Author: Maggie Lague

The U.S. economy grew at an unrivaled pace in the third quarter as the government poured out more than $3 trillion worth of pandemic relief which fueled consumer spending, but the deep scars from the COVID-19 recession could take a year or more to heal. Gross domestic product rebounded at a 33.1% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its advance estimate on Thursday. That was the fastest pace since the government started keeping records in 1947 and followed a historic shrinkage rate of 31.4% in the second quarter.

Hexagon AB, a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions, today announced the signing of an agreement to acquire D.P. Technology Corp. (“D.P. Technology), a leading developer and supplier of computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. The ESPRIT CAM System, its flagship solution, is the smart manufacturing solution for any machining application. Supporting any class of CNC machine via a common interface and workflow, it provides high-performance CNC machine programming, optimisation, and simulation for a broad range of precision manufacturing applications.

Well known for its machine-optimised, edit-free G-code (toolpath), ESPRIT leverages a digital twin simulation platform to model the finished part, tools, and CNC machine. AI-based algorithms eliminate manual data input and provide machine operators with greater assurance of what will happen on the shop floor. The result – simplified programming, increased tool life and utilisation, reduced cycle times and improved productivity.

“D.P. Technology is an innovator with a strong focus on building smarter, data-driven manufacturing solutions. When combined with our production software portfolio, it cements our market-leading position in CAM, particularly around CNC manufacturing processes, and accelerates the development of our Smart Manufacturing portfolio,” says Hexagon President and CEO Ola Rollén. “Additionally, the D.P. Technology team has built excellent working relationships with leading machine tool providers and other manufacturing technology experts, which will prove invaluable in our open and interoperable manufacturing ecosystem approach.”

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Camarillo, California, D.P. Technology employs around 260 people in 27 locations worldwide. The company is also represented by a network of 130 resellers across 44 countries, giving ESPRIT a global footprint and install base. D.P. Technology will operate as part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.

Production occupations are the fastest-growing occupations in 11 states: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin. The largest recent four-year job growth in this occupation category occurred in the state of Rhode Island, where structural metal fabricators and fitters increased from 230 in 2015 to 1,780 in 2019, almost 674%. Metal and plastic multiple machine tool setters, operators and tenders ranked as the fastest-growing job in two of these states – Arizona and Tennessee. This job involves setting up, operating or tending more than one type of cutting or forming machine or robot. In the four-year period from 2015 to 2019, the number of employees in this job increased by more than 276% in Arizona and by almost 374% in Tennessee. In Maine, metal and plastic milling and planing machine setters, operators and tenders had a four-year growth of 650%.

Michigan created the most net new manufacturing jobs in September, adding 5,200 workers. Other states with notable employment growth for the month included Wisconsin (up 4,800), Maine (up 4,700), Florida (up 3,700), South Carolina (up 3,600), Georgia (up 3,300) and Ohio (up 3,100). Despite gains over the past five months, manufacturing employment figures continue to experience sizable declines due to COVID-19.

The IHS Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI edged slightly higher in October, notching the best reading since January 2019, buoyed by strength in new orders. Manufacturers remained upbeat about continued solid growth in production over the coming six months.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau demonstrates the many contributions of the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is the fifth largest employer, with 11.9 million workers in the United States in 2018 and an average annual employee payroll of $60,260. The value of shipments rose to $6 trillion in 2018. Nearly six in ten U.S. exporting dollars come from manufacturers. Manufacturing Metrics.

Production occupations are growing in even more states, despite below-average wages. According to the BLS, the median annual wage for production occupations – which can include anything from bakers, butchers and food processing workers to fabricators, welders, woodworkers and metal and plastic machine workers – was $36,000 in May 2019. While this figure was lower than the median annual wage for all occupations ($39,810), production occupations comprise the fastest-growing jobs in 11 states – four more states than in our 2019 version of the study.

The fastest-growing job in one state is the fastest-disappearing in another. According to 2015 and 2019 data from the BLS, production worker helper is the fastest-growing job in Idaho, but it is the fastest-disappearing job in Nevada over the same time period. The number of employees in this job saw a four-year increase of roughly 131% in Idaho and a four-year decrease of roughly 58% in Nevada.

Manufacturing production declined 0.3% in September. This suggests that production slowed after progress over the past four months following the 20.1% decline in manufacturing production experienced between February and April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite progress in recent months, output remained 6.4% below the pre-pandemic pace in February.

Manufacturing data have been mostly solid. New orders for durable goods rose 1.9% in September, with the sector continuing to bounce back from steep declines in the spring. Core capital goods spending rose 1.0% in September to the highest level in six years. New durable goods orders remained down 1.9% year-over-year, but with transportation equipment excluded, orders have risen 1.7% over the past 12 months.

Manufacturing job openings in August reached 460,000, up from 430,000 in July and the best reading since July 2019 (477,000). With that said, nonfarm business job openings declined from 6,697,000 in July to 6,493,000 in August, with fewer postings in construction, financial activities, health care, information and retail trade.  Overall, 13,550,000 Americans were unemployed in August, down significantly from 23,078,000 in April but up sharply from 5,787,000 in February. That translates into 2.1 unemployed workers for every one job opening in August, down from 4.6 in April but up from 0.8 in February.

Initial unemployment claims totaled 751,000 for the week ending Oct. 24, down from 791,000 for the week ending Oct. 17. At the same time, continuing claims declined from 8,465,000 for the week ending Oct. 10 to 7,756,000 for the week ending Oct. 17, consistent with 5.3% of the workforce.