The Fire Sprinkler Roundtable

The Economy – The Fire Sprinkler Roundtable

The NFSA Board of Directors meeting in mid-April that was held in conjunction with our Annual Seminar in Chicago did not suggest that an economic recovery for our industry was imminent.  As backlogs continue to shrink, all the companies represented on our councils continue to very carefully monitor the expense side of their budgets.   While corporate earnings as reported in previous articles continue to improve, reduction in staff and higher productivity appear to be the driving factors to healthier balance sheets.

There appears to be some suggestion that we are at the bottom of the recessionary cycle, but there seems to be a consensus that we may not see any improvement in business conditions in the foreseeable future.   While installation hours continue to deteriorate, the drop from month to month seems to have stabilized.   NFSA is looking to improve the enforcement of NFPA #25 in an effort to give the standard “more teeth” when adopted at the local level.   Look for updates in the minutes of our Board and Council meetings and on NFSA’s web site www.nfsa.org.   If you see any improvement in business activity as compared to the same time last year please use the link below to comment on our blog….we would certainly like to report some good news!