G.T. Reilly Manufacturing Survey 2011

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Small and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers are confident that 2011 will be a good year, with a solid majority expecting better results and more hiring this year despite concern over rising costs.

In a recent survey by Prime Advantage, a Chicago-based buying consortium for manufacturers:

• 72% of small and mid-sized manufacturers reported that their companies expect revenue increases in 2011.
• The top three cost pressures for 2011 are: the cost of raw materials (with 96% including it in the top three concerns), followed by inflation (52%) and healthcare (37%).
• 65% plan capital expenditures for manufacturing equipment and tools in 2011, greatly triggered by souped-up tax benefits allowing companies to expense 100% of certain equipment placed into service this year.
• More than 80% said their companies were developing more sustainable products, largely driven by customer requirements and compliance regulations.
• While 40% of respondents who source products from off-shore vendors are planning to bring sourcing back to North America, indicating a rebalancing in sourcing strategy, another 60% are planning to add more off-shore vendors.
• Almost half of surveyed companies believe there will be an increase in hiring over the next six months, and 49% expect employment to remain at 2010 levels.

If your company is a manufacturer, what’s your outlook for 2011? Take our quick G.T. Reilly Manufacturing Survey 2011 and let us know how you envision the rest of 2011. We’ll share the results with you by email after June 15. (Results depend on sufficient responses.)

We invite you to share this blog post and survey link with your manufacturing colleagues and vendors.