Mold Builders Express Positive Outlook as Work ‘On Hold’ Decreases

The Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA) and Harbour Results, Inc. (HRI) recently completed their Automotive Tooling Barometer containing data from Q2 2016. While the industry experienced a slow start to the year with more than $2 billion in tooling capacity not leveraged during first quarter, it has since taken a turn in the right direction. Not only have capacity utilization rates stabilized for die (83 percent) and mold (76 percent) tool makers in the fourth quarter, overall work ‘on hold’ has decreased by six percentage points since January. HRI estimates the industry ‘on hold’ impact in second and third quarters to be around $1.6 billion, a decrease from over $2 billion in January.

Not only does the research show the industry recovering from a downturn, but also shops are expressing a positive outlook about their business in the coming months. Year over year, the tooling sentiment index has experienced a 32 percent change, with sentiment now up eight points since January to 74. HRI’s analysis of the survey results revealed the cyclical nature to sentiment, as there is some level of correlation to the amount of work ‘on hold’ reported.

Additionally,  sales efficiency and quoting levels varied greatly by tool shop revenue. Larger shops demonstrated greater levels of efficiency, with shops over $20 million earning 22 percent more revenue per salesperson and quoting 32 percent more per estimator than shops under $20 million.

The Tooling Barometer collected insights from a diverse group of shops with a total of more than $1 billion in tooling revenue across nine different industries. Although 82 percent of responses come from automotive, HRI deems this to be a good reflection of the overall industry as the automotive industry accounts for a majority of the tooling industry’s revenue.

A full copy of the September OESA Automotive Tooling Barometer results is available here. 

On Nov. 10, 2016, OESA and HRI are hosting the 2016 Automotive Tooling Update, a meeting where automotive tooling market intelligence and insights, as well as an in-depth analysis of current tooling practices and trends will be shared. For more information and to register for the event, please click here.