MANUFACTURER RESPONSE TO COVID-19 DISRUPTIONS: INCREASED INTEREST IN AUTOMATION

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St. Paul, MN (May 26, 2020)— A survey from Thomas.net examined the impacts of COVID-19 on the industrial sector, revealing one in four U.S. manufacturers are considering expanding industrial automation as a result of COVID-19, while one in five already has automated systems in place.

Additional Survey Highlights:

Strong Faith in North American Manufacturing: While 41% of manufacturers are predicting a decrease in demand because of the outbreak, 91% are confident that the sector will recover.

Shifts in Talent Needs: 56% of manufacturing companies have not laid off employees due to COVID-19 and 30% of companies are actively hiring.

Non-essential Business Shutdown Impacts Demand: 64% of manufacturers report their business is affected by the shutdown orders impacting other non-essential businesses, with the transportation (77%), automotive (75%), construction (70%), and agricultural (69%) sectors most drastically affected. 

Relief Efforts: 15% of the companies surveyed report they shifted to produce supplies related to COVID-19 relief efforts; medical and healthcare, agricultural, and automotive manufacturers are leading the charge to produce PPE.

Managing Cashflow: 63% of manufacturing companies report having applied for financial assistance. Of that group, 60% report they applied for the Paycheck Protection Program, 17% report they applied for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and 9% report they applied for Debt Relief and Express Bridge Loans from the Small Business Administration.

In-demand Materials: In order to stabilize supply and keep production on schedule, manufacturers reported the most vital items to be personal protective equipment (42%), metals (37%), fabricated materials (29%), and machining tools and parts (27%).

Methodology: These results are from an online, follow-up survey completed by 1,131 manufacturing companies conducted by Thomas via Qualtrics on the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on manufacturing in April 2020.

Participating suppliers have revenues spanning from less than 4.9 million to over $500 million and are from a broad range of industrial sectors.

Click HERE to view the full report.

Matsuura’s original automation and unmanned running systems provide solutions for organizations facing labor shortages by utilizing working hours effectively. With the deficiency in skilled labor to operate CNC Machines, automation provides the potential for expanding production and increasing profit while decreasing employment costs.

Matsuura’s systems can be installed as an option for Matsuura’s 3-axis/5-axis machining centers to automate tool changes and pallet changes using programs, drastically improving the productivity.

Installing ATC tool magazines and APC pallet systems as options with Matsuura 5-axis machining centers allows the machines to automatically continue production without human intervention, even during the night.

Matsuura’s customers often run the high-mix, low-volume components which require more engineering and set-up during the business day. Then, they change over to the unmanned production, where the pallets in the system run all night.

Please contact your local Matsuura Distributor to learn how to implement Matsuura’s Manufacturing Solutions.

For more information on Matsuura products, please contact your exclusive Matsuura Distributor. To locate your local distributor, please visit: HERE.

Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc., located in St. Paul, MN is the U.S. subsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corporation in Japan. Since 1935, Matsuura has been the forerunner in designing innovative technology and manufacturing solutions to a variety of industries around the globe. Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc. delivers unmatched excellence in 5-axis, vertical, horizontal, linear motor, multi-tasking CNC machine tools and machines with a powder bed metal AM platform with machining capability. Matsuura Machinery USA, Inc. provides the service, applications and technical field support that have always been the Matsuura standard for business.