FRB and ISM Utilization Indexes
In the survey of plant capacity used by the US Federal Reserve Board for the FRB capacity utilization index, firms are asked about "the maximum level of production that this establishment could reasonably expect to attain under normal and realistic operating conditions, fully utilizing the machinery and equipment in place."
By contrast, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) index asks respondents to measure their current output relative to "normal capacity", and this yields a utilization rate, which is between 4 and 10 percentage points higher than the FRB measure. Again, the time series show more or less the same historical movement.
See: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Read more about this topic: Capacity Utilization
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