Keith Nosbusch, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), said the company is bracing for an economic slowdown through the first two quarters of 2016, but he's not expecting a recession. With its global reach and dependence on GDP growth and healthy industrial production, the performance of the Milwaukee-based manufacturer of controls and automation equipment serves as a key economic indicator for the rest of the region.

"We've grown every year organically since 2009, and now we're above our pre-recession levels with organic growth," Nosbusch said. "But we believe we'll see a slowing of the economy."

In response to the impact of the strong U.S. dollar and the slowdown in the oil and gas industry, the company is factoring in spending $20 million on restructuring in 2016, double its typical spending, which will include about 225 layoffs across the company. That's about 1 percent of the global workforce, and the labor reduction will help the company keep its costs inline with the declining sales it expects for the first two quarters of the year.