CEMA reports 2015 shipments in North America were up 7.7%

The Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reports that 2015 shipments in North America were up 7.7%.

CEMA estimates that shipments totaled $11.923 billion for 2015, a record level and an increase of $860 million from 2014 shipments of $11.063 billion.

CEMA estimates that new orders totaled $11.154 billion in 2015. New orders in 2015 were $246 million more than 2014, representing an increase of 2.2%.

Unit handling orders were up 9.6% and shipments were up 14.8%. In the bulk conveying area, orders were down 10.7% and shipments were down 5.5%.

Outgoing CEMA president Jerry Heathman announced the results at the Association’s 83rd annual meeting in La Quinta, Calif., earlier this month. At the meeting, Garry Abraham, general manager/CEO, Screw Conveyor Corporation, Hammond, Ind., was elected president CEMA.

CEMA tracks new orders and shipped sales volume in nine classes of unit handling equipment and four classes of bulk handling equipment. The executives representing CEMA member companies who attended the annual meeting expressed concern and forecasted flat shipments for 2016. According to Bob Reinfried, CEMA’s executive vice president, a guest economist suggested at the meeting that the conveyor industry might expect a stronger second half of 2016 and continued improvement in 2017.

“We knew that things couldn’t continue at the pace it’s been going, increase after increase, so after almost $12 billion in sales, a flat year is still pretty good,” Reinfried said. “One of the concerns was the increase in new orders compared to shipments, and the bulk handling side is still hurting with gas and oil prices.”

Founded in 1933, CEMA is the trade association of leading conveyor equipment manufacturers and engineering firms in The Americas. CEMA also makes available to its 131 members as well as nonmember companies, safety labels for all types of conveyor equipment as well as technical information and manuals. For example, CEMA has available for purchase, Belt Conveyors for Bulk Materials 7th Edition - “The Belt Book” and the CEMA Application Guide for Unit Handling Conveyors 2nd Edition – “The Unit Book”. These books are authoritative technical manuals for conveyor design worldwide. For further information on CEMA or its member companies, or to order safety labels or CEMA publications, visit cemanet.org.