In February 2020, U.S. manufacturers employed nearly 12.8 million people. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. In an instant, the country lost 1 million manufacturing jobs as governments and businesses scrambled to figure out how best to stop the spread of the disease.

U.S. manufacturing continued to roll in 2017. Want proof? Look no further than Toyota Motor Corp. In September, the world’s largest automaker announced that it will invest $374 million at five U.S. factories.

Overall, 2016 has been a pretty good year for U.S. manufacturing. In every industry covered by ASSEMBLY magazine, manufacturers were investing in people, plants and equipment.

With automotive and aerospace manufacturing going strong, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey predicts continued growth in investment.

With the automotive and aerospace industries humming, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey predicts robust growth in investment.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in October for the fifth consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 53rd consecutive month, according to the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management.

As usual, our annual Capital Equipment Spending Survey provided a wealth of interesting and often contradictory data. Thirty percent of plants will spend more on assembly technology next year than they did this year, and only 20 percent will spend less.