According to the recently released December 2013 national report of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), the manufacturing industry is continuing to experience healthy growth. These are welcome words after years of uncertainty in the U.S. market. Industrial output continues to grow, U.S. manufactured products are globally competitive, and the industry as a whole is generating a significantly higher multiplier effect than any other sector.
Perhaps most telling is the significant impact manufacturing has on the overall economy, with numbers showing that the manufacturing sector is leading the continued U.S. economic recovery following the Great Recession. But not all manufacturing indexes are created equal. And according to last year's trends, there's a secret ...