Aren

by Bob Neubauer As an industry, in-plants are strong and getting stronger. I find myself making this statement, on average, once every few months. It usually happens at a trade show after a manufacturer or analyst learns my magazine's name and blurts out, "Aren't in-plants a shrinking market?" Despite the raised eyebrows and veiled surprise that often greets my proclamation, I support it 100 percent—and so does the data. According to our 2000 Market Data Report (published in our May issue), nearly 70 percent of in-plants predict their workloads will increase this year. An impressive 47.5 percent say they plan to spend