2021 Quarterly Sales Report. The seven industry sectors being added to MTI’s quarterly forecasting report are:

North America Light Vehicle Production

Passenger car and light-duty truck production (classes 1-3) in the US, Canada, and Mexico combined, including transplants. A passenger car is a road motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle, intended for the carriage of passengers and designed to seat no more than nine persons (including the driver).

US Heavy Duty Truck Production

Production index for heavy duty trucks in the US. This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in (1) manufacturing heavy duty truck chassis and assembling complete heavy-duty trucks, buses, heavy duty motor homes, and other special purpose heavy duty motor vehicles for highway use or (2) manufacturing

heavy duty truck chassis only. Includes trucks weighing 14,000 pounds or more.

US Oil and Gas Extraction Production

Includes exploration and extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; drilling and equipping wells; operating separators, emulsion breakers, desilting equipment, and field gathering lines for crude petroleum and natural gas; and all other activities in the preparation of oil and gas up to the point of shipment from the producing property. Also includes the production of crude petroleum, the mining and extraction of oil from oil shale and oil sands, and the production of natural gas, sulfur recovery from natural gas, and recovery of hydrocarbon liquids.

US Construction Machinery New Orders

New Orders for construction machinery in the United States. This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing construction machinery, surface mining machinery, and logging equipment.

US Medical Equipment and Supplies Production

Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing index for the United States. Examples of products made by these establishments are surgical and medical instruments, surgical appliances and supplies, dental equipment and supplies, orthodontic goods, ophthalmic goods, dentures, and orthodontic appliances.

US Civilian Aircraft Equipment Production

Index for US establishments primarily engaged in one or more of the following: (1) manufacturing aircraft engines and engine parts; (2) developing and making prototypes of aircraft engines and engine parts; (3) aircraft propulsion system conversion (i.e., major modifications to systems); (4) aircraft propulsion systems overhaul and rebuilding (i.e., periodic restoration of aircraft propulsion system to original design specifications).

US Computers and Electronics New Orders

New orders for computer and electronic products (excluding semiconductors) in the United States. Industries in the Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing subsector aggregate establishments that manufacture computers, computer peripherals, communications equipment, and similar electronic products, and establishments that manufacture components for such products. Source: US Census Bureau.

If you have any questions on MTI’s new enhancements to the quarterly sales forecasting report, feel free to contact Tom Morrison at tom@heattreat.net.