The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) will join UBM in announcing the results of a Business Outlook Survey of the specialty chemical manufacturing industry during a live webcast from Washington, DC, on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at 12:30pm (EST).
Distributed late November 2014 through early January 2015, the online survey polled specialty chemical manufacturing decision-makers about their opinions on the custom, fine, and specialty chemical industry.
“SOCMA was pleased to play a role in the cultivation of the questions and distribution of the survey to our members,” said Lawrence Sloan, president and CEO of SOCMA. “The results collected allow us to not only better understand industry sentiment, but help us better communicate the importance of our industry’s contributions to the overall economy to the general public, the press and policymakers.”
The two groups offered a “sneak preview” of the survey during a media event at the 2015 InformEx trade show in New Orleans.
During the preview, reporters were given some initial takeaways that include:
Current state of the industry is positive with projected performance up 2014 vs. 2013:
• 88 percent of respondents feel current market conditions are good/excellent
• 86 percent project YOY revenue to be up; 59 percent project it up by 10 percent or more
• Companies are hiring: 69 percent stated headcount increased for 2014; 55 percent project it up by 4 percent or more
Looking ahead to 2015 and beyond:
• Companies are looking to new product introduction, manufacturing process improvements and partnering with customers to develop products to achieve growth
• 69 percent of companies are very likely or already have plans in place for capital investments.
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