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Toward New Horizons - Manufacturing Trends
2007-11-04
The development of the manufacturing base in the Northern Great Plains has historically benefited from a number of factors, including an abundance of water power, proximity to various natural and mineral resources, an influx of settlers, a strong education system, and connections to multiple avenues of water and rail transportation. Today, manufacturing is a primary sector in the Northern Great Plains and underlies much of the Region’s recent economic growth.
Continued manufacturing growth in the Region is dependent on access to such factors as skilled and productive labor, materials/components, energy, water, physical capital (e.g., equipment, computers), financial capital, telecommunications/ information technology, social capacity (e.g., health care, education, and cultural assets), knowledge and technology, and an effective multi-modal transportation system. It is this last factor that is of primary concern to this report. Just as transportation linkages helped support the growth of manufacturing in the Northern Great Plains region, the current transportation infrastructure and services will be a key part of future strategies for the manufacturing sector. Moreover, they will be a critical aspect of this sector’s ability to emerge from challenging economic times.
This chapter of the report is focused primarily on those global and North American manufacturing trends with a recognizable or likely impact on the economy of the Northern Great Plains. In particular, it is concentrated on trends with transportation and logistical implications for the Region. Eight key trends offer opportunities and/or pose challenges to the Region’s manufacturing sector:
