Steady Toolroom Conditions in 3rd Quarter, Says Tooling and Manufactuirng Association

The Tooling and Manufacturing Association has released its October report, announcing that business conditions have remained steady in the period from July-October 2004. Other findings include reports from all 114 regular member companies that order backlog has increased for 31% of the companies, remained steady for 35% and declined for 34%. According to the association's survey relase, trend factors varied across the industries. For the precision machining and special machines industries, 70% of the companies surveyed reported steadiness in employment. The companies in the plastic molding industry unanimously (100%) reported a decrease in employment. Across the board, the average toolroom workweek was 47.5 hours, an increase of 1.5 hours from July 1, 2004.