Economic Reports Available To PMPA Members

In an effort to expand PMPA's "Ideas At Work" concept, the association now offers two series of quarterly economic reports—a total of eight reports each year. Designed to help members make better informed business decisions, these reports focus on the industrial sector, with special emphasis on employment, sales growth and inventories.

The first of these economic reports was mailed to PMPA members in January. All other reports will be delivered either via the Listserve or PMPA's Weekly Reports E-Newsletters.

The PMPA economic reports are provided by Dr. Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics, LLC. A member of the Blue Chip Economic Forecasters and Financial Forecasters groups, Dr. Mayland is no stranger to PMPA or the industry. He has made presentations on the economy at PMPA national conferences and has received high marks for his economic updates. Last year, the former chief economist at Key Bank and First National Bank of Pennsylvania was named the Number 1 forecaster in the United States by Bloomberg magazine.

Two types of economic reports will be made available each quarter. "The first type is a one-page update on the current economy," Dr. Mayland says. "It's a concise report that will give the reader a good sense of where the economy stands and what the key issues are. PMPA companies are highly dependent on the state of the economy.

"The second type of quarterly report is a 16-page chart presentation," Dr. Mayland continues. "This report will cover the economy in general and, more specifically, the industrial economy, especially factors that affect pricing." Dr. Mayland points out that the charts are presented in an easy-to-understand format with short descriptions for each chart.

"You can look at any of the charts and immediately discern trends," Dr. Mayland says. "The purpose of the 16-page reports is to create a tracking discipline so PMPA members understand the economy and how their companies fit into the industrial sector.

"I believe that companies must establish disciplines so they understand where they are," Dr. Mayland explains. "If a business is enjoying profitable times, it needs to know if that success is because of something the company is doing or because of general economic conditions. The charts are designed to give members a good sense of where they are and where they're going."

Dr. Mayland hopes his reports will allow PMPA members to anticipate turning points. The reports provide insights into the actions companies should take in key decision areas such as capital spending, new hiring, inventory management and credit terms for customers. "If the discipline and tracking show that conditions have peaked and have started to roll over, then it's probably not a good time for members to hold higher-than-average levels of inventories," he says.

Each one-page report will be presented at the beginning of a month and a chart presentation report will follow at the end of the same month. "That means that eight times each year, there will be a new economic report, so there is always some fresh information," Dr. Mayland says.

This service is only available to member companies. Members must register their companies at www.pmpa.org for PMPA Web Services to receive these reports.