2014 US machinery shipments up 6 percent

Through the first nine months of 2014 U.S. shipments of primary plastics equipment — for injection molding, blow molding and extrusion — grew 6 percent in dollar volume from the same period of 2013, according to the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.'s Committee on Equipment Statistics.

SPI reported the value of those primary machines totaled $301.4 million in the third quarter, a 6 percent gain from the second quarter, but down 2 percent from what the trade group called a “robust” third quarter of 2013.

Injection molding machines, twin-screw extruders and blow molding machines were up for the first nine months. Shipments of single-screw extruders declined. Bookings for auxiliary equipment set a record in the third quarter.

“The market conditions that drive investment in new industrial equipment have prevailed throughout all of 2014, and I expect these conditions to persist in 2015,” said plastics economist Bill Wood. “These are: low interest rates and the need for increased productivity in order to meet rising aggregate demand.”

Wood analyzes the machinery data for the Committee on Equipment Statistics. SPI released the third quarter results on Nov. 25. SPI released statistics about the dollar value of equipment, not the number of units produced.

Shipments of injection molding machines are up 4 percent for the first nine months, January through September. For the third quarter, the value of injection press shipments declined 4 percent from the year-ago third quarter.

Single-screw extruder shipments are down 6 percent for the nine-month period of 2014 compared with same period of 2013. The segment dropped 14 percent for the third quarter, compared to the third quarter of 2013.

The value of twin-screw extruder shipments jumped by 35 percent for the first nine months of 2014, and they were up 33 percent for just the third quarter. Twin-screw extruder numbers include both co-rotating and counter-rotating extruders.

Blow molding machines grew by an estimated 25 percent for the year to date, and an estimated 27 percent on a quarterly basis.

SPI reports that auxiliary equipment sales are strong. New bookings of auxiliaries totaled a record-breaking $108.2 million in the third quarter. That is a gain of 8 percent compared with the third quarter of 2013. For the first nine months of 2014, bookings are up 12 percent from the same period in 2013.

Wood said the upward plastics equipment data corresponds to trends in two major government reports on activity levels in industrial machinery. Business investment in industrial equipment grew by 16 percent in the third quarter compared with the year-earlier quarter, and increased by 13 percent for the first nine months. And the total value of new orders of industrial machinery jumped 47 percent in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter of last year. The value of total Industrial machinery orders is up 34 percent through the first nine months.

Respondents to a third quarter SPI survey of machinery suppliers said that automotive and medical will remain strong markets for plastic products and equipment. Expectations improved for packaging, appliances and construction from the second quarter.

North America appears to be the global region with the most promising market conditions in 2015, said Wood, who runs Mountaintop Economics & Research Inc. and is Plastics News' economics editor.

“From a global perspective, the North American region will be the strongest in terms of total economic activity in the coming months,” Wood said. “With the exception of China and India, the economic activity in most of the other major economic regions of the world will see sluggish or even negative growth. But strong demand in the U.S. will help to sustain the momentum in the global economy in 2015.”

Watch for Plastics News' Dec. 1 print edition, which will include a Machinery Outlook 2015 special report.