U.S. factory production highest in 14 years, even as interest rates rise : NPR

While I am under no illusion that manufacturing in the United States will ever return to previous levels, it is good to see articles like the one below.  There will always be a place for domestic manufacturing companies that are both nimble and innovative.

Factories have added 467,000 jobs in the last 12 months, as production jumped to its highest level since 2008. But manufacturing remains a much smaller slice of the U.S. economy than it used to be.

Source: U.S. factory production highest in 14 years, even as interest rates rise : NPR

Rindge Leaphart

Just a quick post on manufacturing in the US.   Given the political discussions taking place regarding outsourcing, I thought I would post a few links I found to be somewhat interesting if not all-together original.

The first is a link to Quora with responses to the question: Is it possible to make quality products in the US and still compete:

http://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-make-quality-products-in-the-US-and-still-compete-in-the-market

Some of the responses to this question are pretty good and while not in-depth have some interesting links or insights.  Clearly manufacturing in the US has declined (outsourcing, China, rise of the service based economy) but my personal opinion is that US manufacturers will always be able to compete in industries or markets that require short lead times and / or some level of customization.  I realize that is a broad statement, but US manufacturing companies can definitely compete and win when they compete for products where customers require short lead times.  Additionally, there will always be political reasons (Airbus indicating that they will produce planes in the US) and in some cases regulatory that will always require some level of US manufacturing.  As many of you know there seems to be a slight movement afoot to bring jobs back to the US from China and other locales due to rising wages, quality, and general supply chain complications.  Even with this trend, times have clearly changed and I doubt as a nation that we will have as many US based manufacturing jobs as we once had.

The second link I thought was kind of funny and probably has never been bandied around as an economic indicator, but it does provide a chuckle

http://www.businessinsider.com/there-has-been-an-ominous-collapse-in-vending-machine-revenue-2012-7

I guess the decrease in vending machine revenue can’t really be attributed to people eating healthier.  Probably not, as I make a candy run to the vending machine 2-3 times per day.

Rindge Leaphart

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