Plus: First-Quarter GDP Growth Revised Up and Durable Goods Orders Rebound in May.

White House Launches Advanced Manufacturing Partnership
President Obama last week announced the formation of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), an effort to bring together industry, academia and the federal government to advance the nation’s manufacturing competitiveness. The president’s plan, which leverages existing programs and proposals, will invest more than $500 million to jump-start the effort.

Dow Chemical Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris will co-chair the partnership alongside MIT President Susan Hockfield. Working with the White House’s National Economic Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the AMP will bring together a broad cross-section of major United States manufacturers and top U.S. engineering universities.

To launch the AMP, Obama announced a number of key steps being taken by the federal government:

• Build domestic manufacturing capabilities in critical national security industries;
• Reduce the time to develop and deploy advanced materials;
• Invest in next-generation robotics; and
• Develop innovative energy-efficient manufacturing processes.

The AMP is being developed based on the recommendation of PCAST, which released a report last week titled Ensuring Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing.

Those recommendations include that the federal government:

• Invest in shared infrastructure such as federal and university laboratories;
• Support the development of advanced manufacturing processes; and
• Participate in partnerships with industry and academia that identify and invest in broadly applicable, pre-competitive emerging technologies.

The announcement also outlined “three compelling reasons” why the U.S. should revitalize its leadership in advanced manufacturing: jobs, innovation and national security.

Q1 GDP Growth Revised Up
U.S. economic growth was revised modestly higher in the first quarter to account for a slightly faster pace of restocking by businesses and a smaller increase in imports, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported on Friday.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose at an annual rate of 1.9 percent, up from the earlier estimate of a 1.8 percent rise, according to the Commerce Department’s final estimate for Q1. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected Q1 growth to be revised to a 2 percent rate.

The revision to Q1 GDP was largely due to a downward revision to imports and a stronger inventory buildup. Imports were revised down to a 5.1 percent growth pace from 7.5 percent, and even though exports were not as strong as previously reported, trade made a modest contribution to growth in the first quarter. Meanwhile, business inventories increased $55.7 billion in Q1, following increases of $16.2 billion in Q4 and $121.4 billion in Q3. The change in inventories added 1.31 percentage points to GDP growth.

“A key measure of inflation was revised higher. Core prices increased 1.6 percent in the first quarter, up from 1.4 percent reported earlier,” MarketWatch says.” Corporate profits before tax were revised higher. Corporate profits before tax increased 7.8 percent quarter-to-quarter, down from the 6.3 percent reported earlier.”

Durable Orders Rebound in May
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 1.9 percent to $195.6 billion in May, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce last week. The increase, up two of the last three months, followed a 2.7 percent drop in April.

Transportation equipment, which had the largest increase, jumped 5.8 percent to $49.6 billion last month, due to a 36.5 percent ($2.7 billion) surge in civilian aircraft and parts orders.

Excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders rose 1.9 percent.

“Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment in items like computers, engines and communications gear, climbed 1.6 percent after falling 0.8 percent the prior month,” Bloomberg News reports. “The April decline was previously reported at 2.3 percent. Last month’s gain was broad-based, with orders for machinery, computers, electrical equipment and communications gear rising.”

Shipments of manufactured durable goods, up five of the last six months, increased 0.3 percent to $194.6 billion in May after a 1.4 percent drop in April. Machinery, up three of the last four months, had the largest increase, rising 2 percent to $28.3 billion.