George J. Blickley, consulting editor

Slower economy unfolding in 2001— except in industrial controls

Based on data for the fourth quarter of 2000, many economists are painting a grim picture for much of 2001. Rising energy costs and declining consumer confidence have combined to create a bleak forecast—at least for 2001's first half. Users post big gainsIndividual user industries all posted sales increases with Utilities and Oil, Gas & Coal leading the way.

U.S. economy expands; control will follow

The first quarter of 2004 (1Q04) faced the tough challenge of trying to match the performance of the previous two quarters, particularly the almost runaway recovery of the fourth quarter of 2003 (4Q03). Nevertheless, the recovery continued, and the major market indexes for 1Q04 were either up or down about 2% from 4Q03.

Market update: good news for controls in 4Q03

Finally, we have a quarter that looks like everything has turned upward. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached the magic 10,000 plateau in the fourth quarter of 2003 (4Q03), and the NASDAQ reached its equally magic 2,000 level. Both indexes were up 12% for 4Q03, and the other two indexes increased by approximately the same amount.

Jobs down in 3Q ’03, but other signs point up

The third quarter of 2003 (3Q03) seemed to bring good news to many sectors of the U.S. economy. The nation's GDP appears to be heading for a 4% increase, which would be good news for everybody. It showed more than a 3% increase in 3Q03. The Control Engineering Index gained more than 10% during the third quarter, indicating that its member companies performed well as a group.

Controls market posts significant gains in 2Q03

Performance of the controls industry improved greatly in the second quarter (2Q03), mirroring the market in general. The Control Engineering (CE) Stock Index tracks the market value of companies that are acknowledged leaders in the controls and automation fields. Some of the larger companies have only small divisions engaged in industrial controls products and systems, but they generally cont...

Controls index lags in 1Q03; broader market rebound follows

In the first quarter of 2003 (1Q03), the industrial controls market declined a little bit more than other markets. The Control Engineering Index was down more than 10% during 1Q03, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock indexes lost about 4% each. Surprisingly, the NASDAQ composite held pretty much even during this period.

Control and automation firms report good health

A good way to measure a company's performance is to take a peek at its annual report. A good way to measure an industry's performance is to look at a number of annual reports of the companies that serve that industry. The bar chart accompanying this article includes data from the annual reports of a representative sample of industrial controls companies.

First half of 2000 shines for control users, suppliers

The first half of 2000 turned out to be rosy for the controls industry due to increasing sales and profits earned by users and suppliers of control products, especially when performance is compared with industry as a whole. These results were tallied in Business Week magazine's Scoreboard, which compared performances of more than 900 companies during the first halves of 2000 and 1999.

Who’s on first in controls industry following mergers?

With all the mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and affiliations that occurred in the past decade, it's hard to determine the leaders in any particular industrial segment. Almost all of the largest industrial controls manufacturers have been gobbled up by companies with larger interests. The best that can be done is to identify companies with either a significant part of their volume i...

Annual reports, stock indexes reflect progress, despite fluctuations

Annual report snapshots and broader stock indexes both show ongoing gains by most control and automation companies, despite specific organizational changes and overall market fluctuations.Several annual reports showed sales for 1999 generally exceeded sales for 1998. The overall increase was a healthy 8%, though not as robust as 1998, which posted a 20% increase over the previous year.