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Many projects, mergers and acquisitions are detailed in monthly updates in the Market Report’s Chapters under Industry Analysis. Click on the links below to view current updates for each industry.

Solid gains in both single-family and multifamily housing production resulted in nationwide housing starts rising 12.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000 units in December, according to newly released data from the U.S. Commerce Department. This is the highest level of new home production since June of 2008.

Single-family housing starts rose 8.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 616,000 units in December, while multifamily production jumped 23.1 percent, to 338,000 units.

Combined single-family and multifamily starts activity was up across all regions in December. The Northeast posted a gain of 21.4 percent, the Midwest was up 24.7 percent, the South posted a 3.8 percent increase and the West was up 18.7 percent.

Permit issuance, which can be a harbinger of future building activity, held virtually steady at a 903,000-unit rate in December. Single-family permits rose for a fourth consecutive month, by 1.8 percent to 578,000 units while multifamily permits declined 2.1 percent to 325,000 units.

Regionally, permits rose 19 percent in the Northeast and 6.6 percent in the West while the South and Midwest posted respective declines of 3.4 percent and 5.7 percent.

The housing market should experience growth in 2013 that is slow but steady, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a recent report.

According to the NAHB’s economic and housing forecast by chief economist David Crowe, recent housing indicators suggest that growth will occur in 2013 but will be slowed by some familiar challenges including lending restrictions.

In 2012, new builds on single-family homes rose to about 534,000 units (projection), which is a 23 percent increase from 2011.

The NAHB forecasts that this number will rise another 21 percent in 2013 to 647,000 and then another 29 percent in 2014 to bring the total to 837,000 units.

Seeking to cement its position as a Middle East center for transport and tourism, Dubai has unveiled several grandiose construction projects. Last month, Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered the construction of a new city development named after himself, a project that could cost $10 billion, according to some estimates. It envisages 100 hotels, the world's largest shopping mall, parks, art galleries and exhibition centers. Soon after, he announced plans for a $2.7 billion leisure complex of five theme parks.

Dubai also is pushing its candidacy to host the World Expo in 2020, the first time a city in the Middle East would host this event, which would involve the construction of an exhibition center on the outskirts of the emirate.

While Dubai is enjoying an economic recovery fueled by a surge in key areas such as trade, tourism and transport, it still has to repay roughly $100 billion of debt from the previous property boom, which ended in 2008. The plans raise questions about how the ambitious construction will be financed and whether it will lead to more oversupply in a still-fragile property market.

Local investment bank Shuaa Capital expects the plans to be funded by a mix of debt and the proceeds of off-plan sales. The project, whose exact price tag hasn't been disclosed, will be developed by Dubai Holding, an investment vehicle linked to Dubai's ruler and Emaar Properties, in which the government of Dubai owns a 31% stake.

China is hoping for a June opening for what it calls the largest freestanding building in the world. The New Century Global Centre is 500 m long, 400 m wide and 100 m tall. That is as large as 20 Sydney Opera houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon. The Global Centre will be home to business offices, hotels, theaters, high-end shopping malls, a faux Mediterranean village, family-themed attractions, university complexes and more. Various media have reported on masses of Chinese workers rushing to complete the building in time for the June 6–8 global forum hosted by Fortune magazine. Construction began in 2010.

Another enormous building is planned across the road. Award-winning British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid's Chengdu Contemporary Arts Centre is to include a theatre, an opera house and a museum.

CLARCOR Inc. (NYSE: CLC) reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2012. Significant full year 2012 financial and strategic highlights include the following:

• Full year consolidated operating margin of 16.3% was the highest in over 20 years

• Engine/Mobile segment operating margin exceeded 20.0% for the 12th consecutive year

• Continued improvement in Industrial/Environmental segment operating margin to 12.0%

• Generated cash from operations of $136 million

• Oil and gas filtration sales increased $14.0 million, or 7%, from full year 2011

• Committed $12.0 million for an oil and gas filtration research center in Mineral Wells, TX

GE to Invest $11 million in Missouri Industrial and Gas Turbine Air Filtration Plant Keeping pace with the growing demand for natural gas power generation equipment, GE added more than 115 new jobs this year at its production facilities in Slater, MO, where the business has manufactured filtration technologies since 1975. In addition to these new jobs, over the next five years, GE plans to invest nearly $11 million to improve its facilities in this area.

"The Air Filtration business in Slater is growing. Expanding our workforce and facilities are vital to driving our filtration business to support natural gas power generation in North America," said Keith White, general manager of GE Power & Water's Air Filtration business.

GE's line of industrial air filtration products helps customers achieve air quality and plant performance goals while reducing emissions. In Slater, GE manufactures air filtration media and membranes for industrial products and gas turbine inlet systems. Products include pleated filters that collect dust at industrial sites and gas turbine cartridges that keep particulate from entering and damaging the turbine.

The filtration manufacturing expansion supports GE's growing focus on the use of natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, for power generation. GE recently introduced its newest natural gas technology, the FlexEfficiency* 60 Portfolio, which incorporates advanced combustion technology to deliver operating flexibility while sustaining higher levels of efficiency compared to earlier technology. With its capability to rapidly ramp its power output up and down, this technology can serve as a gateway for greater use of renewable energy on the grid.

In 2012, GE invested more than $3 million in production equipment and renovations at its 226,594-square-foot Slater properties, including the conversion of a 50,000-square-foot warehouse into new production space for gas turbine inlet filtration products. The upgrades include HVAC, phone and computer networks, and power line drops.

GE Power & Water's Air Filtration business, historically BHA Group, employs 750 employees worldwide, including employees at three manufacturing centers in Missouri--one in Lee's Summit and two in Slater. The business has been headquartered in the greater Kansas City area for more than 40 years.

Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, inaugurated its first green field manufacturing facility at Chennai, India. The state-of-the-art, world class facility is built on a 10 acre plot in Mahindra World City. The new manufacturing site will focus on production for the filtration, pneumatics and drives, sealing and shielding businesses.

The company has invested Rs. 100 crore in setting up the facility. The new facility will manufacture broad range of products and systems for segments such as automotive, off-highway mobile, telecom, oil and gas, mining, and primary metals.

The Chennai facility targets the employment of 300 people in the next 2 to 3 years. With this facility and acquisitions, Parker Hannifin India plans to double their revenues within the next 5 years.

Tom Williams, Executive Vice President and Operating Officer, Parker Hannifin Corporation said, "The inauguration of our first green field manufacturing facility at Chennai and localization of our products demonstrate our commitment to India as a key growth market. Our new Chennai facility will enhance our ability to support our customers locally here as we build our presence in new markets in India."

"Expanding business in Asia, and specifically India, represents a significant aspect of Parker's future growth strategy. Asia represents approximately 10% of our sales today but over time we would expect that to be as much as 20% as our target is to double our business in the region over the next several years. A significant portion of our growth efforts in the region will be focused on India, as this country will play a critical role in our success in achieving these goals," Mr. Williams added.

Parker Hannifin is committed to investments and long-term growth in India. As part of the growth strategy, Parker has made five strategic acquisitions in India in the past two years and nine since 2005.

Arijit Sen, Country Managing Director, Parker Hannifin India said, "The investment in the new Chennai Parker India plant has established a strong foundation for our future success in India. Additional manufacturing capacity at Chennai will help the company to cater to the demand for high quality products, engineering solutions and systems in India. We have currently only built the first phase of the project in Chennai of 166,000 square feet and we expand further by 100,000 square feet in the second phase."

The Chennai facility is designed as a green building and is in the process of being LEED certified. This emphasizes Parker's commitment to providing a comfortable and healthy working environment and to using eco-friendly material and improved water and energy efficiencies.

Along with its investments in new manufacturing facilities and acquisitions, Parker India continues to invest into human resources, increasing its manufacturing talent and enhancing its product and system engineering capabilities. A well-networked sales organization operating through regional sales offices is supported by an expanding base of distributors and Parker stores to cover the customers, markets and large industrial footprint of India. Besides the established markets in off-highway mobile, oil and gas/CNG, mining, primary metals and automotive, Parker India will be focusing on the exciting and fast growing markets in power generation, renewable energy, railways, defense, and life sciences - which represent strong growth opportunities as India continues to build its infrastructure.

About Parker Hannifin India

The Company has aggressive growth plans in the Asian region and India will play an important role in that growth strategy. Parker has been in India since 1993 and has grown its business through acquisitions and building of new manufacturing facilities. Parker Hannifin India operates in 11 sales offices, 7 manufacturing facilities and employs more than 1,500 people. With a strong base of business and infrastructure, Parker has laid the foundation for future growth in India targeting markets such as mobile, oil and gas, mining, primary metals, automotive, defense, life sciences, railways etc.

Parker Hannifin is committed to investments and long term growth in India. As part of the growth strategy, besides increased manufacturing footprint out of the Mumbai and Chennai facilities, Parker has made 9 acquisitions in India in the past 7 years, including 5 acquisitions since Oct 2011. These acquisitions have created synergies to help grow their business in filtration, hydraulics and fluid connector groups.

With its aggressive investments in past few years, Parker in India has grown rapidly, entering new markets besides adding new products and customers. With its focus on enhancing its engineering resources and being a systems and solution provider across multiple technologies, Parker in India has executed several major new projects in hydraulics, pneumatics, instrumentation, automation, climate control, seals and filtration.

AAF, a world leader in gas turbine air filtration technology, recently announced the North American release of its line of HydroShield™ depth-loading membrane HEPA (EPA)-class filtration systems for gas turbines.

The announcement coincides with a presentation before the Fall 2012 Conference of the Combustion Turbine Operations Technical Forum (CTOTF) in San Diego, Calif., by James K. Ross, Aftermarket Business Manager for the AAF Power & Industrial Division in Cramlington, UK.

Ross says the HEPA (EPA) filtration systems developed by AAF – first in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and now available to gas turbine operators in the Americas – are unique in that they can be used in even the harshest environments, including offshore, coastal, tropical and desert environments.

"To properly maintain power and efficiency, a gas turbine filter must resist not only dust and dirt, but also repeated exposure to fog, moisture, salt spray and hydrocarbons," Ross explained. "Our HydroShield filters employ a specially designed multi-layer media with proprietary depth-loading membrane technology that protects the turbine’s complex rotating parts under any environmental conditions." The media has been optimized to offer E10 and E12 HEPA efficiency grades, according to Ross.

With an initial filtration efficiency of 99.5% or greater at the smallest penetrating particle size, AAF HydroShield filters help maintain gas compressor cleanliness by recovering 6% of the power output normally lost to engine fouling in non-power loss megawatt hours. The advanced protection provided by AAF HEPA (EPA)-class filtration helps keep engine cores in close-to-new condition during operation. As a result, cycles between on- or offline water washing can be drastically reduced, or even eliminated.

"Our goal when AAF began installing HEPA-class filters for our customers was to make a gas turbine engine that previously required daily water washing run for at least 8,000 hours without washing," said Kent Mertz, AAF Machinery Filtration Product Manager. "Now 8,000 hours without washing is routine. In fact, we have engines operating in excess of 24,000 hours without washing."

The higher cost of HEPA (EPA) filters is justified by the savings they generate, Mertz explained.

"Increased turbine availability – all that downtime saved – is huge. Recovery of lost power, lower fuel costs, fewer maintenance costs. It all adds up," he said.

More information about AAF’s advanced HEPA (EPA)-class filtration technology for gas turbine engines is available online at www.aafgtsolutions.com.

GE has introduced the ClearCurrent PRO, a new gas turbine inlet filter cartridge that has been field tested and shown to affect gas turbine performance positively, while helping to reduce the effects of turbine degradation.

GE adds that it is the only company that manufactures gas turbines and the inlet filtration systems that are key contributors to good gas turbine performance. With the release of ClearCurrent PRO, which contains PRO (Predictable, Reliable Output) technology, GE’s Air Filtration business says that it has shown that selecting the right filter and monitoring air quality is one of the most important aspects to delivering the turbine performance that operators require.

The filtration portfolio expansion supports GE's growing focus on the use of natural gas for power generation. GE’s ClearCurrent PRO cartridge filters are compatible with GE’s FlexEfficiency portfolio.

"The integration of GE’s air filtration and heavy duty gas turbine technologies has enabled an unprecedented level of performance over the life of the power plant," said Keith White, general manager of GE’s Air Filtration business. "ClearCurrent PRO’s inlet filter offers enhanced output and lower fuel costs for turbine operators."

The Air Filtration team monitored the performance of ClearCurrent PRO for the last several years at a variety of worldwide installations, including both coastal and inland sites. The team found that inlet systems installed with ClearCurrent PRO offered improved output, lower heat rates and overall turbine efficiency compared with earlier technologies. Reduced degradation is vital to turbine operators that can potentially see savings on maintenance costs, or more revenue, due to increased power generation.

"Degradation-based maintenance is very important to turbine operators," said Paul Sennett, product line leader for gas turbine inlet systems at GE. "Our PRO technology can help reduce that degradation and make it so that the choice of inlet filters has a direct correlation to turbine performance."

AAF has officially unveiled its proprietary NELIOR Filtration Technology. New HEPA and ULPA filters are available that are tailored to the stringent demands of the pharmaceutical and microelectronic industries. A distinctive Life Cycle Valuation program has developed for demonstrating the value potential and latest insights in the mechanical strength of air filtration media have been presented in a technical paper.

NELIOR Filtration Technology is based on a patented membrane air filtration media, which is developed by AAF’s engineers and is produced in one of AAF’s own manufacturing facilities. It features a superior composition and mechanical strength that give unique performance characteristics to HEPA and ULPA filtration, unmatched by any other air filtration media currently available on the market. NELIOR membrane media is composed of an evenly distributed layer of fibers with nanometer-scale diameters. NELIOR Filtration Technology provides for an up to 50% lower operating resistance in combination with an excellent overall particulate collection efficiency. Furthermore, a recently conducted research study by the renowned ÖP textile testing laboratories in Germany has shown a superior mechanical strength performance of NELIOR membrane media versus traditional air filtration media. The outcome of this research study has been presented in a technical paper for the ICCCS 2012 symposium.

The superior composition and mechanical strength are complemented by a chemical inert and hydrophobic media structure, that together result in a unique blend of benefits for the most sensitive processing areas. AAF’s HEPA and ULPA filters with NELIOR Filtration Technology provide value added through consistent air quality, improved process performance, environmental savings and beneficial Total Cost of Ownership.

Each individual process application is faced with its own challenges to ensure that the required air purity conditions are met for keeping output quality on a consistently high level. This means that the demands that are put on air filtration do also differ per application. AAF recognizes this and has developed new HEPA and ULPA filters, featuring NELIOR Filtration Technology, that meet the most stringent requirements of individual industries. For the pharmaceutical industry, AAF launches the VITCAcel filter and for the microelectronic industry the MEGAcel filter.

VITCAcel is available in filter classes H14 and U16 to EN1822:2009 for application in ISO 5/GMP grade A cleanrooms and adjacent areas. MEGAcel is available in filter class U16 to EN1822:2009 for application in controlled areas up to ISO 1, including highly sensitive semiconductor minienvironments.

NELIOR Life Cycle Valuation program

For demonstrating the value potential to be achieved by air filters with NELIOR Filtration Technology, AAF has developed a distinctive Life Cycle Valuation (LCV) program. The LCV approach recognizes that air filtration does not only play an important role in reducing energy consumption in buildings and manufacturing facilities, but also in optimizing the conditions for safe production of sensitive products. Both energy costs and failure risk costs are therefore included in the LCV analysis. The environmental and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) savings potential is calculated following a risk management approach with application specific data, of which the results are summarized in a clear, detailed customer report.

Franklin Adhesives & Polymers, a division of Franklin International has introduced FilterFAB 150 sealant for bonding pleated glass or paper media to the frames of air intake panel filters. FilterFAB 150 is designed to speed up assembly in the filter plant. Its fiber-filled, vinyl acrylic copolymer composition blends high viscosity and high solids into a thick formula that dries quickly and remains flexible over time. Instant set time eliminates the need for clamping to simplify and accelerate filter production.

The newest FilterFAB product also is versatile and adheres to frames made from a diversity of materials, including steel, wood, plastic and aluminum. Although its primary purpose is to bond the media to the frames—the sealant typically is applied to the trough of the frame and the assembly then wrapped around the pleated media—it also serves to seal joints in a broad array of indoor and outdoor HVAC duct systems.

Web site:  www.mcilvainecompany.com