PoscStudent
January 15th, 2011, 05:59 PM
WINDSOR, Ont. -- A CIBC report released Wednesday says the Canadian manufacturing industry is on the rebound, and singles out Windsor as a city that is starting to fare well.
"Windsor was really suffering during the recession, which was a manufacturing-based recession," said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist with CIBC World Markets. "But we are now starting to see a revival in the manufacturing sector.
"It is a manufacturing sector that is leaner and more efficient. That is very positive news for communities like Windsor."
Tal said not only is the manufacturing sector picking up, so is the economy in general, which bodes well for the tourism industry.
The CIBC's most recent Metro Monitor report finds optimism for the majority of Canada's 25 largest cities, noting that Canada added 65,000 manufacturing jobs in December alone.
Based on the financial institution's latest Canadian Metropolitan Economic Activity Index - which looks at such things as employment growth, bankruptcy rates and housing starts - Montreal finished at the top with 26.8, followed by Toronto then Vancouver.
And while Windsor ranked 19th on the list with 6.9, Tal called the city's turnaround impressive in light of the fact it has finished dead last in the past and actually scored negative numbers the last several years.
"The most significant impact of the awaking manufacturing sector can be felt in smaller manufacturing-based cities such as Windsor, St. Catharines-Niagara and Saguenay," the report said. "The economic momentum of these cities, as measured by our index, was in negative territory for most of the past two years. The recent recovery in the manufacturing sector has finally given these municipalities positive economic momentum.
"The city of Windsor is a prime example of the manufacturing-led recovery. Employment in the city has been rising for three consecutive quarters - a performance not seen since 2006. Same goes for the housing market with housing starts being in positive territory for almost a year - the best performance since 2004."
As proof of the city's changing fortunes, many of the area's machine, tool, die and mould shops are busy again.
Patrick Persichilli, executive vice-president of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation, says the CIBC report mirrors what his organization has found over the last year.
"We started seeing an impact in Windsor-Essex from new product development really being driven by the bailout of the Detroit Three," Persichilli said. "That led to thousands of people who were previously laid off being called back to work.
"The small and medium-sized manufacturing organizations in Windsor-Essex truly benefited from that."
Recent renewable-energy announcements from Samsung and Siliken, among others, he said, mean perhaps 400 more jobs for the area in the next few months. And Persichilli predicts more jobs on the horizon, especially with the pending construction of a new border crossing.
"We are finding manufacturers are investing more locally than they have in the recent past," said Shelley Fellows, vice-president of Radix Controls, which makes computer-based manufacturing systems for the auto, food, pharmaceutical and consumer-goods industries. "We're seeing customers that we haven't seen in a couple of years.
"It's wonderful to see manufacturers are investing in their plants and people again."
Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/City+economy+rebound+CIBC+says/4099931/story.html#ixzz1B2tMSWqe
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Poscstudent/cibcmetro1-1-1.jpg
Here is the report: http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/metro_monitor.pdf
Each cities report: http://research.cibcwm.com/res/Eco/ArEcoMEA.html
"Windsor was really suffering during the recession, which was a manufacturing-based recession," said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist with CIBC World Markets. "But we are now starting to see a revival in the manufacturing sector.
"It is a manufacturing sector that is leaner and more efficient. That is very positive news for communities like Windsor."
Tal said not only is the manufacturing sector picking up, so is the economy in general, which bodes well for the tourism industry.
The CIBC's most recent Metro Monitor report finds optimism for the majority of Canada's 25 largest cities, noting that Canada added 65,000 manufacturing jobs in December alone.
Based on the financial institution's latest Canadian Metropolitan Economic Activity Index - which looks at such things as employment growth, bankruptcy rates and housing starts - Montreal finished at the top with 26.8, followed by Toronto then Vancouver.
And while Windsor ranked 19th on the list with 6.9, Tal called the city's turnaround impressive in light of the fact it has finished dead last in the past and actually scored negative numbers the last several years.
"The most significant impact of the awaking manufacturing sector can be felt in smaller manufacturing-based cities such as Windsor, St. Catharines-Niagara and Saguenay," the report said. "The economic momentum of these cities, as measured by our index, was in negative territory for most of the past two years. The recent recovery in the manufacturing sector has finally given these municipalities positive economic momentum.
"The city of Windsor is a prime example of the manufacturing-led recovery. Employment in the city has been rising for three consecutive quarters - a performance not seen since 2006. Same goes for the housing market with housing starts being in positive territory for almost a year - the best performance since 2004."
As proof of the city's changing fortunes, many of the area's machine, tool, die and mould shops are busy again.
Patrick Persichilli, executive vice-president of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation, says the CIBC report mirrors what his organization has found over the last year.
"We started seeing an impact in Windsor-Essex from new product development really being driven by the bailout of the Detroit Three," Persichilli said. "That led to thousands of people who were previously laid off being called back to work.
"The small and medium-sized manufacturing organizations in Windsor-Essex truly benefited from that."
Recent renewable-energy announcements from Samsung and Siliken, among others, he said, mean perhaps 400 more jobs for the area in the next few months. And Persichilli predicts more jobs on the horizon, especially with the pending construction of a new border crossing.
"We are finding manufacturers are investing more locally than they have in the recent past," said Shelley Fellows, vice-president of Radix Controls, which makes computer-based manufacturing systems for the auto, food, pharmaceutical and consumer-goods industries. "We're seeing customers that we haven't seen in a couple of years.
"It's wonderful to see manufacturers are investing in their plants and people again."
Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/City+economy+rebound+CIBC+says/4099931/story.html#ixzz1B2tMSWqe
http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af58/Poscstudent/cibcmetro1-1-1.jpg
Here is the report: http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/metro_monitor.pdf
Each cities report: http://research.cibcwm.com/res/Eco/ArEcoMEA.html