Staying strong

In PwC’s 17th Annual Global CEO Survey, the number of CEOs who believe that the global economy will grow in the next 12 months has doubled compared to responses from 2013. Of the 1,344 CEOs from 68 countries who participated in the survey, 44% felt positive.

However, since our readers work within the medical device design and manufacture market, I thought it best to look closer at those respondents in industrial manufacturing and pharma/life science industries.

Industrial manufacturing nearly doubled, with 37% believing the global economy will improve during the next 12 months, and pharma/life science answers show 32% believe in improvement. Perhaps a stronger indicator of confidence is the stability the CEOs see, with more than half in each sector feeling the global economy would stay the same – industrial manufacturing 57% and pharma/life sciences 56%. Staying the same isn’t bad since manufacturing has rebounded since the lackluster days following 2008 when the industry came to a standstill.

Moving beyond the confidence growth – or at least anticipated stability – a few interesting themes emerged. One consistently strong theme is that CEOs in both sectors expect technological advances to have a huge impact on their businesses throughout the next five years. Eighty-one percent of CEOs from industrial manufacturing and 89% in pharma/life sciences are convinced that technological advances will bring transformation.

After asking about the trend’s impact, CEOs noted the areas they’ll need to change in order to be prepared for these transformations. Industrial manufacturing CEOs who chose “recognize need/developing strategy/have concrete plants to change/change program underway or completed” showed strongly at 91% for R&D and innovation capacity, supply chain 88%, and investment in production capacity at 83%.

Pharma/life sciences responses to the same choices were R&D and innovation capacity (78%), supply chain (75%), and investment in production capacity (73%).

On the heels of this report, the recently released Manpower Employment Outlook Survey of more than 18,000 employers revealed 19% anticipate an increase in staff levels in Q2 2014 hiring plans, while anticipated staff reductions are among the lowest in survey history at 4%. Supporting the continued strength of manufacturing was the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report from AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. January U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $365.06 million, down from the previous month, but up 1.3% from January 2013’s total of $360.31.

With all indicators trending strongly, contract manufacturers at all tiers should take this as an opportunity. Now is the time to look at the equipment and capacity in your shop and determine where your needs are to be ready to answer demand. Once you do, you need to know what’s new in the market. This is where we play a role. Each issue of TMD delivers insight into the latest advancements and trends in the industry, offering a look at technology that is available to increase productivity and improve quality. Earning new business and continuing to grow your customer base with the right investments is how one company stays ahead of the others.

What are your plans to stay ahead?