ITR Economics CEO Brian Beaulieu will be presenting at the MHEDA Convention on Monday, May 2nd, 2016, from 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The MHEDA Journal had an opportunity to speak with Brian about his presentation, "Prosperity in the Age of Decline" and about what 2016 has in store for the economy and the material handling industry. The MHEDA Journal: Based on your research at ITR, what do you expect 2016 will bring to the material handling industry? Brian Beaulieu: The outlook for 2016 is good. The industrial side of our economy in North America is soft right now because of the oil patch and because of a very strong dollar and normal business cycle influences. But the oil patch is going to be stabilizing, the dollar is going to be going the other way against most of our trading partners and the material handling group, in particular, is one of our stronger sectors because the consumers are alive and well and out there spending money. Goods need to be moved within distribution channels and warehousing. We’re very upbeat for this sector and the consumer-based leading indicators are positive for 2016, so we think it’s going to be a good year. TMJ: What are some of those leading indicators that MHEDA members should keep an eye on? BB: Keep an eye on housing starts. I know that’s not directly related to the material handling industry, but it reflects a demand-pull aspect of the business. I’ll be discussing this at Convention, but employment numbers are something to keep an eye on. We’ve seen some weakness over the past couple of months in that sector so that’s something to remain vigilant about. Another important indicator is retail sales. This sector responds well to rising retail sales. And finally, keep an eye […]