The industrial PVF industry is in the midst of a rough patch. And the usual culprit is driving the bus.
“The price of oil drives everything else,” says Michael Taylor, president of Long Beach, Calif.-based Columbia Specialty Co. “The oil industry has become really good at boom and bust. When the bust comes, it triggers action quickly. In a snap of a finger thousands of people get laid off and capital projects get cut. When the price of oil goes down to a certain point, everything gets shut off and things get slashed and the PVF industry gets caught in a big part of that.”