Finishing Activity: Overall Finishing Activity Accelerated Contraction in July, Closing at 42.9
Finishing activity experienced accelerated contraction for the third month in a row, down 1.1 points from June. It is down almost 5 points (4.8) from the April reading before it first started to drop, and has not been this low since May 2020.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing activity is performing like most manufacturing segments, showing signs of contraction in the past few months.
Key components, new orders, production and backlog all contracted faster in July, driving the overall index contraction.
Exports, generally living in a tight range of contracting values, posted one of its steeper declines (1.3) in July.
Employment was the only contracting component that held its own, staying at about the same value since April.
Supplier deliveries continued to lengthen in July, at a slightly slower pace.
Expectations of future business (not part of the GBI calculation) stayed positive, at about the same value it has been since April.
The Gardner Business Index (GBI): Finishing
Finishing activity contracted at an accelerated rate in July.
Key Component Activity (3-month moving averages)
New orders, production and backlog accelerated contraction, driving contraction in the overall Finishing index.
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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.
