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Equipment finance activity grew 9.3% in 2013

New business volume grew 9.3% in the equipment finance industry in 2013, according to the 2014 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA) released by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA). The growth in volume was down from the 16.4% increase reported for 2012 and the 16.5% increased reported for 2011, but well above the 3.9% increase reported for 2010 and the 30.3% decline in 2009. Return on average equity also remained healthy at 16.8%.

According to the 2014 SEFA, the air transportation industry represented 1.2% of new business volume reported by ELFA member companies, up from 0.6% in 2012. Corporate aircraft represented 5.6% of their new business volume, up from 4.8% in 2012. Commercial aircraft represented 0.3% of new business volume, up from 0.1% in 2012.

ELFA also released a companion report, the 2014 Small-Ticket Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, which focuses on equipment transactions from under $25,000 to $250,000. It found that new business volume in the small-ticket space grew by 10.2% in 2013. www.elfaonline.org/SEFA

Manufacturing technology orders down in July

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $354.63 million according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the United States Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) program, was down 11.5% from June and down 1.4% when compared with the total of $359.70 million reported for July 2013. With a year-to-date total of $2,711.36 million, 2014 is down 2.3% compared with 2013.

“We believe we are coming into an environment ripe for capital investment,” says Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. “With a strong purchasing manager’s index (PMI) reading in July and a record high for U.S. exports, manufacturing shows no signs of slowing. Additionally, as capital equipment is reaching an advanced age and interest rates are continuing to stay low, we believe we will see strong order activity in the months following IMTS.”

The USMTO report provides regional and national U.S. orders data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. www.amtonline.org

Maxon motor takes part in comet chase

After more than 10 years of travel through space, the European Space Agency (ESA) probe Rosetta reached the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, known as Chury, on Aug. 6, 2014. It is the first time in the history of space travel that a probe has rendezvoused with a comet. Since then, the probe has been orbiting and mapping the comet. In November, a lander dubbed Philae will make a controlled touch-down on the 4km-wide comet’s surface, another first.

A DC motor manufactured by maxon is part of this pioneering feat.

This is not the first time that the micro drives from Switzerland have been used for space missions. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which transports cargo to the International Space Station, also contains maxon motors, as do the Mars rovers, which have been traveling across the surface of the Red Planet for years. www.axonmotorusa.com

Spring-energized seals qualified in rotorheads

OmniSeal spring-energized seals have been qualified as a sealing solution in various sections of rotorhead in military helicopters. Four seals have been qualified for this application, including sealing the inboard pitch-varying housing, outboard pitch-varying housing, vertical hinge pin, and horizontal hinge pin. All four seals are capable of dry running in the event of lubrication loss and operate at temperatures from -67°F (-55°C) to 200°F (93°C). www.seals.saint-gobain.com