According to the latest Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Report, manufacturing continued to expand in the U.S. for August. While both manufacturer and customer inventories expanded somewhat compared to the last few months, they remained at low levels suggesting that these are not sustainable levels, suggesting we are likely to see sustained recovery in the sector.  The survey reported supply issues in a number of industry groups and many sectors were experiencing some price increases due to supply shortages. A number of the industries (such as chemicals) saw strong export growth with solid domestic demand. The report also saw continued overall growth in hiring for the 9th consecutive month, with 10 of the 18 industries experiencing employment growth.

This bullish outlook suggests that now is the time to be looking at influencing manufacturing investments to include greater energy efficieny, as was advised by ACEEE's 2008 report on Industrial Decision Making.