Here at Flex Technologies, we have been in the manufacturing industry for decades. As silicone tube and hose manufacturers, we are always interested in learning more about manufacturing in general. For those of you who share this interest, here are some fun manufacturing facts! Enjoy!

Paving the Way

Innovative manufacturers willing to take risks are always on the forefront of progress. One area where this is apparent is with renewable energy. The manufacturing industry gets more use from renewable industry than any other business or living sector, using over 2,000 trillion BTUs every year. In fact, they use more renewable energy than the commercial, residential, and transport sectors combined. By doing this, they are making renewable energy technology more viable.

Bouncing Back

The "great recession" was one of the biggest economic disasters since the Great Depression. Luckily, the manufacturing industry was a major factor in the economy bouncing back, as it accounts for about 29 percent of all economic growth in the country since the year 2009.

Driving Innovation

Of all the industries in the country, none contribute more to innovation than the manufacturing industry. That is because they fund research and development more than any other industry. In fact, manufacturing companies fund a full three quarters of all privately funded research and development in the country.

Popular Manufacturing States

Some states rely more on manufacturing than others. In fact, many towns , municipalities, and even regions are completely dependent on the manufacturing jobs in the area. The top three most popular manufacturers by state are Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa. Wisconsin has 9.3 percent of its working age in manufacturing jobs, Indiana has 9 percent, and Iowa has 8.4 percent.

Serious Scope

The scope of manufacturing in America is truly huge. To really understand it, you have to put it into perspective. If you were to take just the manufacturing sector of America and compare it to the rest of the world's countries' economies, it would have the eighth largest Gross Domestic Product in the world.

Saving the Planet

Another area where the manufacturing industry stands tall over other American sectors is in saving the planet. Similar to their adoption of renewable energy, the American manufacturing industry was the only one of the four sectors (residential, manufacturing, commercial, and transportation) to see a decrease in CO2 emissions between the years 1990 and 2012. They were able to decrease these emissions by 13 percent.

Working Smart and Hard

When the layman thinks of a manufacturing job, they probably picture many hours of hard manual labor. While modern manufacturers are no strangers to hard labor, the truth is that with manufacturing automation that most of the "heavy lifting" is now done by machines. This is not only great for production, but also worker safety and health as well. Nowadays, manufacturing jobs are more geared towards maintaining functioning machinery, with attendants cleaning, maintaining, and repairing factory machines.

It's Coming Back

Manufacturing jobs have been steadily moving overseas for decades. However, there is strong evidence that this trend is changing, as the number manufacturing jobs have been increasing in the last few years. It is just part of being in a global economy, as the countries that we outsource to also build up their infrastructure, gain wealth, and also begin outsourcing to places with laxer labor laws and cheaper labor.

Hopefully these manufacturing facts proved interesting! We are always looking for new fun facts and information about manufacturing. If you are looking for a silicone hose or silicone tube manufacturer, all of our products are made to the highest quality. Feel free to check out our online selection for yourself. If you have any questions about our products or delivery, please do not hesitate to give us a call at your earliest convenience. One of our friendly and knowledgeable representatives will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. We look forward to hearing form you!