By David A. Belforte

We have all breathed a sigh of relief that the deep recession of 2008/09 is over and that industry has recovered. In the words of one industry association, “the sense of imminent financial contagion has ‘dialed down’ and world economies have drawn back from the brink.” Reality is that aggregate GDP growth in industrialized countries (non-US) is sluggish, and growth in the emerging markets which has accelerated through end of 2013 is expected to decelerate in 2014. This weak global growth translated to a weak outlook for US exports in 2013, but will be rising in 2014. So it is remarkable that in this less than ebullient global economy, manufacturing, specifically that manufacturing that utilizes industrial laser material processing technology, continued to expand in 2013, albeit at a modest pace. Continue reading →