South Africa

• Tool and die demand >0.6 billion Euro/year
• 20% supplied locally

Argentina

• hours/week = 49
• 88%  rate business Good or Very Good
• optimistic

Canada

• strong in resources and mining
• soft in machining and tool making
• hurt by the high Canadian $
• hours/week = 41
• Backlog = 9.6 weeks

U.S.

• Agie Charmilles Indexes:
  • Machining Business Activity Index = 67 (50 is no change)
  • Medical Device Sector strongest, recovering after period of downturn.
  • Financial Liquidity Index in April '07 = 526.  Strongest on record. 
    100 is the average of the decade of the 1990s.
• NTMA:
  • Aerospace and defense strong.
    
  • Molds and dies less strong
    
  • Overall down slightly from 7/06 to 12/06
    
  • Hours/week = 46.5
    
  • Severe shortage of machinists. Most recent NTMA/Agie Charmilles survey showed 10% job vacancies.
    
  • Backlog 14 weeks
  • Generally optimistic

Australia:

• Business mostly Fair (worse than Good)
• Hrs./week = 41.7

China:

• Tooling, die and mold:
  • Exports +44% of which molds are 80%
  • Total higher than $1 billion
  • Imports 7%
  • Total production $7-8 billion

India:

• Booming
  
• Telecom and automotive strong
  
• Tooling:
  
  • Huge imports
    
  • Still locally busy
    
  • Growing as 2nd or 3rd source to large companies
    
  • Training a lot of machinists

Japan:

• Tooling:
  
  • 80% of shops are small
    
  • $14 billion production excluding captive tooling
    
• Government is supporting the industry
• Small companies import

Czech Republic:

• all measures are up
• output +12%
• employment +2%

Estonia:

• Inflation up due to tight labor market
• Tooling:
  • Busy
  • Compensation up 40-50% 2005 to 2007 to average $1,300/month
  • Average work week 44 hours
  • Backlog = 10 weeks
  • 10% growth/year
  • 85% export:  Sweden, Germany, Finland, Norway, Denmark
  • No corporate income tax

Finland:

• Manufacturing is at full capacity - best in history
• Tool & Die - good not great

France:

• GDP +2%
• Exports +3%
• Mechanical Industry +5.8%
• Automotive leaving France

Germany:

• Tool and Die Industry
  • 5,000 companies
  • 807 <20 employees
• 4.1 billion Euro output
• Export to:  U.S., Switz, Czech
• 4/07 YTD vs. 4/06 YTD
  • Shipment +4.5%
  • Orders +14%
  • Overall excellent because:
    • invested a lot
    • R & D
    • Better organization

Italy:

• GDP down
• Inflation 1.5%
• Industrial Production +1%
• Tool & Die +6%

Latvia:

• Inflation 7%

Portugal:

• Molds:  90% export, 65% automotive
• Terms are an issue.
• Exports +13%
  • 72% to EU, generally:  France, Germany, Spain, U.S.
    

Russia:

• Mold market is booming.

Slovenia:

• Economy +5.1%
• Primarily export
• Shortage of skilled employees

Spain:

• Manufacturing recovering
• Construction down
• Tooling:
  • Orders up
  • Investment up
  • Exchange rate hurting
  • Trade with China increasing
  • Wages high
  • HSM and rapid prototyping up
  • Cannot find young workers

Switzerland:

• Mechanical/electrical engineering industry:  +17%
• Die Mold:
  • Exports 1Q07 87.4M Euro
  • (approximately 73% of production): to Germany, Italy, Austria, France, China, U.S.
  • Minus 10.8% vs. 1Q06
  • Outlook:  favorable
  • 510 companies

Turkey:

• Imports 60% of tooling consumption
• EDM shop rate approx. 25 Euro/hour
• Strong growth in automotive and white goods

UK:

• GDP +2.9%
• Currency too strong
• Aerospace very strong, but skill and capacity shortage
• Capital spending up.
• Toolmaking:  suffering
• Bringing molding inhouse
• Dental device demand strong
• Microsurgery strong