The New York Times reported that a number of manufacturers that have weathered the worst of the recession did so with the help of the government, as subsidies allowed these companies to invest in new machinery and helped to increase the total amount of revenue for businesses in the sector.

According to the newspaper, many local manufacturers have noted the importance of these subsidies and the current administration has voiced its support for the sector while acknowledging the positive role that the government can play in its revival.

The increased support from the government has led to the sector becoming a more pivotal part of the country's total economy, as the share of the U.S. GDP that manufacturing comprises has risen from 11 percent in 2009 to 12.2 percent in 2011.

"Basically, manufacturers are realizing that the cost structure for making products in America no longer needs to be as unfavorable as it was," Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington and a former chief economist to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr, told the newspaper.

General Electric benefited from local tax breaks and increased its operations in several areas of the country, and Element Electronics became the first company to produce televisions in the U.S. in years due to subsidies from Uncle Sam.

Almost all categories of manufacturing in the U.S. receive some help from the government, with a few exceptions.

"The only manufacturers in America who go without government support are those whose markets are so insignificant that they are not noticed by foreign producers," Brian O’Shaughnessy, who is a co-chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a lobbying group that seeks to strengthen domestic production, told the Times.

The resurgence of the U.S. manufacturing sector has been supported by data presented at a  recent conference regarding the industry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to Supply Chain Digest.

Olivier de Weck, who has been leading a research project on U.S. manufacturing, noted that the innovative nature of the American sector has allowed it to surpass countries like Japan and increase the amount of value that is added by companies who operate domestically.

USA Today reported that despite the growth in the sector, a perceived lack of qualified workers could limit the profit margins for companies and may affect their sustainability in the current world market.

According to the news outlet, a North Brunswick, New Jersey-based manufacturer has developed innovative machinery that can help companies like PepsiCo robotically bundle different flavors into one package. However, despite the positive earnings that have been reported so far this year and future growth that is projected, the company has worries about finding workers to fuel the expansion.

"It seems like we are growing, it seems like the economy is coming along, which makes us very happy," company owner Tami Minond told USA Today. "But it seems like a machinist is a rare bird in New Jersey."

Although the manufacturing renaissance that has occurred in the U.S. has beat the expectations of even the most optimistic experts, a dearth of qualified workers has prevented some companies from meeting the increased demand that they have seen.

Manufacturers "are coming back," Meredith Aronson, an industry expert in New Jersey, told the news outlet. "The companies I talk to are scared. Their orders are increasing, but they simply can't find the workers."

This has forced many manufacturers and educators to get creative, as a new network is in the midst of being created to provide businesses with qualified workers to meet the growing demand in the industry.

USA Today reported that part of the reason that the lack of qualified workers is persistent in the sector is that the outsourcing and offshoring trend left many without the motivation to learn these skills. However, now the resurgence is occurring, some are looking to fill this gap.

A recent Institute for Supply Management report outlined how executives in the sector expect an increase in revenue of 4.5 percent for 2012, as the industry will continue to benefit from a rise in the number of orders and a drop in foreign competition in Europe and China.

According to an ISM release, this growth is expected to occur in 16 out of 18 industries within the sector. 

The report highlights the specific regions within the U.S. that are benefiting from a resurgence in the sector, and how manufacturing jobs in certain states are offering much higher salaries than positions in other industries.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reported that manufacturing employment in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton region, as a percentage of all employment in the region, is a 10.8 percent, putting the area as the 16th-highest spot among the nation's top 100 metropolitan regions.

According to the news outlet, the region also ranks 13th for the average number of workers at a manufacturing plant, as there are roughly 73 employees at each facility, compared to just 39.9 on a national level.

"Manufacturing is not dead," Frank Corcione, Ph.D., who was a specialist in labor issues as an economics professor at the University of Scranton before retirement, told the Times-Tribune. "It still is significant."

Pennsylvania is a state that has a concentration of manufacturing jobs within six metropolitan areas, as employment in the sector is clustered into Allentown, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Scranton and Pittsburgh. These combined areas contain more than 70 percent of the manufacturing jobs.

According to the news outlet, the sector is benefiting from the growth of industry on a national level, and areas across the country are seeing more diversified and advanced manufacturing jobs due to the expansion.

The Brookings report found that employees in manufacturing, on average, earn higher wages than people in other sectors, and the Scranton region is no different in this regard.

The Times-Tribune reported that this area saw manufacturing workers making an average salary of $44,958, a level that is 22.5 percent higher than other positions in the area.

This high pay could be due to the types of manufacturing that have gained in prominence in the U.S., as the Washington Post reported that computer and electronic products comprised 9.6 percent of the national sector, the third-highest level within the industry behind fabricated metal products and food.
 

The Navy Yard's new Network Operations Center (NOC) is part of the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub), and a reporter from The Philadelphia Inquirer was recently taken on a tour of the site in order to see how "smart grid" technologies perform at the urban office and industrial park.

According to an article by Michael Armstrong, the room, which is located on the first floor of Building 101 at the site, looks like a classroom aside from the energy efficient LED lighting.

The building is responsible for running and monitoring the "energy ecosystem" of the Navy Yard, which manages its own unregulated power grid. William J. Agate Jr., vice president of management and development at the site, noted that the opening of the NOC represents an important step for creating a smarter grid for the site.

According to the article, Agate said that the center uses software developed by Viridity Energy to help optimize the energy consumption of the Navy Yard.

Armstrong noted that it is in companies like Viridity that he sees the progress that has been achieved by the EEB Hub, which after obtaining $130 million in federal funding in 2010, has been working to become an economic engine in the energy efficient buildings sector.

Growth is evident at the site, according to the article, and employment has risen by a significant amount at the Navy Yard in recent years due to the expansion of the project. Roughly 2,000 people were employed when the site was turned over the City of Philadelphia and currently more than 8,500 people work for 115 companies at the facility.

Building 101 represents the test bed for assessing technologies and tools in the energy efficient buildings sector for the EEB Hub. At this site, researchers look at data that is continuously stored and rely on this information for the assessment of the impact of building energy technologies and systems on energy use.

According to the EEB website, the detailed building performance database is being used to motivate the building industry in the Philadelphia region to adopt these technologies and systems as part of a standard practice.

According to a release from the construction company, the Innovation Hub for Energy-Efficient Buildings (EEB Hub) will require the services of Balfour Beatty for the construction of the $30 million project of retrofitting Building 661 at the Navy Yard.

The team that is undertaking the 661 retrofit project consists of various EEB Hub representatives, including Penn State, Kieran Timberlake, Balfour Beatty and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, which has control over the 1,2000-acre Navy Yard.

The team was formed by leaders for the project who conceptualized the construction of the building, and its members will work to fully renovate the existing structure to serve as a regional demonstration of integrated building design methods. This property will help to showcase how such a transformation can lead to deep, reliable cuts in energy use.

"We are proud to be part of this innovative project that will help define the future of energy efficient buildings," said Bevan Mace, integrated projects executive for Balfour Beatty Construction. "Innovation and integration are critical in our project teams as we collectively work to change our industry for the better."

Building 661 is the 32,000-square-foot headquarters for the EEB Hub, and there will be a variety of functions that the facility will house. Collaborative work areas, meeting and conference spaces, classrooms and laboratory spaces will be housed in the building, which was initially built as a gymnasium during the early 1940s. 

According to the release, the EEB Hub received funding for the project in order to reduce energy use in the commercial buildings sector by 20 percent by 2020. They hope to accomplish this goal through demonstrating the effectiveness of such retrofits like Building 661.

Projects like the Empire State Building retrofit also demonstrate that energy efficient upgrades can lower energy costs and consumption. CNN Money reported that the iconic structure cut its energy use by 20 percent after the initial phase of retrofitting.

"After one year, we have proven that investing in energy efficiency gives building owners a dollars-and-cents advantage," said Dave Myers, a president at Johnson Controls, which conducted the retrofit.

According to the news outlet, this move was first dubbed "a global race to the bottom" due to the decline in pay and deteriorating work conditions as the jobs were moved out of America. However, as the jobs are being brought back to the U.S., manufacturing positions are once again highly-sought and a boost to the middle class.

This "reshoring" of manufacturing has occurred due to the rising fuel and productivity costs, an increased pay scale for global labor and a resurgence of American pride. The policies that have been put in place have also benefited the industry and many experts have pointed to a sustainable growth in the sector for the near future.

According to the Post, several key American manufacturers have brought jobs back from Asia and Latin America in the past few years, and this has motivated other companies to alter their business strategy to favor this trend.

Large corporations like Caterpillar and Master Lock are moving operations back to the U.S., as they are buildings a $120 million plant and adding 300 jobs to American payrolls, respectively. General Electric also recently decided to invest $93 million for a new "green" refurbishing plant in Indiana in order to accommodate 700 new positions.

With names like the American investment campaign, the move back to the U.S. has been also seen as a patriotic action for these companies, as they advertise helping Americans find jobs during these turbulent economic times. 

This patriotic push has been supported by President Obama and his administration. The commander-in-chief has spoken to the necessity for a strong manufacturing sector and has highlighted several economic incentives for American companies to bring work back.

CNN Money reported that this growth in the American manufacturing sector is currently outpacing the amount of investment capital available in the U.S. A new survey highlighted how 26 percent of companies lacked the money to grow their operations in the next year.

According to the news outlet, they needed money to hire more workers, buy new equipment and expand their marketing campaigns. 

According to a release from the company, the "SmartMarket Report: New and Remodeled Green Homes: Transforming the Residential Market at the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) National Green Building Conference and Expo" outlines how the sector is increasing its share of the total market each year.

According to the report, the sector was estimated to comprise 17 percent of the construction market in 2011, equating to roughly $17 billion. These numbers are expected to rise in the coming years, with an expected market share of 29-to-38 percent by 2016. This would potentially produce more than $87-114 billion at the peak of this increase, based on the five-year forecast from the company.

In the residential market, there has been a move to green residences due to the higher value that is attributed with these homes due to long-term savings and a lessened environmental impact.

"In the current residential market, there is an enormous need to differentiate your homes for consumers," says Harvey Bernstein, Vice President of Industry Insights and Alliances at McGraw-Hill Construction. "When builders are able to offer homes that not only are green, but also offer the combination of higher quality and better value, they have a major competitive edge over those building traditional homes."

The report was designed to provide key insights into the market for real estate professionals, industry leaders and potential homebuyers, according to the release.

Sustainable Business reported that specific components of a home, such as lighting and heating and cooling systems, are becoming increasingly important to people who want to either buy or sell a home or apartment. Indoor air quality is also a factor that is becoming a major consideration for individuals looking to invest in a building.

This type of push for an acceptance of green buildings due to environmental and cost factors is exactly what the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is trying to lead in the U.S. The agency designated an effort, the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB), to expedite this transition.

The EEB is comprised of organizations from academia, the private sector, energy development industry and government and is working to transform commercial structures in the Greater Philadelphia region.

Shopfloor reported that the BLS data showed manufacturing was a bright spot in terms of all sectors in the U.S., as many other industries were not supported by gains or increases in productivity during the first quarter.

According to the report, the output in the sector grew 10.8 percent and the hours that employees worked increased 4.6 percent during the period. These gains were the largest reported in the sector since the second quarter of 2010, as U.S. manufacturing showed signs of a recovery from the recession.

The report noted that the past four quarters have seen an increase in productivity of 2.5 percent and these numbers were supported by a significant drop, 4.2 percent, in the unit labor costs in the sector.

According to Shopfloor, the manufacturing sector, compared to other industries, saw its labor productivity grow at a faster rate than the rest of the economy. The measure grew by 2.1 percent more than the rest of the nonfarm sector.

Durable and nondurable manufacturing productivity increased 3.7 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. According to the news source, these numbers suggest that companies in the U.S. continue to experience a significant rise in output from their workers and this has put it ahead of the rest of the economy.

Manufacturing output grew 4.8 percent in 2011, and the figures for the first quarter of the year were similar to the high numbers for that period during 2012. Increases in this data, coupled with higher levels of confidence from U.S. manufacturers, could further support growth and expansion in the sector.

According to Shopfloor, this will allow manufacturers to further adjust their business strategy toward ramping up production, which will likely require them to increase hiring and bring on more qualified workers.

The New American reported that more efficient practices, and a lack of a drop-off in foreign demand for U.S.-manufactured goods is supporting the growth. Strategies like lean manufacturing can further enhance these gains.

According to the news source, the GPIC is now the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub. Known by the name EEB Hub, the organization also launched a new website. The new site, "www.eebhub.org," features a number of articles about energy efficient buildings, recent developments in the industry and summaries about what is going on at the Philadelphia-headquartered project.

"We are very excited about our new name and market-facing website and feel that we will now be able to more efficiently communicate our strategic vision and the ways in which a variety of stakeholders can engage in our work," Christine Knapp, the organization’s spokesperson, said in a news release.

The EEB Hub is looking to inspire a change in the commercial real estate market, as it is promoting the development of technologies in the sector that will help motivate companies to retrofit their structures to become more sustainable and energy efficient.

There are a number of ways that building owners can retrofit their structures, as projects ranging from lighting retrofits to heating and cooling renovations may help to lower operating costs for properties across the U.S.

Improving the energy efficiency of a commercial building is one way that companies can significantly lower their operating costs, according to Area Development Online. Lighting, which regularly accounts for roughly 40 percent of electricity consumption for a structure, is one area that many firms look to adjust first.

Energy management strategies in conjunction with the installation of new lighting technology can help to slash energy costs, as advanced controls for any system are available.

According to the news outlet, daylight harvesting to automatically adjust interior light levels can be utilized by building owners, along with personal software-based controls to give individual occupants control of their workspace light levels, may help to sharply reduce consumption levels.

Another method is to install smart-time scheduling to provide a building with clearly defined times when lights are switched on and off or dimmed. These systems can be set to a detection method or an automated interface that is based on the average work day.

The Atlantic reported that a large number of advanced manufacturing operations are emerging in the U.S., part of what is helping to stimulate the American renaissance in the sector and bringing back work from countries like China.

According to the news outlet, advanced manufacturing often refers to next-generation techniques that rely on the use of sophisticated materials and production technologies, such as robotics. This has led to a number of new products, and the American manufacturers have adjusted their business strategy to include this potential output.

Labor usually comprises only a small part of the costs associated with this type of manufacturing, which helps to give American companies a boost. The lack of an advantage for cheap workers has shifted the production advantage back to the U.S., where employees are likely to possess the skills required for a technical operation.

According to The Atlantic, the rising wages for Chinese workers have also shifted the base of operations back to the U.S. for many companies, as the economic rationale for moving work overseas is diminishing. This, coupled with a rapidly changing world marketplace demanding goods be produced closer to end markets, has given American manufacturing an advantage in the advanced sector.

Government initiatives, according to the news source, can help to expedite this transition back to the U.S. and bolster the long-term viability of the American sector. Government spending on basic and applied research could help to stimulate R&D projects for companies, along with providing them with workers who can adapt to the changing world of manufacturing.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, the U.S. government has created a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, which recently held its first conference to determine how the program will run and how to stimulate progress in the sector.

This effort could help to fill in the gaps left by the private sector in terms of future investments, as companies are unlikely to dump money into projects that have long-term returns in the current economy, according to the news source.