Happy Manufacturing Day!

The second annual Manufacturing Day will be held today throughout the U.S. The worldwide recession has caused a multitude of problems for domestic manufacturers, many of whom have had to cut back on production, postpone R&D efforts and even reduce personnel in order to weather the storm. Adhesive and sealant manufacturing is tied very closely to large industries (such as construction and transportation) that have suffered from the recession, and our industry has felt the impact as a result. Strategic consulting firm The ChemQuest Group, Inc. predicts that volume growth for U.S. adhesives and sealants will stay fairly flat, at 1% for 2013. Revenue is expected to increase at a slightly higher rate (6%). (Read Strategic Solutions: Macro Outlook for Adhesives and Sealants for additional details.)

However, according to the American Chemistry Council’s Economic Activity Barometer, “the U.S. economy continues to improve, with forecasts now suggesting economic expansion into 2015.” And interestingly, increasing pay levels and environmental regulations (among other factors) in China have prompted many manufacturers to consider reshoring their operations back to the U.S. The results of a recent survey of executives at large U.S.-based companies show that, “when asked whether they expect to move production in light of rising wages in China, 21% of respondents—around twice as many as in 2012—said they are ‘actively doing this’ or that they ‘will move production to the U.S. in the next two years.’”