Industry News

DECEMBER 2024 – Manufacturing Sector 2024 Recap

What a difference a year makes……………. Closing out our 2024 chapter brings continued and renewed optimism for the overall domestic Manufacturing sector. The political climate has most certainly shifted as we prepare for a new administration to take the reins in January 2025. For the manufacturing sector, this is likely to bring more opportunity than risk as we lean into new and renewed opportunities to embrace the value of a strong Manufacturing sector as a foundational aspect of our overall economy. After all, U.S Manufacturing is a $7 Trillion industry.

DECEMBER 2022 – Manufacturing Sector 2022 Recap

What a difference a year makes. Closing out our 2022 chapter brings with it a look back at what can only be considered a very interesting year to say the least. At this time last year, the Manufacturing sector was navigating through continued Supply Chain headwinds with respect to material availability and costs, labor availability, and significant challenges in the logistics aspect of the overall manufacturing process. These factors were global in nature and most certainly had a major effect on most domestic manufacturers in some manner.

JUNE 2022 – Manufacturing Sector Demand and Challenges

With the specter of pandemic shutdowns (hopefully) in the rearview mirror, our domestic Manufacturing sector has experienced an ongoing surge in demand and output. It is reassuring to see that the pre-pandemic conditions of strong demand for manufactured products have weathered the storm and created a post pandemic manufacturing economy that shines optimistic.

NOVEMBER 2021 – Manufacturing Sector Review

It is often said that the only thing that is constant is change. That could not be truer as we look back at the evolution of circumstances in the Manufacturing sector over the past 24 months. Recall back to October 2019 and the prospects for continued strength for manufacturing as we headed into 2020.

NOVEMBER 2020 – Facility Expansion Update and Industry News

It is difficult to engage in any discussion these days without all roads ultimately leading back to the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation, both domestically and globally, has certainly reshaped how we are forced to operate our businesses and our lives.

JULY 2020 – An Optimistic Look Ahead

What a difference a few months makes. In our last update in March, we were just beginning to understand the immediate effects that this global pandemic was having on our economy and on our Manufacturing sector. Fast forward 90 days and the picture has evolved into one that is having and will have lasting effects on our nation’s health and on our manufacturing economy.

MARCH 2020 – New Equipment and Facility Updates and Industry News

The events of 2020 have unfolded rapidly with attention quickly focused on the current global health crisis regarding the COVID-19 virus. As facts began to emerge in January as to global events that saw the unprecedented spread of the virus, it has quickly become evident that this is a situation that is having an immediate effect on the global and domestic economy.

DECEMBER 2019 – Year End Review

thankful to our customers and to our suppliers for the support that we received throughout 2019. The past year has been, to say the least, an interesting year for the domestic manufacturing sector. For our part, we have experienced continuing strength of demand across most sectors that we serve.

DECEMBER 2018 – Year End Review

The Sko-Die team is very thankful to our customers and to our suppliers for their support that we received throughout 2018. This year has seen continuing strength of our overall manufacturing sector. These conditions have translated into opportunities for us to grow our business with our valued customers and to advance new opportunities in the…

MARCH 2018 – How 232 Tariffs Affect You

As you are aware, on March 8, 2018, the federal government announced that it is imposing a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from all countries, except Canada and Mexico. Sko-Die understands there is a lot of confusion about how this will affect our company’s, and the broader…

232 STEEL – Aluminum Tariff Scope

PRODUCT SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION (28, 29) For this report, the product scope covers steel mill products (“steel”) which are defined at the Harmonized System (“HS”) 6-digit level as: 720610 through 721650, 721699 through 730110, 730210, 730240 through 730290, and 730410 through 730690, including any subsequent revisions to these HS codes. The following discontinued HS codes…

DECEMBER 2017 – Year End Review

As we close out 2017 and look back on the year, it is hard to argue that the domestic manufacturing sector has certainly enjoyed a resurgence. Since Q4 2106, the manufacturing sector real output has been steadily gaining ground and is approaching the historic high levels last seen in 2008. It is undeniable that we now live…

OCTOBER 2017 – Separating Policy From Politics

In navigating our current hyper-political world and 24-hour cable news cycles, it is often difficult to separate the politics from the policy. As a manufacturing organization, it is far more important to understand the policies that are being discussed, vetted and implemented than in the politics that often take front stage. Consider a sampling of headlines from…

APRIL 2017 – Manufacturing Market Optimism

In our last edition, we discussed the vibe in the manufacturing world immediately following the Presidential election in November. There was certainly a shift towards optimism in the manufacturing sector with the expectation that a commitment to domestic manufacturing was to be one of the primary policy focus points for the new administration. Fast forward 90…

DECEMBER 2016 – What a Difference a Couple of Months (And an Election) Makes

In our last edition, we posed the question “so what should be on our election wish list this time around?” We added a recommendation that we all start with advocating for policies that recognize and value the role that Manufacturing has had in the building and sustaining of our great nation. With the 2016 Presidential…

OCTOBER 2016 – Will We See a Stronger Manufacturing Economy In 2017?

It’s hard to believe that 2016 is rushing past us and that we are on the cusp of 2017. What happened to that 2016 manufacturing recovery that many of the macroeconomic prognosticators envisioned? For those whose long term success is tied to a strong and sustained US Manufacturing economy, we feel as of late like the perpetually…

JULY 2016 – Steel Pricing – Supply Side Factors Driving Pricing Upwards

Looking at the trends in steel pricing for the 1st six months of 2016, it is hard to miss the direction and magnitude of the price increases that the market is seeing. The generally referenced pricing indices that many in the manufacturing sector follow have trended upwards in the arena of 60% since January 1. This…

DECEMBER 2015 – Economic Indicators and the Manufacturing Economy

A vibrant domestic manufacturing sector is a key contributor to the economic engine of our country. At Sko-Die, we are firmly committed to the strength and expansion of our domestic manufacturing sector. For nearly 70 years, we have served an array of markets and customers that are all affected by the relative strength or weakness of several…

July 2015 – Energy Efficiency and The Markets That We Serve

The broad topic of Energy Efficiency touches our lives and our industry in many ways. Cost savings and stewardship of our planet’s natural resources are but a couple of the many drivers of the actions being taken across the manufacturing sector to address this topic. More than half of all electricity consumed in the manufacturing…

MARCH 2015 – U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker Announces New Manufacturing Council Members

Sko-Die is a proud member of several industry associations that are committed to the advancement of our industry and a strong overall Manufacturing economy. The TMA (www.tmaillinois.org) is one such association with which Sko-Die is strongly aligned. The TMA was in the news recently as one of our fellow association members was named to the US Commerce Department’s…

DECEMBER 2014 – Non Oriented Electrical Steel (NOES) Trade Case Rulings

In early November, AK Steel reported that The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has reached a positive final decision that illegally dumped imports from six nations have materially harmed the domestic industry producing non-oriented electrical steel (NOES). These petitions were originally filed by AK Steel in September 2013 and had preliminary rulings issued earlier this…

OCTOBER 2014 – Electrical Steel Trade Cases

The ITC has issued a final ruling in a portion of the currently open trade cases filed against certain countries for the import of Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES) products. The decision by the ITC on August 27 was found in favor of Germany, Japan and Poland and absolved them of import duties. The ITC is scheduled…

JUNE 2014 – Electrical Steel Trade Cases

On May 16, 2014, the Department of Commerce announced its preliminary determinations in the Antidumping (AD) investigations of imports of non-oriented electrical steels (NOES) from China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden and Taiwan. Those preliminary determinations included proposed duties on the NOES products as follows: China – 407% Germany – 85% – 98% Japan – 135% – 205% Korea…

MARCH 2014 – Reshoring of Domestic Manufacturing

Reshoring of Domestic Manufacturing – The topic of Reshoring continues to find its way into broad based discussions as to the overall domestic manufacturing sector. As manufacturing companies that had previously made decisions to move manufacturing out of the USA are waking up to the fact that not all of the “savings” that drove these decisions…

DECEMBER 2013 – Electrical Steel Trade Cases

DECEMBER 2013 – Electrical Steel Trade Cases The petitions covering Non-Oriented Electrical Steel (NOES) and Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES) that were filed by the Domestic Producers of these materials earlier this fall have moved through their initial review by the ITC. AK Steel recently released a statement on their website expressing their opinion on the most recent developments,…

OCTOBER 2013 – Electrical Steel

OCTOBER 2013 – Electrical Steel – The domestic manufacturers of Silicon Electric Steel (AK Steel and Allegheny Technologies, Inc.), have filed Antidumping Duty petitions as well as Countervailing Duty petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. These actions were filed against specific countries with respect to Silicon Electric Steel sales within…

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