We continue our occasional series, examining the various industries nationwide that, in our experience, rely heavily on portable loading docks to increase efficiency.

The Backbone of Our Economy

manufacturing industry
Driving the Economy: Manufacturing

Deny it or embrace it: we’re all consumers. Whether we stick to buying as locavores or search the corners of the nation for that perfect rug that’ll really tie the room together, we have available to us the gross domestic product of the United States, valued at $18.558 trillion.

That number reflects the world’s largest economy and the world’s second largest in purchasing power. Most all of those things we buy, consume, and trade must first be made and manufactured. And the manufacturing industry is the single largest employer in the United States.

Many people think manufacturing is down in this country. That may be so—in comparison to the Industrial Revolution and production levels of the 60s and 70s.

Still: manufacturing itself is making a big comeback (in the United States in 2015 manufacturing contributed $2.17 trillion to the economy) —and not just in big-box items.

Smaller manufacturers compose a major foundation of the US economy. In fact, of the 251,857 firms registered in 2013 in the manufacturing sector, all but 3,700 of them were categorized as small (less than 500 employees). And three-quarters of that number employed fewer than 20 people.

Over the years, The Yard Ramp Guy has been honored to place our new and used inventory in an impressive number of industries. These include:

  • YRG: Manufacturing
    US Manufacturing: The Big Cheese

    Water plants

  • Generators
  • Fencing
  • Packaging materials
  • Beverage/food production
  • Galvanized steel
  • Playground sets
  • Book publisher
  • Polymers and chemicals
  • Clothing manufacturers
  • Farm equipment
  • Centrifuges
  • Acoustical equipment
  • Insulation
  • Aviation
  • Ball bearings
  • Machinery
  • Optical equipment
  • Tires
  • Plastics

To move those raw materials to manufacturing facilities and then to the distribution centers and, finally, to the end user, yard ramps serve in key ways. As always: they continue to help optimize the workflow of a company’s operations.

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Quotable

To our man McCoy Fields…it’s only our quotations that are not manufactured:

I don’t spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.Elon Musk