Assembly - December 2008 - (Page 23) Where the Dollars Will Be Spent Spending by Company Size 99 or less 15% West 10% Midwest 40% Northeast 11% 250-499 13% 100-249 23% 500 or more 49% South 38% Note: Based on 2009 total estimated spending of $2.88 billion. Note: Based on 2009 total estimated spending of $2.88 billion. Are assemblers fleeing the Western states? After accounting for as much as a quarter of total equipment spending in 2004, the West will represent just 10 percent of all spending next year. Plants with at least 500 employees will account for 49 percent of total spending next year. That’s twice the percentage in 2007, and it’s the highest percentage since 2004. However, it should be noted that we received an unusually high response rate from very large facilities this year. Spending by Product Size 25-36 inches 12-24 inches 5% 10% 3-6 feet 6% was delivered. The $1.2 billion facility will begin production late next year. At full capacity, it will be able to produce 300,000 vehicles annually and employ 2,500 people. BMW supplier LSP Automotive Systems will spend $45 million to expand its plant in Greenville, SC. LSP will add 61 jobs and install a second assembly line. Toyota Tsusho America Inc. will locate two new plants in northeast Mississippi to supply the new Toyota Motor Manufacturing facility under construction in Blue Springs, MS. The two operations will supply tire and wheel assemblies and employ approximately 70 people. The Toyota plant itself represents a $1.3 billion investment. It’s being built to assemble the Prius hybrid and could employ as many as 3,000 people. Such headlines would seem to belie gloomy economic forecasts, and while the results of our annual spending survey don’t exactly signal a boom in investment, they do indicate that the capital spending glass is half full, rather than half empty. According to our survey, U.S. assembly plants will spend $2.88 billion on new equipment in 2009, which is 2 percent more than what we projected for this year. Almost three-fourths of respondents will allocate at least as many dollars to assembly technology next year as they did this year. Specifically, 30 percent of respondents will spend more on assembly technology in 2009 than they did in 2008. That’s virtually the same as last year’s survey. In addition, 44 percent plan to spend about the same next year as this year. 2008 2009 If there’s cause for conLess spending 23% 26% cern, it’s that 26 percent of respondents will spend less in Equal spending 46% 44% 2009 than they did in 2008. More spending 31% 30% That compares with 23 percent in last year’s survey, and Almost three-fourths of U.S. assembly plants will spend it’s the second highest perno less on equipment next year than they did this year. centage since the recession year of 2001, when 31 percent Less than 12 inches 39% More than 6 feet 40% Note: Based on 2009 total estimated spending of $2.88 billion. Manufacturers of large products—assemblies bigger than a 6-foot cube—will account for 40 percent of all equipment spending next year. That’s more than double the percentage from 13 years ago. Spending by Industry NAIC 335 NAIC 334 Electrical equipment & Computers & electronic products appliances 17% 9% NAIC 333 Machinery NAIC 336 27% Transportation equipment NAIC 332 31% Fabricated metal products 11% Spending Plans NAIC 339 Miscellaneous manufacturing 5% Note: Based on 2009 total estimated spending of $2.88 billion. Despite the financial difficulties of the Big Three, assemblers of transportation equipment will account for 31 percent of overall equipment spending next year. That compares with 25 percent in 2008, and it’s the highest percentage for this industry in 13 years. www.assemblymag.com December 2008 / ASSE M B LY 23 http://www.assemblymag.com
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