Primary reasons for those who have
increased number of facilities:
Increased sales/production — 72%
New markets — 60%
New product lines(s) — 34%
Result of merger/acquisition — 36%
Other — 11%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Figure 7
Primary reasons for those who have
decreased number of facilities:
Consolidation of existing operations — 100%
Decrease in product sales — 39%
Need to lower operating/labor costs — 56%
Outdated facility — 6%
Result of merger/acquisition — 11%
Other — 6%
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figure 8
Has the downturn in the U.S. economy
affected company’s facility plans?
No – Still plan to open new facilities — 22%
No – Still plan to increase hiring — 13%
Yes – New facility plans put on hold — 24%
Yes – Closing/consolidating facilities — 15%
Yes – Reducing current employment —18%
Yes – Hiring plans deferred — 18%
05
Figure 9
10
15
20
25
increasing their number of facilities in last year’s survey)
(Figure 6). Again, take note that this survey was conducted
in late August 2008 so the 12 month-period being referred
to is August 2007–August 2008, before the current
onslaught of economic woes.
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of those reporting
that they had increased their number facilities said these
additions were in response to increased sales/production,
and 60 percent said they needed to serve new markets. All
of the mere 12 percent of respondents reporting that they
had decreased their number of facilities during the 12
months prior to taking the survey were consolidating existing operations, while about half (56 percent) said they
needed to lower operating and/or labor costs (Figures 7 and
8). Only 35 percent of those reporting they had decreased
their number of facilities last year cited that need.
When asked about how the downturn in the U.S. economy (up until late summer 2008) had affected their facility
plans, just 24 percent of the respondents said their new
facility plans had been put on hold, while 22 percent said
they were still planning to open new facilities; however, 15
percent actually planned to close or consolidate facilities.
In response to this question, only 13 percent of the respondents said they were still planning to increase hiring, and
nearly a fifth planned to reduce current employment
and/or defer hiring plans (Figure 9).
Now that we have a profile of these respondents and their
current facility status, let’s find out more about their location
and expansion plans and priorities for the years ahead.
What Are Their New Facility Plans?
About one-fifth of the respondents to our 2008 Corporate Survey said they expect to open new facilities within
one year, while 35 percent have plans for new facilities
opening in the next two to three years. Last year, a similar
percentage of survey respondents had one-year new facility
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