Hi DC:
I can't tell you that because that's the kind of thing that only the US government
would keep statistics on - and they're usually years behind in gathering and
reporting.
I would suggest however, that you get in touch with the reference or research librarian
at the biggest business library you can find in your area. They LOVE questions like this
and might even do a little free research for you and give you an answer with a telephone
call back.
Note that you should define your terms more precisely. Manufacturing and design are
related, but these things aren't necessarily done in the same place anymore. Mfg companies
may be HQ'd in the US, but all physical work may be done elsewhere.
My guess for the top states for design activity would be CA, NY, MI,
MA. Guesses for top states in manufacturing activity would be CA, MI, NY, TX. I suspect
that mfg is in decline as a % of total GDP for all states as enormous amounts of work are
sent overseas. These guesses are based on no data whatsoever, but should be fun to compare
with any real research you uncover.
You can get some idea of the geographic population of service bureaus by looking at the SB
directory on our site. There are only 6 SB's listed for NC. In general, the population of
SB's is going to reflect the manufacturing and design activity in the state, but that's
not necessarily germane to your immediate problem.
If things don't work out, and you don't want to move again for the next job, you might
be better off in terms of available opptys in a state with many SB's, like CA or MI.
But that's the future. For now, I'd try to find out something about the state of
manufacturing in NC (growing, shrinking, types of manufacturing industries and population
there). I would ask my prospective employer about the number of accounts the company has,
whether they are local (many SB's claim more than 1/2 of business is out of state), and
how the numbers have changed over the last few years. Ask the company execs what they see
as sales opportunities in the state, and the type of industries that they feel they can
grow into there. That should give you some idea of the difficulty of finding and landing
new prospects.
In years past, NC was becoming more populated with high tech and support industries,
but I have no idea at the moment how things are going. Economic landscapes have changed a
lot over the last few years.
Best regards,
Ed
Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
The Worldwide Guide to Rapid Prototyping
