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Saturday, September 9, 2006 |
CNC Market Dynamics According to research by the ARC Advisory Group, the computer numerical controls (CNC) market will experience high volatility over the next five years with worldwide market growth of a compounded annual growth rate of just 0.9 percent. The market was $4.45 billion in 2005 and ARC forcasts it to be $4.6 billion in 2010. Research indicates that rapid growth will turn to rapid decline across industrialized nations, but companies in developing regions will continue to increase purchases.
According to the report, CNC suppliers focused solely on performance have been left out of the recent growth explosion taking place in China, Korea, Taiwan and India. These markets are consuming low-end to mid-range machines and are more focused on price than capabilities. The large suppliers have addressed this market well and because of the relative size of their corporate infrastructure, are also able to offer excellent service and sales support. The top three suppliers dominate sales into these emerging regions.
9:03:41 AM 
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Credit Managers Index The Credit Manager's Index for August while still indicating economic momentum with a score of 57.3, fell from 57.6 revealing some weaknesses. Manufacturing fell from the month before and experienced sharp drops in the sales and amount of credit extended components. This could be an indicator of softening in the economy.
The manufacturing sector index dropped 1.2 percent in August with a 7.7 percent drop in sales. On a year over year basis, the combined CMI rose 2.4 percent while the manufacturing sector rose 3.2 percent.
8:55:28 AM
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Get a clue I know that fellow editor Walt Boyes is positioning himself as the marketing guru in control and instrumentation, but I learned marketing first in the consumer then the high tech industries. Places where marketers really know marketing. Notice, I'm not in marketing any longer--I like other things better. However, I still study the experts. You've gotta read "The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual" written jointly by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger. I put it off for too long, but finally squeezed some time for reading again.
Two important things about the book--one I'm going to quote extensively. The first item is food for thought. And I mean, you should really sit quietly and think about this concept--The Market is a Conversation.
The second thing is PR (public relations or press relations). Doc Searls wrote this chapter and every marketing and PR person in the industry should read it and take it to heart.
Quoting:
Ironically, public relations has a PR problem: people use it as a synonym for BS. Dishonesty is PR pro forma. A press release is written as a plainly fake news story, with a headline, dateline, quotes and all the dramatic tension of a phone number. The idea, of course, is to make the story easy for editors to 'insert' in their publications. But an editor would rather insert a crab in his butt than a press release in their publication. No self-respecting editor would let a source--let alone a biased one--write a story.
Editors hate having to deconstruct press releases to find just the facts, ma'am.
PR folks are paid to hate stories, even though stories are precisely what the press--PR's 'consumers'--most wants. The fundamental appeal of stories is conflict, struggle, and complexity. Stories never begin with 'happily ever after,' but press releases always do, because that's the kind of story PR's real market--the companies who pay for public relations--demands. The PR version of the Titanic story would be headlined 705 Delighted Passengers Arrive After The Titanic's Maiden Voyage. Page two might mention some 'shakedown glitches inevitable whenever a magnificent new ship is
launched.'
The Automation World Associate Publisher Jim Powers used to offer me $50 to ask the first question at a press conference. In my reply, I didn't know I was quoting well known high tech writer John C. Dvorak, "So why would you want to sit ina a large room full of reporters and publicly ask a question that can then be quoted by every guy in the place? It's not the kind of material a columnist wants--something everybody else is reporting. I'm always amazed when PR types are disappointed when I tell them I won't be attending a press conference." [I attend what few press conferences exist anymore to show the companies I'm interested in them. I'm not interested in trying to show my fellow journalists how smart I am by asking the same inane questions. If I can't get a one on one interview, then I'll just try to find facts in the press release and report them.]
Back to Doc Searls:
Here's some advice on entering the conversation: Loosen up. Lighten up. And shut up for a while. Listen for a change. Marketing-as-usual used to be able to insert its messages into the mind of the masses with one swing of its mighty axe. Now messages get exploded within minutes. "Spin" gets noticed and scorned.
And finally, a great quote from Garrison Keillor: English is the perfect language for preachers because it allows you to talk until you think of what to say.
8:28:10 AM
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The Eight I didn't have time for it, but sometimes your brain needs a diversion--so I just finished a great book. The Eight by Katherine Neville. I think I picked it up from the Amazon.com recommended reading list. You know, "people who have read this have also enjoyed this". It looked interesting, so I bought it. Fantastic. They hype it now as similar to "The DaVinci Code." I've not read that, but I think it's similar to some of Umberto Eco's books such as "The Name of the Rose" or "Foucoult's Pendulum." It has a great story line plus a "mystical" mystery revolving around the hidden message in a chess set sent to Charlemagne from the Moors in Spain. I was sucked into the stories and couldn't put it down.
7:50:08 AM
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Eureka I had to work the "early shift" yesterday so I could get out to a college soccer match at Ohio Northern. The scoring was exciting (PK to tie things at 78 minutes, excellent cross and header at 85 for the win), but the match itself wasn't really that exciting. Good workout, though.
What was exciting was that I finally found a digital recorder for Skype interviews -- Call Recorder from Ecamm. It installed quickly. I played with it for a few minutes to get familiar, then tried it. It worked. Hallelujah!
Now if I could get my contacts to sync between Palm Desktop and Treo using Missing Sync, all would be well in the world (that and fill my last 5 openings for referees for the high school season) ;-)
7:38:32 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Gary Mintchell.
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