Industrial Heating magazine's monthly Economic Indicators for December showed declines in three of the four indices. RFQs, Orders and Backlogs all recorded modest declines while the perception of the General Health of the Thermal Processing Industry index advanced slightly. December index numbers, released today, reflect the changes experienced from October 2002 to November 2002. Request for Proposal Index decreased from 56.1 in November to 49.0 in December. Number of Orders index dropped from 54.3 in November to 47.5 in December. Size of Backlog Index fell slightly from 51.0 in November to 49.2 in December. The General Health of the Thermal Processing Industry Index showed another modest gain from 49.7 in November to 50.1 in December. A number above 50.0 indicates increased activity or growth. Roughly 375 industry suppliers are surveyed the first full week of each month. If you are an industry supplier and would like to participate in this monthly survey, please contact Industrial Heating Publisher Doug Glenn at 412-531-3370 or by e-mail doug@industrialheating.com. These results are also published monthly on the editorial page of Industrial Heating.