While it may be at a much slower pace than predicted, growth is actually taking place whether you're feeling it or not. In fact, we kick off this month's issue with the latest report from the Material Handling Industry of America that forecasts equipment orders to grow 12% to 14% in 2010 if the current momentum persists (page 9). Mind you, those new numbers are coming off 2009 when orders saw a 34.3% decline from 2008. But any way we position the latest forecast, we can't help but see it as positive news for the industry overall. It may even help to crack a few smiles. But while numbers don't lie, they can often be deceiving. Even though it appeared that equipment orders fell off a cliff two years ago, that didn't mean that materials handling professionals went into hibernation in terms of executing improvement projects.
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