According to many experts, US manufacturing continues to defy economic bad news, and the first-quarter revenue sentiment is that the first-half revenues of 2016 will echo 2015, which were OK. The anticipated dirty word, recession, seems to have disappeared from the financial pages, as one noted analyst, Alan Beaulieu, said: "We are not looking at a recession in manufacturing in the United States—the manufacturing economy will rebound in the second half of 2016." That's what I am going to tell audiences at two events at the Lasers for Manufacturing Event (LME) in Atlanta, GA, on April 25-27.
If you are attending the Lasers for Manufacturing Summit for C-level executives on April 25th or the Laser Technology Showcase Theater on the exhibit floor on the 26th, you'll hear me trumpet US manufacturers' fortitude in a tough economic world, but also hear me chastise them for not sending their manufacturing people to the single North American tradeshow that only displays industrial laser material processing equipment, where a hall full of industry experts are gathered to answer their questions on how US manufacturers can sustain high productivity levels using laser processing tools. The Deloitte Index shows that US manufacturing competitiveness rose to second last year and is expected to assume the top spot by 2020, accomplished by higher productivity.
There is still time to register (www.lia.org/conferences/laserevent/education/LTST) and make a trip to Atlanta for the Summit, the exhibit, and the parallel educational program. I'll be pleased to meet and talk with you.