The narrative around the health of California’s economy changes depending on where you are. But as U.S. manufacturing’s fortunes rise, so too does the outlook for California’s economy. Yes, the state may earn its notoriety as a high-cost place to do business, but if your company makes things, California’s production ecosystem is a calling card. […]
If workforce is manufacturing’s certain and persistent challenge, the vagaries of industry supply chains and uncertainty they’re causing is today the sector’s biggest headache. As we noted in the first part of this analysis, 170 CompanyWeek interviews in 2022 found supply-chain woes have overtaken workforce as the top challenge cited by manufacturers: 2022 Q1 + […]
As the national conversation around manufacturing has gained steam, so too has the Department of Commerce’s NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership network enjoyed a much-deserved lift. NIST MEP centers, one per state, support local and regional manufacturing in a variety of ways, with costs partially offset by federal funding. Small and middle-market companies benefit most, and […]
Across CompanyWeek‘s network of manufacturing reports, writers fanned out in the first two quarters of 2022 to interview 170 manufacturers in multiple industries. Executives paint a picture of high demand for products and services with operations challenged by supply chains and workforce. The net positive sentiment corroborates the June 2022 Purchasing Managers Index of 52.7 […]
As much as forecasts of an impending recession shape the business news today, manufacturing is in growth mode. Despite a gloomy macro-economic narrative, June’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) measured a solid 53, squarely in ‘expansion’ territory. Moreover, against the backdrop of recession fears, manufacturers are increasing staff. In the same ISM survey, an “overwhelming majority” […]
Jon Emont’s Wall Street Journal story, “How Singapore Got Its Manufacturing Mojo Back,” is required reading for city and state planners intent on developing more local manufacturing. If we read closely, Singapore’s experience is a road map for how manufacturing will likely develop in communities across America — and the news is good. Emont first […]
And suddenly, it’s gone. After a feel-good decade when the prospects of a sustained American manufacturing renewal seemed tantalizingly close, the news this month of soaring U.S. trade deficits and declining manufacturing output and GDP is sobering. David Goldman summed up the wreckage last week. “U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) shrank at a 1.5% […]