Frequenty asked questions

No, the MCB Specials Machining buyer index is based on a research conducted by industry association ISM in the United States since the 1920s with the industrial buyers. Everyone is free to take over the design of this research. Click here for more information about this research.

The more accurate the better, but you can also give the answers based on your 'feeling'.

Research shows that around 90% of buyers in the metal industry have internet access. That 10% is unable to complete the research is a pity, but this disadvantage does not weigh against the benefits (fast, practical, cheap) of full digital research.

Because the research is conducted online, the costs of additional participants are negligible. What MCB Specials does in this way is to tap into the collective intelligence of the buyers in the industry. Research shows that a group is much more intelligent than the most intelligent person in the group. So there is no expert who knows better than the buyers as 'collective'.

Machiners extract pieces of (mostly) metal semi-finished products such as bars, similar to a carpenter who runs a chair leg from a piece of wood. The CBS uses the following definition: "The general supply of semi-finished metal products and work pieces through machining operations such as drilling, turning, milling, sparking, machining, sawing, grinding, etc."

For each of the 5 questions (see 1), a number is calculated: the % 'more / shorter' plus half the  % of 'same'. The index is the average of these five numbers, though some things (such as the number of orders) are more important than others, and thus get a bigger weight. These weights are a.30% b.25% c.20% d.15% e.10% respectively.

Every 1st of the following month, a press release will be compiled which discusses the most recent results in the light of previous results and other statistics. Participants of the survey would receive this press release automatically, other people can be placed on the mailing list for it. The press release will appear on the site of MCB Specials in the archive.

Everybody benefits from the most honest answers, and for that reason the research is conducted anonymously by www.formdesk.nl, an online market researcher. Formdesk ensures the separation of people and their answers. MCB Specials has access to the e-mail addresses associated with sending invitations, results and press releases. The participant can specify what can happen with their email address. In any case, the addresses are never shared with the third parties.