Bobby Bono

More than half of US manufacturers are implementing automation in materials handling, according to a new survey from business advisory firm PwC.

The latest PwC Manufacturing Barometer found that 79% of US manufacturers are presently using robotic systems and 58% are planning to acquire more of these systems in the next two to three years.

Manufacturers are implementing robotics for a wide array of applications including materials handling/packaging (51%), with almost half indicating that robotics improve productivity.

The barometer found rising optimism about the direction of the domestic economy. "(However), the broad sense of optimism about overall economic conditions and improvements in global demand was offset by concerns about pricing and margins and the potential impact of currency on international revenues," according to the report.

Optimism regarding the prospects of the U.S. economy during the next 12 months increased among US industrial manufacturers to 76% during the first quarter of 2015, up from 68% in the previous quarter and 71% in the first quarter of 2014. The level of optimism reported was the highest since the fourth quarter of 2005.

Sentiment about the world economy also improved, but by a more modest four points to 42%, compared to the previous quarter.

"As we see increasingly positive views about the domestic economy among US industrial manufacturers, a majority of management teams continue to indicate plans to hire skilled workers and invest in their businesses, with the bulk of spending centred on new products or service introductions," says Bobby Bono, PwC's U.S. industrial manufacturing leader. "We also saw a spike in sentiment regarding potential M&A activity, while plans to expand abroad softened, reflecting increased concerns about the impact of the strengthening dollar. Overall, the outlook for US industrial manufacturers remains positive and we are seeing healthy levels of capital investment."

PwC's Manufacturing Barometer is a quarterly survey based on interviews with 58 senior executives of large, multinational US industrial manufacturing companies about their current business performance, the state of the economy and their expectations for growth over the next 12 months.