CSS Monthly Shipments: The November Slump

NFPA’s November 2014 Confidential Shipment Statistics (CSS) report, a monthly source of fluid power shipment and order data trends often used to benchmark company performance, continues to maintain tradition with “The November Slump.” Some trends come and some trends go, but if there is one industry trend you can unfortunately count on it is the strong decline in shipments from October to November we experience across all industry segments every year.

Preliminary November 2014 shipments of fluid power products decreased 1.0% compared to November 2013, and decreased 15.7% when compared to last month. Mobile hydraulic shipments decreased, while industrial hydraulic and pneumatic shipments increased when compared to November 2013. Mobile hydraulic, industrial hydraulic, and pneumatic shipments decreased when compared to last month.

Final October 2014 shipments of fluid power industry products decreased 0.1% to an overall 6.3% for the 2014 calendar year when compared to the same time period in 2013. Both the 12-Month Moving Average (MMA) index of 105.3, an indicator of change in the size of the industry, and the 12/12 Ratio index of 106.4, an indicator of change in the rate of growth in the industry, maintain levels above 100 and continue to grow. The direction and speed in which these two index indicators move, as well as their position above or below 100, can help you understand the short term outlook for our industry.

Now that “The November Slump” has come and gone, it will be interesting to see if we can shake yet another developing trend in our industry, “The December Decline.” Thankfully this November to December annual downturn carries with it a much lesser effect, but hasn’t experienced positive results since 2010.

The Confidential Shipments Statistics (CSS) Program
The only monthly source of aggregated industry data for the US fluid power industry. This report presents data on monthly shipments and orders collected from our membership and helps users understand trends and anticipate change within the industry. Member companies can benchmark their own company’s performance against overall industry performance using the CSS results. Data is collected from participating US fluid power manufacturers, compiled by a 3rd party to maintain confidentiality, and results are then only sent to CSS participants.

Questions and inquiries about participating in the Confidential Shipment Statistics (CSS) program can be directed to Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3372.