Entries by Bart Taylor
Manufacturing sentiment, part II: Supply chain scramble
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 + […]
CompanyWeek Q&A: Glenn Plagens, CEO of Manufacturer’s Edge
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 […]
Manufacturing sentiment: Workforce and supply chains vex manufacturers even as prospects for growth surge
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 […]
CompanyWeek Q&A: CMTC’s Jim Watson on growth strategies for middle-market manufacturers
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” […]
Manufacturing is turning the corner on its workforce challenge, with technology as the catalyst
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 […]
U.S. manufacturing at a crossroads — again
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% […]
Welcome to the AZ Manufacturing Report
Nine years ago this fall, we launched CompanyWeek to report on Colorado’s over-performing manufacturing economy. Along the way, we added Utah, California, and Texas editions of CompanyWeek Mfg. Reports. This week we open a new chapter. With the launch of the AZ Manufacturing Report, we arrive in one of America’s most dynamic economies. A business-friendly […]