NFPA Provides Exclusive Industry Statistics

By Eric Lanke
NFPA President/CEO

At our recent Annual Conference in Laguna Beach, California, I shared the key ways NFPA is strengthening the fluid power industry. In this, the second of four NFPA News posts, I’d like to share how NFPA is providing our members with timely and accurate industry statistics – information you can use to improve your decision making.

The Industry & Economic Outlook Conference

NFPA has an impressive portfolio of industry statistics programs and services. First and foremost is the Industry & Economic Outlook Conference (IEOC). This annual event draws more than 300 professionals from in and out of the NFPA membership. It delivers the market outlooks and forecasts that you need to help you plan the future of your organizations. Our macro-level speakers provide the context for understanding the prevailing economic climate, and our market experts provide the deep dive everyone wants into fluid power’s mobile and industrial customer markets.

[icon pic=”arrow-right”] Save the date for the 2019 Industry & Economic Outlook Conference on August 12-14 at Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort. Registration will open in May.

Participation-Based Programs

Next in value after the IEOC come our participation-based programs. These are data sources that exist nowhere else because they are sourced exclusively, and confidentially, from the NFPA membership itself.

In CSS, our Confidential Shipment Statistics Program, members submit their sales and order data, and NFPA, working with a third-party provider, aggregates that data to publish monthly reports that are broken down by both market segment and by product. These help members accurately determine their market share by comparing their sales volume to the total volume of all other members making the same product or selling into the same market.

Next, our State of the Fluid Power Industry Survey asks members to provide a quick read on where they see their businesses going in the next month, the next quarter, and the next year. The survey results appear in a simple forecast for the industry, which has been statistically proven to lead actual conditions by six or seven months, providing participating members with a clear planning advantage over those not participating.

And finally, our Customer Market Survey asks members to report their sales by customer market, the aggregated data from which reveals the total volume of fluid power products being sold into each of our industry’s key customer markets.

All three of these programs require participation in order to access the results. You must give in order to get – but that is a proposition that creates unique value for the members that choose to participate.

[icon pic=”arrow-right”] To learn more about participating in these programs, contact Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com.

Forecast Reports

Next come the programs that all members get, regardless of their participation in other programs. At the top of that list are our two forecast reports.

The one on U.S. markets is prepared by ITR Economics and provides detailed forecasts for 28 customer markets important to the fluid power industry. The one on global markets is prepared by Oxford Economics and provides detailed overviews and forecasts for our key markets in 68 different countries. They are indispensable tools for NFPA members working to develop an industry-wide outlook and strategy for their businesses.

[icon pic=”arrow-right”] To download the latest forecast reports, visit https://nfpahub.com/stats/.

Regional Demand Estimates

The latest addition to our portfolio is our Regional Demand Estimates Report. Prepared by Oxford Economics, this report profiles the geographic distribution of fluid power products to end-use industries by state and includes estimates for fluid power sales dollars and fluid power sales percentages. This brand-new report helps with benchmarking your company’s regional sales performance and determining sales targets and goals for your company.

[icon pic=”arrow-right”] Click here to view our new Regional Demand Estimates Report.

NFPA Stats Toolkit

Most of these programs – and several more – become even more valuable when used in combination with our free analysis tool, the NFPA Stats Toolkit. This is a completely web-based tool that allows members to integrate their own company data with NFPA data sources and then run useful analytical tools on the results.

Want to see how your sales measure up to the entire fluid power industry? Or to companies in your same product category? Or against any of a dozen or more leading indicators and benchmarks?

The Stats Toolkit allows you to automate those time-consuming calculations and perform trend analysis and custom forecasts with a set of simple point-and-click menu options. And, the graphs and hard data you generate can be easily transferred to other reports and presentations. Many NFPA members find even deeper value in our market information programs by employing this critical tool.

[icon pic=”arrow-right”] To start using the NFPA Stats Toolkit in your business, contact Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com.

Start Analyzing Fluid Power Industry Trends Today

All of NFPA’s industry statistics programs can be accessed on the market information portal. Click here to log-in and take advantage of the resources provided. If you have any questions, please contact me at elanke@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3351.