Who has had it rougher during the economic recession—distributors or manufacturers? And who feels more confident that the recession is starting to end?

A recent report issued by the Power Transmission Distributors Assn. indicated that distributors were more optimistic about the future than manufacturers. Is this a true indication of the state of the power transmission/motors industry?

Tony Hood is vice president of sales and marketing for WEG Electric Motors, which has its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta. He agrees that distributors are more optimistic than he and his fellow manufacturers.

"We've heard the economy has been bouncing back for almost a year now. We're not seeing improvement come around as quickly as we keep hearing it is," he says. "For instance, the industrial part of the economy—where there were lots of layoffs—has been much slower in recovering than we would have hoped."

Still, Hood says things may be looking up. In 2003, WEG saw a "nice improvement over 2002," Hood says. "Things picked up last quarter and ['03] ended up being a very good year for us."

Another manufacturer, Baldor Electric Co., also saw some improvement. Eric Frey, gear products manager at Baldor's Ft. Smith, Ark., plant, agrees that "manufacturing is lagging a little behind" in terms of recovery. But he does point to one particular sign that makes him more optimistic.

"I attend five or six trade shows a year," he says. "At the past couple of shows I've attended, the interest and contacts who are getting back to us for follow-ups has increased. This indicates to me that there's more activity going on in manufacturing."

Viewing things from the distributor side of the fence is Jack Simpson, director of power transmission products at Applied Industrial Technologies in Cleveland.

"Before, people had things 'on hold,' but now we're getting some dates [for orders]. We're starting to see a little percolation in our motor business, which is generally a good indicator for us that some of the capital demand is starting to break loose a little bit," he explains.

Phil Derrow, president/CEO of Ohio Transmission & Pump Co., headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, says manufacturers and distributors should keep in mind that they are in this thing together.

"If our customers aren't thriving, then distribution, generally, isn't thriving either," he says. "As distributors, we have to recognize that our job is to find ways to make our customers more competitive. It's not to find ways to make us more competitive.

"The severe pressure on manufacturing, from the recession and overseas competition, puts enormous pressure on distribution. Anyone who says it's been easier on distribution than manufacturing—well, that's certainly a grass is greener sort of thing," he says.

So is the end of the recession here? Or at least near? Derrow calls himself and his company "bullish" on the future while acknowledging the loss of jobs and companies that manufacturing has suffered.

"What makes the United States continue to be a strong manufacturing competitor," says Derrow, "is that the remaining industries will innovate and do things other people don't do. New companies will spring up and do things that didn't exist before. And that's going to continue."