#499. Does Manufacturing Matter in Agracel’s Project States?

Does Manufacturing Matter in Agracel’s Project States?

Last week we shared a report by 24/7 Wall Street that looked at 10 States Where Manufacturing Still Matters. We were curious – does manufacturing still matter in the states in which we have projects? The answer is an overwhelming “YES”.

Of the 17 states in which we have projects, seven are in the top 10, including Indiana, North Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, and South Carolina. And with the exception of Oklahoma, 16 of the 17 states are in the top 24! Oklahoma comes in at number 32. (Visit here to see all of Agracel’s project states.)

The manufacturing percentage of GDP nationwide is 12.5%. Fifteen of Agracel’s project states fared better than the national average.

Not surprisingly, five of the top ten states’ primary manufacturing industry is in automotive sector.  The biggest surprise to us was that Oregon came in at No. 2, with their primary manufacturing done in computer and electronic products. Oregon is not an Agracel project state; maybe it should be??

Overall, we were not overly surprised that our states are so highly ranked on this list. We believe in manufacturing and also believe that manufacturing will continue to be a force in the economy of the United States.

Now in our 21^st year of developing manufacturing plants, we’ve never been more optimistic about the prospects for American manufacturing.  It is a growing industry that has embraced technology, process improvement and the resulting gains in productivity have again pushed the USA into a leading place where world manufacturers want to invest for the future.