Manufacturing Purchasing Agents See Growth, Upped Sales For '00

U.S. purchasing managers expect economic growth to continue in 2000, and more than 80% of surveyed managers in manufacturing expect their 2000 revenues to increase. According to the National Assn. of Purchasing Management's (NAPM) 58th Semiannual Economic Forecast, 81% of manufacturing respondents expect increased revenue. They expect a 7.7% net increase in overall revenues compared with a 2.6% increase reported for 1999. "Manufacturing purchasing executives report a very high level of optimism for the coming year, with 53% of them expecting business in the first half of 2000 to be better than the second have of 1999," says Norbert J. Ore, chair of the NAPM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. Manufacturing purchasing agents report operating at 85.4% of their normal capacity, up slightly from 85.2% reported in Dec. 1998. Purchasing executives predict that capital expenditures will decrease by 5.6% in 2000 compared with the Dec. 1998 prediction of a 3.5% increase.