As usual, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey provided a wealth of interesting and often contradictory data. Thirty percent of plants will spend more on assembly technology next year than they did this year, and only 20 percent will spend less. All totaled, U.S. factories will spend $2.94 billion on assembly technology in 2014, a 3 percent increase. That’s good news.
Of the not-so-welcome numbers, none are more disturbing than this: Just 23 percent of plants will buy new equipment next year to make a new product. That compares with 29 percent in 2013 and 38 percent in 2012, and it’s an all-time low for the 18 years we’ve done this survey.