Since its inception the MBI has been computed from results of shops that specifically signed up to fill out the survey.

The Metalworking Business Index (MBI) is created from a monthly survey sent to manufacturing executives in the durable goods industries. The MBI is a diffusion index based on 50.0; it functions in the same way as the ISM’s PMI. When the MBI is above 50.0, the metalworking industry is expanding; when the MBI is below 50.0 the industry is contracting. The total MBI is a weighted average of the subindices for new orders, production, employees, inventories, exports, and supplier deliveries.

Source: Gardner Research 2012 With a reading of 54.9, the MBI showed that the metalworking industry has grown at a fairly consistent rate since October 2011. The metalworking industry has grown for 33 months. However, April was the first month of noticeably slower growth since October 2011. Sign up to participate in the Metalworking Business Index (MBI) at gardnerweb.com/mbi.

With a reading of 54.9, the MBI showed that the metalworking industry has grown at a fairly consistent rate since October 2011. The metalworking industry has grown for 33 months. However, April was the first month of slower growth since October 2011. For more information, go to: gardnerweb.com/mbi/MBIResults.htm

Four of the six sub-indices helped move the industry’s rate of growth lower.

Most notably, new orders (to 56.4 from 63.4) and production (to 59.0 from 63.0) saw significant slowdowns in their rates of growth.

While the rate of growth for new orders seems to have slipped below the average rate for this expansion, the rate of growth in production remains fairly strong.

Because production grew faster than new orders, backlogs moved from a strong growth to contraction in April.

Also, contributing to the slower rate of industry growth was the supplier deliveries sub-index. However, the change was not that great. Supplier deliveries are still indicating widespread strength in the manufacturing supply chain.

Going in the opposite direction were employment and exports. Employment saw faster growth in April and has grown for 12 consecutive months.

Exports are still contracting, but they did so at a slower rate in April. This helped keep the industry’s rate of growth up.

Future business expectations have fallen to their lowest level since November 2011. However, expectations are still notably above the level seen in the first half of 2011. While expectations have come down a little, metalworking facilities continue to buy equipment at a significant rate. Average spending per plant has been trending up and reached its second highest level since June 2011.

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