Inland manufacturing bounces back

After one of its worst months in recent memory, the Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector came roaring back in August.

The regions purchasing managers index for last month was 60, one of the largest indexes in recent memory and a major improvement from the 46.5 that was recorded in July, according to the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San Bernardino.

Any score of 50 or above is a sign of a growing manufacturing sector, below 50 means that the sector is shrinking. Three consecutive months in either direction is needed to establish a trend.

When last month’s report was issued, Barbara Sirotnik, director of the institute, called it the low index “an aberration” caused in part by seasonal factors, and that it was not the start of a long-term trend.

Thankfully, she was right.

“I’m not surprised that it came back the way it did because I knew the market couldn’t be as bad as the [July] index said it was,” said Sirotnik, who is in charge of compiling the monthly report. “I think what we’re doing now is regressing back to the mean. Unless I miss my mark, we’ll be around 54 or 55 next month.”

Five of the six categories that make up the index – commodity prices, production, new orders, inventory and employment – all grew during August. Only supply deliveries showed a slight a decline, a trend that began five months ago, according to the index.