The Manufacturing Law Blog provides timely commentary on issues of importance to manufacturers and distributors. Contributors from the law firm of Robinson & Cole LLP are corporate compliance and litigation attorney, Jeff White; environmental, health and safety attorney, Pam Elkow; and labor and employment attorney, Nicole Bernabo.
One of the publications that I always find time to read is IndustryWeek. Each year IndustryWeek releases the IW U.S. 500, which is a list of the top revenue-producing manufacturers in the United States. This year, my attention was immediately drawn to the subtitle of the article, which declared: “[r]ecord-high revenues reflect the domestic growth U.S. manufacturers are seeing on their balance sheets.”
As with many things, it was important to read further, however. The article went on to state that “while overall revenues crept upward, total profits slipped downward 9.16% to $506 billion.” Significantly, “[t]en percent of the IW 500 companies didn’t turn a profit in 2012. . . .”
The other part of the article that I found interesting was the “Top 10 Revenue States.” While it was not surprising to see Texas and California lead the way, several Northeast states appeared in the Top Ten, including New York (#3), Connecticut (#7), and New Jersey (#8). Ultimately, whether the United States is in the middle of a manufacturing renassisance still remains hotly debated. Often, I feel like the answer depends on who is writing the article.
We would be interested to hear about any of your “must read” industry publications. Just email us at manufacturinglawblog@rc.com and we will circulate them in a future post.