Forging and Stamping
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,965 forging and stamping companies in the US produce a variety of metal-based products that are typically used as parts or components in assembled items. Major revenue categories include stamped metal products, forged metal products, custom roll forming products, and powder metallurgy products. Services may include design engineering, machining, part assembly, and finishing (such as cleaning, welding, or deburring).
Dependence On Manufacturing Activity And The Economy
Demand for forged and stamped products is driven by manufacturing volume, which is vulnerable to changes in economic conditions.
Capital Intensive
The forging and stamping industry is highly capital-intensive and requires significant investment in plants, property, and equipment, such as presses, hammers, conveyers and furnaces.
Industry size & Structure
The average forging or stamping manufacturer operates out of a single location, employs 52 workers, and generates about $17 million annually.
- The forging and stamping industry consists of about 1,965 firms that employ 91,500 workers and generate about $31.6 billion annually.
- The industry is somewhat concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom; the top 50 companies account for 47% of industry revenue.
- Metal stamping firms account for 36% of industry revenue and 60% of firms; forging firms account for 35% of revenue and 18% of firms; custom roll forming firms account for 22% of revenue and 16% of firms; powder metallurgy manufacturers account for the remainder.
- Large companies with stamping and forging operations include Mueller Industries and Park Ohio Holdings. Large firms may have international operations. Most forging plants are small or medium-sized companies.
- Some large customers, such as automobile or aircraft manufacturers, are vertically-integrated and have internal forging and stamping operations.
Industry Forecast
Forging and Stamping Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Feb 21, 2024 - Flat Prices in 2023
- Producer prices for forging and stamping companies were relatively unchanged in December, down less than 1%, compared to a year ago, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the producer price index (PPI) for forging and stamping companies ended 2023 down 9.6% from its peak in May 2022, the PPI remained well above historical levels following a steep runup that began in 2021, BLS data show. Labor costs eased last year with overall employment by the industry falling 2.3% year over year in December and average industry wages at forging and stamping companies down 4.7% over the same period, per the BLS.
- More than two-thirds of US manufacturers have a positive economic outlook for 2024, but opinions are mixed about whether there will be a recession, according to the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Q4 2023 Manufacturers Outlook Survey of member companies. Large manufacturers are the most optimistic, with 77.5% positive about their company’s outlook while medium-sized manufacturers are the least optimistic with 63% feeling positive. While fewer respondents expect a recession in 2024 than they did three months ago, nearly 41% expressed uncertainty. Just over 34% of manufacturers believed the US economy would experience a recession in 2024. The top challenge for the manufacturing sector this year will be the workforce, with the labor market cooling substantially but remaining tight. Notably, NAM reported manufacturing construction spending is at a record high of $210 billion thanks to the production of semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries, and general reshoring.
- The US Department of Defense (DoD) is partnering with the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation to help meet essential national defense needs in the casting and forging industry, according to an IACMI press release. The DoD’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program in December announced a national workforce initiative to help address the critical workforce shortages in the casting and forging supply chain. "Castings and forgings are critical to achieving and maintaining the capabilities we need,” said Dr. Matthew Draper, Technical Director of Metallurgy and Manufacturing at the department noting that ”the supply chain for cast and forge components for the Defense Industrial Base has shrunk by 80%. In a time when we must now produce defense materials at tonnage levels not seen since the Cold War, we must rebuild a modern, technologically adept workforce capable of delivering with far fewer personnel."
- Best practices for making the quality control process more efficient and reducing scrap include adopting in-process inspection and moving the quality control department closer to the shop floor, according to Modern Machine Shop (MMS). In-process inspection entails making measurements at the machine level, rather than halting production after the first few parts are made and transporting them to the quality control room for inspection – a time-consuming and inefficient process. When the CNC part-making machine is designed to do its measuring while in use, in-process inspection occurs on an active basis enabling the machine to self-adjust and keep parts in tolerance, which decreases scrap. Short of investing in new equipment that does its measuring, moving the quality control department closer to the manufacturing equipment is another option that saves time and gets production up and running again faster, according to MMS.
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