The newly released 2008 Utah Manufacturers Directory, published by Manufacturers' News Inc. of Evanston, Ill., reports that Salt Lake City has 1,329 manufacturing companies that employ 54,722 people.
It is enough to place Salt Lake City in the same league as such historically strong manufacturing communities as Indianapolis and Cincinnati when it comes to the number of manufacturing companies.
And while Salt Lake City may trail those communities in the number of workers - Indianapolis has 92,571 and Cincinnati 97,790 - Utah's capital city still tops Detroit, which is ranked 47th in the number of manufacturers calling that city home and 21st in terms of the number of manufacturing workers.
"One of the strengths of Utah's manufacturing sector is that it is comprised of smaller companies that often have fewer than 50 employees," said David Sorensen, executive director of the Utah Manufacturing Extension Partnership." And that often means we're talking about extremely nimble, efficient companies that can react quickly to changing markets."
Sorensen noted that of the approximately 4,500 manu- facturing companies operating in the state, only 24 can be classified as large companies. They include corporations such as Alliant Techsystems, Autoliv and L-3 Communi- cations.
Mark Knold, senior labor market economist at the Utah Department of Workforce Services, said Utah added 5,000 manufacturing jobs in the first six months of 2007. "And that is a lot better than the country overall, where the manufacturing sector is either losing jobs or just holding its own."
The Utah directory shows 4,458 manufacturers employing 163,351 workers in the state. It indicates that northern Utah is home to 88 percent of the state's manufacturers and 92 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs. Nearly half of those jobs are located in the Salt Lake area.
Southern Utah accounts for 313 companies that employ 7,049 people while in the central portion of the state there are 5,975 people working at 195 plants.
"The state's natural resources and growing population have provided some immunity against the industrial job losses suffered by many other states," said Tom Dubin, president of the Illinois-based publishing company in a statement announcing the release of the Utah directory.
Manufacturers' News spokeswoman Jennifer RatÂcliff said 2008 marks the first time that the company offers a city-by-city comparison of manufacturing activities.
steve@sltrib.com
