Regional equipment theft summits get DeWalt support
DeWalt recently announced that it is offering support to the 2008 Regional Equipment Theft Summits organized by FBI–Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA) and the National Equipment Register (NER), a national database of equipment ownership. There will be ten educational summits held in various cities throughout the U.S. that will provide product demonstrations, seminars and advice on how to effectively reduce the growing occurrence of equipment theft.

The 2008 Regional Equipment Theft Summits bring together law enforcement officials, equipment owners and insurers to provide educational sessions from industry experts on theft prevention and recovery. Police officers will receive training on equipment identification techniques including a hands-on equipment demonstration that will include a demonstration of theft prevention and recovery technologies, including DeWalt’s Mobilelock GPS locator and anti-theft alarm. The summit also facilitates ongoing networking between the attendees, a key element in pooling resources and coordinating the response at the local level.

The FBI – LEEDA/NER Regional Summits are free to attend and will be held in the following cities in 2008:
     Dallas
     Los Angeles
     Denver
     Hartford
     Atlanta
     Miami
     Houston
     NY/NJ
     Cincinnati
     St. Louis

For more information and for specific dates of the 2008 Regional Equipment Theft Summits, go to http://www.nerusa.com/.

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Cement outlook 2008: DOWN!
The Portland cement Association just released its 2008 outlook for cement consumption in 2008. PCA chief economist Ed Sullivan says that conditions are changing rapidly and now expects 2007 cement consumption will decline 6.9% followed by a 2.2% decline for 2008.

Click here to view presentation and listen to PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan's Webcast of his outlook for 2008 and beyond.

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FMI first quarter 2008 report now available
Nonresidential construction declines in some segments in 2008

FMI, management consultants and investment bankers to the building and construction industry, has announced its first quarter 2008 outlook and how it sees the rest of year and 2009 will shape up.

The Construction Outlook, a quarterly construction market forecast developed by FMI’s Research Services Group, notes that FMI’s outlook for construction for 2008 and 2009 has been revised down since the fourth quarter of 2007.

Recently released economic indicators are far bleaker than the previous months. The housing downturn, weakening employment rates, worsening consumer confidence, credit tightening and the threat of inflation are all factors expected to be drags on the economy, the report indicates.

Nonresidential Construction
Nonresidential construction will see declines in 2008 and 2009, except some publicly funded segments.

The nonresidential segments that are the most cyclical, or tied to the economy, will see declines in 2008 and 2009. These segments include office, commercial, religious and amusement and recreation. Lodging is the only exception as there is enough overhang from starts in 2007 that are still under construction in 2008.

Publicly funded nonresidential segments will fare much better, such as health care, educational, public safety and Homeland Security construction.

Health care construction will remain positive partly due to facility upgrades across the country and seismic retrofits in California. Education construction will decline in some areas of the country due to less property taxes and therefore less state revenue. However, many MSAs and school systems in several states have passed education bonds, which will help maintain growth in this sector. Higher education will experience steady growth driven by an increase in endowments. Public safety construction will grow because of increasing inmate populations (which is rising faster than the general population growth) and an increase in fire and police stations. Homeland Security port and border work and port work to increase port size to be able to accept post-Panamax sized vessels will help to drive transportation construction. Increased airport delays will also increase construction.

Residential
Housing will affect the economy again in 2008. It is not expected to begin recovering until 2009. All segments of the residential sector will remain down, led by single family (-10%), followed multi family
(-7%) and then finishing with improvements (-2%).

Manufacturing
The report also comments on manufacturing. FMI believes it will not experience decreases in 2008 and 2009 partly because it is at a low level; its previous high from 1998 will not be surpassed until 2010. Manufacturing will also benefit from the overhang of some huge projects started in 2007. For the first time, several multi-billion dollar projects are under construction at the same time. Basic materials manufacturing will also help to prop up this segment. Increases in cement clinker capacity, refineries and steel manufacturing will contribute to these gains.

“The economic indicators look bleak for construction in the upcoming year, but the outlook is optimistic for a few nonresidential and nonbuilding segments,” said Heather Jones, construction economist for FMI’s Research Services. “The segments that will remain positive in 2008 are either non-cyclical or are being propped up by large starts last year. The slowing economy will cause total nonresidential construction to decline in 2009 as lower starts in 2008 are finally felt.”

Historical information in Construction Outlook is based on building permits and construction put in place data as provided by the U.S. Commerce Department. Forecasts are based on econometric and demographic relationships developed by FMI, on information from specific projects gathered from trade resources and on FMI’s analysis and interpretation of current and expected social and economic conditions.

Heather Jones, a construction economist for FMI’s Research Services, is responsible for design, management and performance of primary and secondary market research projects and related research activities, including economic analysis and modeling, construction market forecasting and database management. Her particular expertise is in the areas of market sizing and modeling, competitive analysis, sales and market performance evaluations, buying practices and trend analysis.

For more information about Construction Outlook: First Quarter 2008, or to schedule an interview with Heather Jones, contact Candace Robertson at FMI Corporation at 919-785-9359 or crobertson@fminet.com.

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Residential cooling, heating equipment shipments off to steady start
ARLINGTON, VA (March 6, 2008) — U.S. factory shipments of residential cooling and heating equipment for January 2008 look very similar to the totals for the same month a year ago, with a slight rise reported this year for central air conditioners, air-source heat pumps and gas warm air furnaces, according to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).

Combined U.S. factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for January totaled 323,072, a 1 percent drop compared with January 2007 total shipments. Heat pump shipments for January totaled 125,489, a 7 percent increase from the same month a year ago, the association reports.

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