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Manufacturing Intelligence

Plex Manufacturing Blog

Trends Indicate Return to “Normal,” China Sees Uptick in Activity

Jerry Foster September 17, 2020

Much of the U.S. and Canada recognized Labor/Labour Day on Monday, September 7, resulting in an anticipated drop in manufacturing production in the past two weeks. However, this should be viewed as good news, as it indicates a return to pre-pandemic, or “normal” trends. While the U.S. and Canada saw a temporary decline, China, Europe and Asia overall continued to expand in the last two weeks,…

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Global Manufacturers Reach 99% Pre-COVID Production with 90% of Workforce

Jerry Foster September 3, 2020

Global manufacturing is at 99% of pre-COVID levels of production as of August 30, while unique users logging in to the company’s system of record per week is now at 90% of pre-COVID levels. This data suggests that on average, manufacturers have been able to increase their productivity over time with a reduced workforce. Global data set...

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Global Production at 94% of Pre-COVID Activity Levels

Jerry Foster August 14, 2020

Global manufacturing activity continues to climb, reaching 94% of pre-pandemic rates of production as of August 9. Global data set ...

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Global Manufacturing Production at 91% of Pre-Pandemic Rates

Jerry Foster August 6, 2020

In the last two weeks, global manufacturing production has continued to climb, reaching 91% of pre-pandemic rates of activity as of August 2. As reported last month, activity in 2020 (indicated by blue line, below) continues to resemble trends seen in 2019 (see orange line, below). However, not all regions are experiencing the same rate of growth. A variety of different influencers are impacting…

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Manufacturing Production Activity Begins to Echo 2019 Trends

Jerry Foster July 22, 2020

While some regions around the world continue to see surges in coronavirus cases, including the U.S. and Mexico, the global manufacturing community has largely remained insulated from these spikes, with trends in activity now more closely resembling those seen in 2019. However, the levels of production within some individual countries are not as immune....

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Global Manufacturing Not Slowed by COVID-19 Spikes, Outbreaks

Jerry Foster July 8, 2020

Despite COVID-19 spikes experienced in the U.S. and new outbreaks documented in China, production activity among manufacturers continues to climb, if at a slower paced than we tracked in June....

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Global Manufacturing Production Activity Grows by 10%

Jerry Foster June 24, 2020

Our latest unique smart manufacturing data shows that global production activity continues to gain momentum, increasing by 10% since last week. As of June 21, the food and beverage sector has now exceeded pre-coronavirus levels of activity, and activity among automotive manufacturers is at 80% of pre-coronavirus production....

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Global Manufacturing Production Continues to Increase, North America Leads the Way

Jerry Foster June 10, 2020

In the last week, global manufacturing production activity experienced its second biggest growth spike since the recovery began in early May at 48% week-over-week. According to our most recent data, this increase is only slightly less than the largest surge in production levels to date, which occurred the third week in May. ...

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Global Manufacturing Activity Increases for Fifth Consecutive Week

Jerry Foster June 4, 2020

In the last week, global manufacturing production activity has increased by 30%, largely led by the automotive industry, with spikes of activity emerging in Europe. This is the fifth consecutive week of growth according to our most recent data, representing 150% growth over those 5 weeks. Global manufacturing data set ...

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