Association Report Reflects 10 Percent Sales Increase for Domestic Distributors

The Power Transmission Distributors Association released data for 2006 year-end relating to trends for distributors and manufacturers of power transmission/motion control products. According to the association press release, U.S. distributors saw a 10.2% increase in PT/MC products sales in 2006.The annualized sales-to-inventory ratio for 2006 dropped to 7.3, compared to 7.7 in 2005. Sales figures for Canadian distributors increased by 8.9% Growth in 2006 occurred at a slower rate than 2005 for U.S. manufacturers. Year-to-date sales of PT/MC products were up 6.9% in 2006, as compared to 9.6% in 2005. This also holds true to year-to-date orders of PT/MC products for U.S, manufacturers, with a gain of 3.9% in 2006 as compared to 11.3% in 2005. Canadian manufacturers also showed positive growth at a slower rate. Year-to-date sales of PT/MC products in 2006 increased 1% versus 3.4% the previous year. In considering sales growth on a product-by-product basis for the year, all categories for the U.S. showed positive growth. For Canadian manufacturers, three categories--clutches and brakes, mechanical drive systems and related PT products, and positioning systems/linear motion products--showed a reduction in sales.