Opportunities to Access NFPA’s Exclusive Industry Statistics

By Eric Lanke
NFPA President/CEO

In pursuing our mission of strengthening the fluid power industry, NFPA is focused on four key strategic objectives. Here’s a quick summary of the ways NFPA members can benefit from the programs associated with the second of those objectives. We call that objective Industry Statistics, and it’s where NFPA provides timely and accurate industry statistics and business intelligence that NFPA members can use to support improved 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. Save the date for the 2020 IEOC on August 10-12 at Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort. Registration will open in May 2020.

• 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.

  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.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 new report helps with benchmarking your company’s regional sales performance and determining sales targets and goals for your company. 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 one of the most important and most under-utilized weapons in NFPA’s arsenal. Members who use the Stats Toolkit turn data into intelligence. They find leading indicators for their businesses, they create custom forecasts, and they make smarter decisions for their companies. This year we’re focused on getting many more members using this critical tool. We see it as central to our mission of strengthening the fluid power industry. And so, we want to offer anyone who’s interested in learning more a free demo so you can better understand what the Toolkit does and how you can leverage it for your business. Please contact Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com to get something scheduled as soon as possible.

Interested in Getting Involved?

As you can see, these programs demonstrate the ways NFPA fulfills its commitment to providing timely and accurate industry statistics and business intelligence that NFPA members can use to support improved decision-making. If you or a representative from your company would like to get engaged in any of these opportunities, please contact me at elanke@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3351.