Lower Oil Prices, More Work?
Falling oil prices might not be as big of a concern for 2015 machine tool orders as many in the wider industry might assume. For our sector, they could potentially lead to more orders, not less.
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For Gardner Business Media, MoldMaking Technology certainly isn’t the only avenue to disseminate information, nor are such sister publications as Plastics Technology and Modern Machine Shop. Although technology is certainly a major focus, we also offer market research and economic forecasting. In my view—and in the view of plenty of others I’ve met during my time in the industry— the “marketing blog” and “economics news” sections of our website are well worth following on a regular basis. These insights are researched and compiled mostly by Steve Kline Jr., Gardner’s director of marketing intelligence.
Although all of this information is potentially interesting to the audience of MoldMaking Technology, one recent post caught my eye because it touches on our corner of the industry in particular. It seems that falling oil prices have created, to quote Steve, “some concern” about this year’s machine tool orders. However, that concern might be overblown. In fact, for plastic and rubber product manufacturers, lower oil prices have been a good thing, and the automotive industry certainly isn’t suffering either. Both sectors, of course, are critically important for the die/mold market, which is projected to be the fourth largest end market for machine tools this year. Read the full post.
