by ADAM BRUNS

ith 591 projects, the transportation industry again dominated the rankings of top new and expanded U.S. manufacturing facilities by industry sector in 2002. The headlines were led by the new Hyundai plant in Alabama, and backed by just-as-major plant expansions, including three in the top 10 from Michigan. It marked the fourth consecutive year that transportation led the way.
        Coming in second was the food processing industry (351 projects), followed by chemicals and pharmaceuticals (347), plastics (324) and machinery (296), with many of the projects in the latter two categories directly related to the top performance of the vehicular sector.
        One telltale message to those who would look away instead of looking in the backyard: nine of the top 10 automotive projects were expansions of existing facilities. However, that trend did not apply across all five top categories: out of the 53 projects listed in the Top 10 charts (including ties in investment value), 23 were new plants, an indication of the auto industry's relative push toward consolidation.
        A whole lot of food was being made and processed in New York and in Illinois, two of the triumvirate at the top of the Governor's Cup charts. The only state to double up in the Top 10 in investment in the category was Texas, which, in a rather unlikely culinary pairing, scored a US$350-million hog processing operation from Seaboard Farms in Moore County and a $60-million plant for Perrier bottled water in Hawkins.
        Just as striking was the ubiquity of warehouse operations across all of these sectors and more. While the charts on these pages show only manufacturing operations, Conway Data's New Plant Database tracked a total of 979 warehouse/distribution facilities constructed in 2002 in the U.S. alone. Many of those facilities were tied to top manufacturing sectors, especially automotive parts and food products.

Getting Some Perspective

Another look at this sector comes by way of the recently released U.S. Census Bureau survey of the truck transportation, warehousing and storage industries for 2001. Private trucking, couriers and messengers, and warehousing and storage industries reported revenues totaling $264 billion in 2001, but while most trucking categories showed a decrease in revenues over 2000, warehousing and storage showed a 3.8-percent increase. Hauling revenues for pharmaceutical and chemical products fell 9 percent, possibly due in part to the increased number of facilities in those categories negating some transport costs.
        One more way to crunch the numbers is to look back to the late 1980s, when the last recession held sway. Guess what? From 1986 through 1988, transportation was the leader in new plants and expansions. Second was the non-electrical machinery category, followed by electrical and electronic equipment and then food products.
        As tough times held, the food industry swelled. In 1989, transportation led again, followed by industrial machinery and equipment and then food products. In 1990, food products took the top spot, followed by industrial machinery and equipment, transportation, electrical and electronic equipment and chemicals.
        In other words, even a retrenching economy can't sit still. And the retrenchers still have to eat.

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