Industrial OEM Performance Report Q1 2021

The ‘Industrial OEM Performance Report’ for the Q1 2020 is out. We sifted through the comprehensive set of statistics, from Jan 2020 to March 2021, published by census.gov and distilled the data for industrial manufacturing, and compared the statistics of the first quarter of 2021 with the previous year’s statistics.

The primary sub-sectors addressed are – HVAC Equipment, Industrial Machinery, Mining, Oil/Gas Field, Turbines, Generators, Power Transmission, Material Handling, and Construction Machinery.

Key Highlights:

• The overall picture seems optimistic as compared to last years’ gloomy outlook due to the outset of pandemic and nationwide lockdowns that triggered in March 2020.
• The new orders have increased by 6.75% as compared to the first quarter of the last year. This definitely gives a sign of positive economic outlook & forecasts in the manufacturing sector.
• The Industrial OEMs have managed to keep their inventory in control by keeping it 1.3% below as compared to last year’s levels.
• Though the numbers are picking up, there seems to be a significant increase in unfilled orders standing at 4.9% north of last year’s figures. The industrials have to catch up with the new orders vis a vis their speed of fulfilling those orders.
• The Construction Machinery Manufacturing has seen a huge jump of around 22% in terms of new orders. But it has seen a bigger jump of 37% in the unfilled orders, which is reflected in a mediocre 3.5% growth in shipments.
• Mining, Oil, and Gas Field Machinery was hit hard by the Covid19 lockdowns & quarantines as per our findings in the 2020 Year in Review Report. It is still struggling to get back on track as it has seen 22%lowershipments and a 17% dip in new orders this quarter.
• A clear winner in this race has been the HVAC with a 13% increase in shipments, 10.5% increase in new orders with 7% less inventory than last year.
• The Industrial Machinery manufacturing sector has managed to perform decently with a 9% increase in new orders while managing to reduce the unfilled orders by 3% as compared to the first quarter of 2020.

Reference: https://www.census.gov/