Manufacturing productivity in the U.S. rose 4.1 percent in 2007, reports the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This was slightly above the 3.9 percent U.S. average annual increase since 1979.   The BLS, a federal agency, compared manufacturing labor productivity in 16 economies worldwide, and found that the U.S ...

The United States retained its lead as the world’s largest producer of industrial machines in 2006, with $122 billion worth of production.  This was one of the findings of new research and statistics-gathering from IMS Research.   This lead is narrowing, however. Germany was second with $119 billion, followed closely by Japan with $110 ...

Capital spending by all U.S. businesses rose 14.3 percent to a record high $1.31 trillion, in 2006 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This represents a $165 billion increase from the $1.14 trillion in capital spending reported in 2005 and surpasses the previous high of $1.16 trillion in 2000.   These data come from the Census Bureau’s ...

A new survey of U.S. senior manufacturing executives shows that about two-thirds would outsource maintenance of factory equipment as a hedge against a downturn in the economy.  A total of 100 executives were polled in the survey, which was conducted by Nielsen Research.  The titles of the executives included CEO, CIO, Vice President and ...