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Bill Luttrell

Senior Locations Strategist, Werner Global Logistics, Werner Enterprises
Bradley Migdal

Senior Managing Director, Business Incentives Practice, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
Brian Corde

Managing Partner, Atlas Insight
Christine Bustamante

National Co-Leader, Global Location and Expansion Services, State and Local Tax, KPMG LLP
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Practice Leader, Location Strategies and Economic Development, Oxford Economics, Inc.
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Senior Economist, Moody's Analytics
Dean J. Uminski, CEcD

Principal, Crowe Horwath
Dennis Cuneo

Managing Partner , Fisher & Phillips
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Senior Vice President, CBRE, Inc.
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Managing Director and City Leader, Site Selection & Incentives Advisory , Duff & Phelps, LLC
Jamie Lominack

Corporate Real Estate Manager, Michelin North America
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Principal, Site Selection Group, LLC
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Senior Managing Director, Savills Studley
Marc Beauchamp

President & CEO, The CAI Global Group
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Founder and CEO, akrete communications
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Consulting Manager, Global Business Consulting, Cushman & Wakefield
Minah Hall

Managing Director, True Partners Consulting LLC
Scott Kupperman

Founder, Kupperman Location Solutions
Scott Redabaugh

Managing Director, JLL
Stephen Gray

CEO, Gray Construction
Thomas J. Stringer, Esq.

Managing Director & Practice Leader, Site Selection and Business Incentives Group, BDO USA
Tim Feemster

Managing Principal, Foremost Quality Logistics

U.S. Manufacturing Outlook Much Sunnier for 2011, PwC Says

Area Development News Desk

01/28/2011

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) U.S. Manufacturing Barometer, optimism has risen significantly towards the U.S. and global economies. Sixty-three percent of industrial products manufacturers surveyed were optimistic on U.S. economic prospects, an increase of 28 percentage points from the third quarter of 2010.

"The major shift from uncertainty to optimism in this quarter's findings gives us good reason to be hopeful. We may now begin to see industrial manufacturers start making business decisions in a less guarded, more confident manner as we move into 2011," said Barry Misthal, U.S. industrial manufacturing leader for PwC. "The industry is looking quite strong and steady compared with the past couple of years, and manufacturers appear poised for a robust start to the new year."

In the fourth quarter of 2010, 61 percent of panelists said the U.S. economy was growing, a 34 point rise from the third quarter.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they planned to hire workers this year, an increase of six points from the third quarter of 2010. Eighty-two percent plan to increase operational spending. Nearly a third are planning new facilities, and expansion plans are also on the rise.

The most significant impediment to this growth remains legislative and regulatory pressures. Manufacturers were also concerned about tax policies as a barrier to growth.