The U.S. manufacturing landscape: a summary of results from the 2005 IW/MPI Census of Manufacturers.(CENSUS OF MANUFACTURERS)(Cover Story)

Industry Week, November, 2005 by Vinas, Tonya

PLANT PROFILE

WHILE MANY ASPECTS OF U.S.-based manufacturing have been debated in recent years--usually with the goal of "fixing" manufacturing--two attributes have not been widely addressed: We are old and stubborn. * Like elderly parents who long since should have abandoned the family home for a condo in Florida, manufacturers are refusing to leave older facilities for ones more suited to modern production. Despite advances in technology and operations that require far less space and far more integration, U.S. manufacturing is done largely in plants built at least two decades ago. Are manufacturers missing an opportunity to lower overhead--and therefore costs--and improve processes, by not updating or abandoning old facilities? Perhaps. * Additionally, the...

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