The results of the March Business Conditions Report, released by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), Cleveland, Ohio, reflect industry optimism for the fourth consecutive month. Out of a sample of 218 manufacturing companies, 58 percent felt economic activity would go up in the coming months, 39 percent expected activity to remain the same and only three percent predicted a further downward turn. Sixty-five percent of respondents expected to see an increase in incoming orders during the next three months, 29 percent projected no change in orders and only six percent predicted a decrease over the next three months. Forty-four percent of participants reported plant workforce on short time or layoff for the month of March.