Finishing Activity Closing at 47.7 for the Second Month in a Row
After slowing contraction for each of four months straight, Finishing activity leveled off in April. The scenario is similar across manufacturing segments, perhaps reflecting increased conservatism as interest rates and inflation fail to come down.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing activity that has been contracting for a year showed signs of picking up for several months such that a “level” April may prove to be only a pause in the improving trajectory.
Each of the five contracting components show at least a small degree of slowing contraction in April.
New orders and backlog slow contraction in April to about the same degree as in March, whereas the rate of slowing contraction for production is smaller.
Employment continues its “wobble” with slightly slowed contraction while contraction of exports in April is level with March.
Supplier deliveries continue to lengthen at a faster rate, the best sign among all components this month.
Expectations of future business (not part of the GBI calculation) are still positive but less so in April.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing
Finishing activity contracts at a steady rate in April.
Key Component Activity (3-month moving averages)
New orders slowed contraction to a greater degree than did production.
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Dear Products Finishing Audience Member:
Starting on Thursday August 8, 2024, PF will begin “gating” its premium content, asking all new website users to provide some information about themselves — name, title, employer, email address — before they are provided free access to the content.
We are doing this because the ways PF’s audience finds and accesses our content is changing. Google’s search algorithms, increasingly, make it difficult to connect PF’s content with the people who might make use of it. On top of that, generative AI like ChatGPT is serving up PF content to internet users without attributing that content to PF.
As a result, it has become increasingly important for PF evolve its audience development strategy and learn as much as possible about who is accessing our content, what content they are accessing and how they are accessing it.
With this audience development strategy, we hope to do two things:
First, we will be better able to deliver directly to our audience the editorial content that aligns with the surface finishing materials, processes and technologies that interest them.
Second, we will be better able to connect the materials, equipment and services our advertisers supply with the audience that is most interested in them.
PF plays a distinctive role and has earned a place of esteem within the focused and specialized industry it serves. Large developments in the media landscape are forcing us to change the way we communicate with our audience. We are confident that our audience values the role PF plays in their professional lives and will join us in this effort to stay connected to them.
We thank you for your continued interest in and support of PF and welcome any questions you might have about the brand’s new content gating strategy.
