Is manufacturing really doomed in the U.S.? Or are there signs of hope? Some stats indicate that U.S. manufacturing is coming back, while most seem to indicate that we’ll forever be a service economy. But look beyond the stats; look around your area.

Diane Landers, an IT systems analyst specializing in CAD/CAM technology, recently said the following in this Desktop Engineering article:

“In the early 1990s, as a member of the younger generation of automotive manufacturing engineers, I found that exposure to different areas of engineering and manufacturing gave me a pretty good view of how change is received in these environments. Back then, manufacturing plants seemed to be dominated by a hands-on, hard-working, do-it-the-way-it’s-been-done-forever mentality. Most younger engineers were trained and molded by these seasoned attitudes.”

It’s an interesting article, and a fairly recent one. One particularly striking reference bears repeating. “Back then, manufacturing plants seemed to be dominated by a hands-on, hard-working, do-it-the-way-it’s-been-done-forever mentality.” Hands-on and hard working are certainly admirable qualities of any professional. (As an aside, the mentality mentioned is, I agree, a dangerous one.)

When I envision manufacturing, despite years of exposure and some knowledge about factory automation equipment, I still see assembly lines with people. Hard-working people. Considering plant closings, downsizing, offshoring, and automation — just to name a few of the factors — the numbers of factory floor workers have clearly dwindled. (Yet the National Association of Manufacturers and others foresee a coming shortage of skilled workers. That’ll be the topic of another article here.)

I used to commute to Manhattan every day, from PA via NJ. I was always saddened by the darkened, cobwebbed manufacturing plants lining a good portion of the Northeast Corridor train route. Broken windows, old pallets strewn about parking lots, and graffiti were sure signs that things were dead, or at least really slow.

More plants are closing, it seems. Take, for instance, just a few recent news items:

• Collins & Aikman, an automotive products supplier, as reported by BusinessWeek Online in this article, says that it plans to close its Premier Tooling Plant by March 2006, leaving 140 workers in its wake. With various moves to shift resources to other C&A facilities, this plant closing will, of course, improve the company’s bottom line.

• From another BusinessWeek Online article, we can see that plant closings are global in nature in terms of overall conglomerate performance. Jaguar — a unit of the Ford Motor Company — is considering selling its historic Browns Lane plant near Coventry, England, “as a part of a recovery plan aimed at boosting sagging fortunes.” (Perhaps sagging fortunes aren’t surprising as, for example, with Jag’s X-Type, according to an article in Forbes — The Worst Cars 2005 — retaining only 21 percent of its value over five years. Infiniti’s QX SUV tops The Worst list, with reliability that’s 300 times less than the average car. That’s pretty pitiful, especially for a vehicle with a $50K base price. I wonder if an Infiniti QX plant will soon be closing?)

• Ford Motor Co. may close five more, including one each in St. Louis, Atlanta, St. Paul, Windsor (Canada) and Cuautitlan (Mexico). This is part of the restructuring by the nation’s second largest automaker, closings that could involve about 7.500 workers — or six percent of Ford’s North American workforce.

On a bright side, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association says that, in the past 25 years, “Japanese automakers have invested $28 billion building 12 assembly plants and 13 parts plants in the U.S. Today 67 percent of Japanese vehicles sold in America are produced in North America, mostly in the U.S. and largely with U.S. produced parts. In 2004 JAMA members purchased $45.24 billion of U.S. parts.

With such dramatic success in a manufacturing landscape that otherwise seems pretty dark, Japan companies seem to be thriving here. What’s behind that? Quality initiatives? Better controlled operating costs? Wiser, more integrated use of automation? Better-trained workers? All or none of the above, or more than the above?

Even in the face of five possible plant closures, Ford has already proven that old plants don’t have to die — they’re simply renovated. A case in point is its Rouge complex, with an exceptionally rich history dating all the way back to 1917. A $2B renovation project “… incorporates a number of lean manufacturing and environmental features intended to make the Rouge a healthy, productive, supportive work environment.” So the car collector’s adage, “Don’t crush ‘em — Restore ‘em,” can, it seems, apply at least in part to manufacturing facilities.

I’ve recently made that same trip along the Northeast Corridor train line. It was heartening to see that the light of activity shone through many of the replaced glass panes in those previously dormant facilities. In many places, the graffiti is nowhere to be found, and cars are in parking spaces where shipping pallets previously formed the angry latticework of a fallen plant.

Some stats indicate that U.S. manufacturing is coming back, while most seem to indicate that we’ll forever be a service economy.

Putting dueling, spun stats aside for a moment, look around in your area and in your travels. Are more lights on or off in manufacturing plants? (And I don’t mean fully-automated, lights-off facilities. If you do find one, let us know.)