Finishing Activity Made a Repeat Performance in March, Closing at 46.1
The slope is softening, but finishing activity has slowed contraction for three months straight. It will take several more months at the rate it is going, but the index is headed toward 50 (flat).
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing has been on a trend of slowing contraction since December 2023.
New orders and production have been fairly synchronized in slowing contraction, for two and three months, respectively.
Backlog has followed suit, but at a level much more contracted than new orders and production.
Employment has been wobbly on a reporting basis, consistently contracting for over six months, with some months accelerating contraction, and other months slowing it.
Supplier deliveries continued to ‘land’ in expansion (aka ‘lengthening,’) just above 50.
Expectations of future business (not part of the GBI calculation) remained bullish in the expansion zone, but may be levelling off.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing
Finishing activity is on a path to flat.
Key Component Activity
New orders, production, and backlog all slowed contraction in February, backlog landing at the lowest level.
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Why am I seeing this?
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.
