Growth expectations for 2019: Industry Trends & Analysis

Once again, our December issue includes an annual outlook and recap report, which begins on Page 22 of the print and digital versions. For the article, I gathered information from economic authorities who cover the aerospace, automotive and energy industries, as well as the manufacturing sector as a whole.

In connection with two other articles I wrote, the Talking Shop column on Page 16 and the Shop Operations column for the January issue, I also asked the sources about their expectations for their business areas in 2019.

For the former, Nadine Crauwels, president of AB Sandvik Coromant, replied, “That is the billion-dollar question.” She elaborated that growth in 2019 will flatten out compared with the relatively high levels previously seen in the machining world.

“There will be some growth but not as large as we have seen in the past year and a half,” Crauwels said. “But that still means there are a lot of opportunities out there.”

Simon Whitton, regional division manager for North America at KUKA Robotics Corp., also sees demand for robots continuing to increase. At the forefront of robot adoption are South Korea, Japan and China. “They are driving this huge uptick in the use of robotics, principally because of the shortage of labor,” he said.