Industry Trends & Analysis

Jamestown is slowly becoming a manufacturing hub in western New York. New Flyer of America Inc. is one of the country's largest manufacturers of transit buses. The company's plant in Jamestown has been open since 2016 in a former grocery store.

Prioritize metalworking fluids when market factors reduce profit margins.

Advanced manufacturing is a significant driver of the northeast Ohio economy and has been a key factor in the region's recovery from the recessions of the early 2000s and 2008. However, growth in employment in the sector has fallen behind increases in gross regional product, and efforts to address this challenge will require an increase in the area's skilled workforce.

When we think about the quality of life in U.S. cities, we think about affordable housing, good schools and hospitals, strong public services, excellent parks, bike paths and cultural resources. And of course, there's the employment factor. Usually, larger cities offer more employment stability because there are simply more jobs. But this is changing now that manufacturing jobs are more readily available in cities with populations under 700,000.

Wisconsin-based Kohler Co. recently announced that it will shut down engine operations in Sheboygan County and move nearly 600 jobs out of state. What does the status of the manufacturing industry look like for Wisconsin and the Midwest?

A new maritime regulation may create a nationwide manufacturing boom. With an expected increase in the cost of fuels used by ocean carriers, many manufacturing plants might move from Asia to the United States.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City is serving as a testing ground for a resurgence – and remaking – of manufacturing.

Manager's Desk: The time to sell your operation like never before is when things slow down and new work is a must.

If a region is attracting new manufacturing companies, what's the fastest way to help them launch their businesses? The answer from Danville, Virginia, is the 51,250-sq.-ft. Center for Manufacturing Advancement.

In Chicagoland, most owners of manufacturing companies are not only white but at the age of retirement and lacking succession plans. The owners' kids don't want to take over, or they don't have the skills to. The likeliest fate for these businesses is to be bought by private equity firms that fire the employees, sell off some assets and move on, meaning a huge loss of jobs and revenue in the region.

In 2019, we expect a continued strong, robust manufacturing sector. Even if there is some slowdown, the challenge for many companies this year remains, "How do we generate more with less?" as they face labor and talent shortages and increasing prices for labor, energy and cost of materials.

The United States had as many people working in the manufacturing sector in December as 69 years earlier. The 32,000 positions added in that month took the number of jobs in manufacturing to 12.84 million. In November 1949, there were 12.88 million manufacturing workers at the end of a sharp recession. But the economy in 1949 was unlike that of the U.S. in 2019. Then, some 30 percent of American civilian workers outside the farm sector were in manufacturing. Now, that percentage stands at just 8.5, about as low as ever.