Photo courtesy SGIA
In the latest benchmarking report from the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA), based on the ‘industry pulse’ measured over the fourth quarter of 2012, survey results show the sign, graphics, industrial printing and garment decoration communities are both confident about their future business success and wary about the broader economy.
For the sign and graphics community, the report reveals a softening of both sales and production output toward the end of last year, while slow employment growth rates changed only slightly. More than half of the companies surveyed said they viewed the industry in a positive light, but with nearly 40 percent viewing the U.S. economy negatively, overall confidence was somewhat tempered.
Nevertheless, equipment purchases rose during the period and overall expected sales growth for 2012 averaged 15.4 per cent. Smaller sign and graphics shops expected stronger sales growth than their larger counterparts did.
Similar trends were seen in industrial printing. SGIA says sales and production indexes were “taking a significant hit” while equipment purchases remained strong and employment improved only slightly.
The garment decoration community had a more neutral view of the economy. Strong sales and production figures for the first three quarters of 2012 were followed with marked drops at the end of the year, but employment growth was slightly positive.
As with past quarterly reports in this series, the latest edition examines sales and production indexes, employment figures, equipment purchases and confidence in the specialty graphics industry and in the economy as a whole. SGIA’s goal with the reports is to provide a snapshot of each specialty graphic community as a ‘place marker’ to help guide businesses in making future decisions.
“SGIA’s benchmarking reports provide a unique industry view of how companies are growing their business, how they purchase equipment and how they view the health of their business now and in the future,” says Dan Marx, SGIA’s vice-president (VP) of markets and technologies.
Members of the trade association can access the full reports and all of the survey results by visiting www.sgia.org and searching with the keyword ‘survey.’
Also, both members and non-members may participate in the first-quarter 2013 industry pulse survey by visiting www.sgia.org/c?key=currentSurvey. All participants will receive the full report via e-mail.
