BNP Media’s Clear Seas Research division has released the results of the 4th wave of its survey titled Industry Perspective on the Challenges of Today. This wave of the survey was conducted April 30-May 4 among the readers of all of BNP Media’s brands. The results shown here are a deep dive into the company’s 12 magazines that focus on manufacturing – PCI being one of them. The survey asks about manufacturing industry areas of concern, business outlook, changes in marketing budgets, whether or not a company has applied for the small business stimulus loan, if the company is classified as an “essential” business, actions being taken to keep employees healthy, anticipated workforce changes within the next three months, how companies are communicating with customers, changes in marketing/advertising, estimated time for business to get back on track, and more.

Below are a few takeaways from the survey as compared to the first three waves of results. You can download the full survey results free of charge here.

THE PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE WHO INDICATED A LEVEL OF CONCERN FROM 8-10 (ON A SCALE FROM 1-10) WITH THE FOLLOWING: 

Current economy:

March 24-26: 69%

April 2-6: 72%

April 16-20: 76%

April 30-May 4: 66%

Achieving business goals over next three months:

March 24-26: 60%

April 2-6: 65%

April 16-20: 63%

April 30-May 4: 57%

Achieving business goals over next six months:

March 24-26: 56%

April 2-6: 60%

April 16-20: 62%

April 30-May 4: 54%

Supply chain interruptions:

March 24-26: 55%

April 2-6: 60%

April 16-20: 54%

April 30-May 4: 44%

Business stability for next 12 months:

March 24-26: 54%

April 2-6: 65%

April 16-20: 63%

April 30-May 4: 52%

Friends/family becoming infected by COVID-19:

March 24-26: 53%

April 2-6: 68%

April 16-20: 55%

April 30-May 4: 43%

Employees not showing up for work:

March 24-26: 38%

April 2-6: 35%

April 16-20: 28%

April 30-May 4: 24%

Skilled labor shortages:

March 24-26: 36%

April 2-6: 31%

April 16-20: 27%

April 30-May 4: 28%

Becoming personally infected by COVID-19:

March 24-26: 32%

April 2-6: 43%

April 16-20: 38%

April 30-May 4: 33%

IT cybersecurity with remote employees:

March 24-26: 25%

April 2-6: 28%

April 16-20: 22%

April 30-May 4: 18%

 

THE PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE BUSINESS THAT IS ON SCHEDULE, DELAYED OR CANCELLED:

On schedule:

March 24-26: 67%

April 2-6: 63%

April 16-20: 56%

April 30-May 4: 61%

Delayed:

March 24-26: 26%

April 2-6: 28%

April 16-20: 33%

April 30-May 4: 29%

Cancelled:

March 24-26: 7%

April 2-6: 9%

April 16-20: 11%

April 30-May 10%

 

THE PERCENTAGE OF PLANNED BUSINESS THAT IS ON SCHEDULE, DELAYED OR CANCELLED:

On schedule:

March 24-26: 63%

April 2-6: 57%

April 16-20: 50%

April 30-May 4: 54%

Delayed:

March 24-26: 31%

April 2-6: 34%

April 16-20: 41%

April 30-May 4: 35%

Cancelled:

March 24-26: 6%

April 2-6: 9%

April 16-20: 9%

April 30-May 4: 11%

 

RELATIVE TO ONE YEAR AGO, HOW IS NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY BEING IMPACTED?

Increase:

March 24-26: 16%

April 2-6: 17%

April 16-20: 13%

April 30-May 4: 17%

No Change:

March 24-26: 20%

April 2-6: 17%

April 16-20: 13%

April 30-May 4: 11%

Decline:

March 24-26: 64%

April 2-6: 66%

April 16-20: 73%

April 30-May 4: 72%

 

HOW IS PLANNED 2020 BUSINESS SPENDING ON EQUIPMENT, PRODUCTS, TECHNOLOGY, SERVICES, ETC. BEING IMPACTED?

Increase:

March 24-26: 8%

April 2-6: 9%

April 16-20: 5%

April 30-May 4: 9%

No Change:

March 24-26: 29%

April 2-6: 18%

April 16-20: 20%

April 30-May 4: 17%

Decline:

March 24-26: 63%

April 2-6: 73%

April 16-20: 75%

April 30-May 4: 74%

 

ANTICIPATED WORKFORCE CHANGES IN NEXT 3 MONTHS

Lay off all employees:

March 24-26: 1%

April 2-6: 0%

April 16-20: 2%

April 30-May 4: 1%

Lay off some employees:

March 24-26: 24%

April 2-6: 26%

April 16-20: 27%

April 30-May 4: 20%

Temporarily suspend employees with pay:

March 24-26: 22%

April 2-6: 14%

April 16-20: 15%

April 30-May 4: 6%

Temporarily suspend employees without pay:

March 24-26: 21%

April 2-6: 19%

April 16-20: 18%

April 30-May 4: 14%

Rehire previously suspended/laid off employees:

March 24-26: 13%

April 2-6: 10%

April 16-20: 14%

April 30-May 4: 12%

Hire new employees:

March 24-26: 11%

April 2-6: 15%

April 16-20: 9%

April 30-May 4: 16%

No change:

March 24-26: 33%

April 2-6: 32%

April 16-20: 33%

April 30-May 4: 40%

Don’t know:

March 24-26: 17%

April 2-6: 14%

April 16-20: 14%

April 30-May 4: 12%

 

ACTIONS BEING TAKEN TO KEEP EMPLOYEES HEALTHY

Cancelling projects:

March 24-26: 13%

April 30-May 4: 22%

Delaying projects:

March 24-26: 27%

April 30-May 4: 31%

Eliminating vendor/customer visits

March 24-26: 1%

April 30-May 4: 77%

Eliminating/reducing employee business-related travel

March 24-26: 79%

April 30-May 4: 75%

Encouraging hand washing

March 24-26: 92%

April 30-May 4: 87%

Giving employees the option to work from home

March 24-26: 59%

April 30-May 4: 60%

Increased frequency of cleaning/sanitization procedures

March 24-26: 79%

April 30-May 4: 78%

Increased health-related communications

March 24-26: 1%

April 30-May 4: 61%

Increasing time between shift changes

March 24-26: 11%

April 30-May 4: 13%

Personal protection equipment being provided

March 24-26: 42%

April 30-May 4: 76%

Promoting social distancing

March 24-26: 89%

April 30-May 4: 89%

Providing hand sanitizer/antibacterial soaps

March 24-26: 80%

April 30-May 4: 86%

Purchasing new technology

March 24-26: 18%

April 30-May 4: 23%

Reducing/eliminating face-to-face meetings

March 24-26: 1%

April 30-May 4: 75%

Requiring employees to work from home

March 24-26: 39%

April 30-May 4: 45%

Splitting workforce shifts to reduce number of employees on site

March 24-26: 25%

April 30-May 4: 32%

Temporary closing of business

March 24-26: 19%

April 30-May 4: 13%