Dayton's Smalley named to Heavy-Duty Hall

Connected vehicles: It’s where the money will be

If you long for the days when trucks were just trucks, when they were mechanical beasts you could use hand tools to keep up and running – without all the electronic geegaws we find on them today – it's pretty much time to kiss those days goodbye: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.

[Good lord, did I just make a reference to The Sound of Music? What the heck was in my coffee?]

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Here are five things worth knowing today:

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Volvo halts production of 16-liter D16 engine

Economic Watch: Manufacturing Starts Year Strong, Housing Best in Years

The U.S. manufacturing sector had a solid start to 2017, with overall operating conditions improving at the quickest pace for nearly two years, according to preliminary report issued Tuesday by financial information services provider IHS Markit. A separate report shows existing home sales closed out 2016 as the best year in a decade.

IHS Markit's January Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index registered 55.1, up from a final reading of 54.3 in December, to signal a marked upturn in the health of the sector that was the strongest since March 2015. A reading over 50 indicates growth in the manufacturing sector.

The solid improvement in business conditions was largely driven by sharper increases in output and new orders, which rose at the fastest rates in 22 and 28 months, respectively. At the same time, companies raised their purchasing activity at the steepest rate since early 2015 and increased their payrolls further in order to meet greater production requirements.

Positive expectations around the demand outlook were highlighted by further increases in stocks of purchased items and finished goods, with the latter increasing at the quickest pace since early 2007. Optimism around the 12-month outlook for production also improved at the start of the year and reached its highest level since March 2016.

U.S. manufacturers reported increased production for the eighth month running in January. Furthermore, the rate of expansion picked up to its sharpest since March 2015. Higher output was overwhelmingly linked by respondents to greater inflows of new work, with latest data showing the steepest increase in total new orders for 28 months. The upturn in new business appeared to be led by stronger domestic demand, as new export work rose only slightly at the start of 2017, as has been the case in each of the past four months.

Manufacturing employment continued to increase ...Read the rest of this story

Economic Outlook for 2017: More of the Same?

LAS VEGAS -- The outlook for the U.S. economy is expansion at a pace around trend through 2019, according to Bill Strauss, senior economist and economic advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Speaking at Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue ahead of Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week, he said he also expects:

Strauss began his presentation by reviewing what he said at HDAD in 2016. He said he was close on three of his four conclusions. But the fourth, manufacturing output, which he previously had expected to grow at a rate slightly below trend in 2016, actually saw no growth. He attributed this to the value of the U.S. dollar, which caused exports to suffer because the cost of U.S. manufactured goods was higher in foreign markets.

Going forward, he said, “I do not know the impact the new administration will have on the economy. There are lots of uncertainties.” He added that the Federal Reserve does not make assumptions when setting its policies but rather relies on data, so the Fed will have to wait to see what changes are made by the new administration before making any moves of its own.

He did say that a group made up of 50 blue chip companies has not altered its outlook on the economy, predicting 2017 to be a little better than 2016 but not substantially better. “However, there is upside risk that economic growth numbers could be higher,” Strauss said.

According to Strauss, the Federal Open Market Committee expects GDP to grow at around trend over the next three years. He is expecting final numbers for 2016 ...Read the rest of this story

Canada's heavy-duty aftermarket transforming