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Top 20 service center equipment brands: service centers reveal their spending plans and favorite brands in Metal Center News'' second annual equipment and technology purchasing survey.

Article Excerpt
Despite the frustratingly persistent weakness in the economy and the steel market, and perhaps in anticipation of a modest recovery, service center executives planned to increase spending on equipment and technology in 2003.

Polled in October and November as part of MCN's annual Outlook Survey, respondents reported they were budgeting an average of $318,500 for capital spending in 2003. That represents about a 4 percent increase from the average 306,000 capital budget in 2002.

Capital budgets for this year ranged from a weighted average of about $50,700 for small service centers (those with fewer than 20 employees) to more than $1 million for large companies (100 or more employees).

Overall, 74 percent said they will spend the same or more on capital equipment this year, which is a significant increase from the 57 percent who planned to increase or at least maintain their capital spending levels in 2002.

Not only do respondents who consider themselves "optimists" plan to hike spending a bit this year, but those who characterized themselves as "pessimists" (per the study methodology) also plan to spend more (see Exhibit 1). Pessimists as a group reported an average capital budget for 2003 of $303,400, up from $261,000 last year.

As margins on metal products have declined, revenue from processing is contributing a bigger share of the typical service center's profitability. About 66 percent of service centers offer cut-to-length services, 60 percent sawing, 59 percent shearing, 41 percent flame cutting and 33 percent slitting, among a variety of other services (see Exhibit 2).

What do service centers plan to...

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