Construction

摘要

Call it a tale of two fabricators. Both are in the construction business which is forecast to be up 2 percent in the United States for 2004 according to McGraw-Hill Construction/Dodge. In addition, office starts are set to shoot up 5 percent next year, while long-suffering manufacturing construction will increase by a whopping 19 percent, McGraw-Hill's Kim Kennedy reported at the MSCI Forecast meeting. But in an increasingly global economy, even an industry as local as construction can be touched by outside forces. Just ask Frank I ally, president of Simtek Inc., Amityville, New York, a fabricator of structural steel parts and sculptures. I ally, a 29-year veteran of the industry, indicated be has watched his business shrivel while fabrication work he feels is rightfully his is shipped to Asia. And while most presenters were sanguine over construction's chances in 2004, Lally wonders if the U.S. structural fabrication industry will survive. He cited the recent Triborough Bridge reconstruction in New York City, in which authorities took local toll dollars, but contracted the project to a Japanese firm. That company then subcontracted the fabrication to Chinese operations.