This month, three members of our Daman leadership team headed to the Industry and Economic Outlook Conference (IEOC), an event that focuses on how industry trends and technology impact market growth within the fluid power industry.
President Dave Mischler noted the importance of the ITR presentation by Dr. Alan Beaulieu titled US Market Outlook and its Effect on World Economies. While the overall tone of the presentation revealed that the industry is on the front end of a recession, Daman is well-equipped with a solid Account Management team, as well as a robust lineup of new products and services to better tackle the effects of the market downturn.
Vice President of Sales Gordon Weiler agreed with Dave on the importance of the ITR presentation. “Alan Beaulieu from ITR and their Rate-of-Change model helps Daman products put our best foot forward to anticipate what is on the economic horizon,” he noted.
“Our rates of change model at Daman is right in step with the rates of change ITR presented. We do not enjoy working in a slowing economy but our success lies in our ability to predict slow downs so we can shift, adjust and capitalize on alternative opportunities while we wait for our traditional markets to recover.”
Building on Dave and Gordon’s feedback, Distributor Services Manager Matt Giloth noted the importance of the fluid power customer markets overview by Eli Lustgarten of ESL Consultants. In terms of the oncoming recession, Matt was particularly intrigued by the discussion on the rate of deceleration in the market. “The stimulus from tax breaks was over long ago,” Matt explained. “Trade standoffs aren’t helping, global growth is slowing even more than in the U.S, and inventories are high.”
Due to the combination of these major market factors, manufacturing can expect further deceleration the rest of this year and next. “The most important thing for us is to recognize that the booming economy from rising inventory requirements needed to fill orders is over,” Matt revealed.
In addition to the strong emphasis on economic outlook in the industry, the 2019 IEOC offered a variety of learning sessions with a focus on the Negotiation Model and how to navigate through potential tension creators that exist in negotiation. Other notable sessions included Alex West of IHS Technology’s Industrial Internet of Things, ITR’s Alex Chausovsky’s take on the Rate-of-Change model, and a panel from NFPA’s Technology Roadmap efforts arranged by Eric Lanke.
For more information on the 2019 IEOC, visit the conference’s page on the National Fluid Power Association’s website.