25 Stats for Manufacturing Companies in 2021

Saphyte Team

2 min read

Updated: May 17th, 2022

The manufacturing industry is one of the most important and largest industries in the world. In fact, in the US alone, it is estimated that manufacturers contribute over $2.3 trillion to the economy every quarter.

Responsible for the exchange of goods and technology, manufacturing companies are also collectively able to transform countries for the better. Where is this industry heading? And how did the pandemic impact the industry?

Find out with these 25 stats for manufacturing companies in 2021.

US Manufacturing Companies Stats

The US manufacturing industry is one of the largest in the world.

As mentioned above, manufacturers contribute over $2.3 trillion to the US economy.

It is also estimated that between 2009 to 2018, the value-added output from the manufacturing of durable goods rose from $870 billion to $1.33 trillion, with non-durable goods output estimated to have increased from $810 billion to $1.06 trillion.

The US manufacturing industry for at least 11.4% of its GDP.

According to National Association of Manufacturers, for every $1 spent in manufacturing in the United States, another $2.79 is added to the economy— the highest multiplier effect of any American economic sector.

It is also observed that for every single employee engaged in full-time work in the manufacturing industry, additional four employees get hired to work elsewhere.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 250,000 firms were reported to be active in the manufacturing industry in the United States in 2016. Only 3,837 of them had more than 500 employees and about 75% of the firms have fewer than 20 full-time workers.

By 2030, 4 million manufacturing jobs will be needed.

According to Deloitte, up to 2.4 million jobs are expected to go unfilled in the United States over the next 10 years because of a skills gap in the labor force, and up to 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will be necessary to meet the expected demand.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, US manufacturing has reached an all-time high in 2014 for the number of goods that reached the export industry, which brought a total of $1.403 trillion in revenues.

Global Manufacturing Stats

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the number of American manufactured goods that are headed to China has tripled since 2005, from $31.9 billion to $98.2 billion in 2018.

The World Trade Organization has also estimated that the global trade in manufactured goods doubled between 2000 to 2017, with the total value of the industry increasing from $4.8 trillion to $12.2 trillion worldwide. Currently, the United States holds an 8.7% market share, up from the 7.6% it held in 2002.

The US manufacturing industry has received an estimated $1.6 trillion in foreign direct investment in 2017, an increase compared to the $569.3 billion it received in 2006.

About 2.5 million manufacturing workers are employed in the American affiliates of foreign multinational firms in the United States, an estimated 20% of the total employment in this sector.

The most significant levels of employment from foreign nationals include automotive vehicles and parts (407,000), chemicals (364,000), food (301,000), and machinery (228,000).

As for research and development in manufacturing, around $252 billion has been invested in 2017, up from $132.5 billion in 2000. Over 30% of the investments have been poured in pharmaceuticals.

Digital Transformation Stats in Manufacturing

Predictive maintenance is a trend you will see rising in the next decade.

Around 98% of active manufacturing organizations report that they incur a cost of over $100,000 with every 60 minutes of downtime.

Tech adoption is estimated to reduce maintenance expenses by 20% in manufacturing.

About one-third of the active manufacturing agencies have digitized their supply chains, with the number estimated to have increased to three-fourths at the end of 2020.

The global market size for digital transformation in manufacturing was valued at $220.90 billion in 2018 and will nearly triple to $642.35 billion by 2025.

The adoption of predictive analytics technology grew 76% from 2017 to 2019.

Around 98% of manufacturing companies expect to increase efficiency by using digital technology.

Around 20% of the top manufacturers expect to use IoT and automation for large-scale processes.

Around 49% of leading companies were found to have invested more in digital compared to their counterparts. 90% of lagging companies were also found to have invested less in digital compared to their counterparts.

Around 75% of manufacturers were estimated to have used cloud technology by the end of 2020.