US Manufacturing Maintains a Global Edge

After one of the toughest years for the manufacturing industry, let alone the US economy as a whole, a recent Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI report predicts that manufacturing production will begin to recover "to 5 percent growth in 2010 and 6 percent growth in 2011." Other analysts, too, are seeing a brighter future for manufacturing in the coming years. In an interview with Dr. Chris Kuehl, Economic Analyst, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Manufacturing.net learned that Dr. Kuehl sees certain advantages that the US has over other countries.

Dr. Kuehl says there are "three things that give US manufacturers a bit of an edge even with China in the picture." The first of which being the weak value of the dollar. "With the dollar down at the level it currently is, we're essentially discounting anything we sell internationally. But at some point, that advantage begins to go away." The second factor Dr. Kuehl recognizes is that China, while they hold a large portion of our debt and have fewer regulations posed on their manufacturers, is still relatively rudimentary in their manufacturing culture. "They do have a few sophisticated sectors, but China's specialty is the labor-intensive, mass-production items for WalMart. The US continues to be a more high-value manufacturer." Finally, Dr. Kuehl points out that our single biggest advantage is that US manufacturers are closer to their markets. "Being closer hasn't been a huge issue in the last 10 or 15 years, but if you track what is happening with the energy crisis, it becomes more expensive to bring things from various distant and drawn out supply chains. So you began to see, particularly if oil prices come back up, more incentive to produce closer to the consumer. You now have much more customized, specialized manufacturing and smaller lots."

Dr. Kuehl certainly recognizes the challenges we still face, such as training, hiring and maintaining the export sector, but overall if we play our cards right and focus on the strengths we have that give us the advantage over other countries - we have a chance to turn this around and make the recovery that, for example, MAPI expects.

Read the full interview with Dr. Chris Kuehl
For additional information about MAPI, click here.