90,000 small manufacturing companies are at risk of failure.(Company overview)

Tens of thousands of small manufacturing companies in the United States have little idea of what it takes to be successful in an increasingly global competitive environment and risk going out of business in the near future, according to the first-ever large-scale benchmarking study of small manufacturers.

One-quarter of the nation's 282,000 manufacturing companies--90,000 in all--are "at risk" due to their inability or unwillingness to adopt any of the strategies essential for success in the global economy, according to the study commissioned by the American Small Manufacturers Coalition. These manufacturers have "serious gaps" in their business models and are "not at or near world-class performance levels in any of the next generation strategies," says the study entitled "Next Generation Manufacturing" conducted by the Manufacturing Performance Institute.

The results of the survey of 2,000 companies "are a wakeup call," says Michael Klosinski, executive director of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership and chairman of the board of the American Small Manufacturers Coalition. "The consequences of inaction could trigger even more job losses in manufacturing and ultimately a lower standard of living for all Americans."

The study looked at six strategies manufacturing companies need to adopt in order to survive the recession and an onslaught of foreign competition. One-third of the companies with annual revenues of less than $10 million are not at world-class levels in any of these business practices, which include customer-focused innovation, human capital development and retention, superior process improvement, supply chain management, sustainable or green production and global engagement.

Only 28 percent of the small manufacturers believe that "global engagement is highly important," even though overseas markets continue to grow robustly, despite the severe economic downturn in the United States.

"We face a real possibility of surviving the downturn but losing the economic future--if competitors elsewhere in the world are better positioned to capture the next decade's dynamic ...