Cleveland, OH---According to the November 2010 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report, metalforming companies anticipate virtually unchanged business conditions during the next three months. Conducted monthly, the report is an economic indicator for manufacturing, sampling 137 metalforming companies in the United States and Canada.

The November report shows that 20% of participants forecast an improvement in economic activity during the next three months-the same percentage reported in October- 57% predict that activity will remain unchanged-compared to 54% last month-and 23% report that activity will decline, which is down from 26% in October.

Metalforming companies also expect little change in incoming orders for the next three months. 25% of participants predict an increase in orders-the same percentage as October-50% anticipate no change-compared to 45% last month-and 25% forecast a decrease in orders, down from 30% in October.

However, average daily shipping levels dipped somewhat in November. Only 27% of participants report that shipping levels are above levels of three months ago-down from 32% in October-45% report that shipping levels are the same as three months ago-compared to 49% in October-and 28% report a decrease in shipping levels, up from 19% in October.

The percentage of metalforming companies with a portion of their workforce on short time or layoff dipped to 15% in November from 17% in October. This number is at its lowest level since January 2008 when only 14% of companies had workers on short time or layoff.

The monthly Business Conditions Report has been conducted by PMA since 1979.  Full report results are available here.