Made in America: Lockheed Martin wins $142 million contract, most of work goes to Camden

Editor’s note: Each week, Talk Business & Politics provides “Made In America,” a round-up of state and global manufacturing news.

LOCKHEED MARTIN WINS $142 MILLION CONTRACT, MOST OF WORK GOES TO CAMDEN: Lockheed Martin ended the year with another major Pentagon award in which the defense contractor won a $142.7 million firm-fixed contract to supply the United Arab Emirates with the 12 new rocket launch systems. Lockheed Martin’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, carries a single six-pack of rockets at a time onboard a five-ton truck, capable of launching the entire family of MLRS munitions.

The sales contract for HIMARS was awarded to the defense contractor’s missile production division in Grand Prairie, Texas. According to the Department of Defense, 63.8% of the work will be performed at the company’s operations in Camden and the remaining 36.2% in Dallas with an estimated completion date of Dec. 30, 2017.

CHINA’S MANUFACTURING SECTOR CONTINUES TO SHRINK, ENDS 2016 WITH MODEST GROWTH: China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the fifth straight year as the world’s second largest economy ended 2014 with its slowest growth in more than two decades, according to the country’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

In December, China’s PMI rose slightly to 49.7 in December from 49.6 a month earlier. A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing activity, while a reading below points to a contraction.

U.S. IS NOW PREFERRED LOCATION FOR NEW FACTORY CAPACITY, SURVEY SAYS: Of manufacturers planning to add production capacity over the next five years for goods consumed in the U.S., more plan to add that capacity in the U.S. than in any other country – a sharp reversal since as recently as two years ago. And a rising percentage of U.S.-based executives at the manufacturers say they are already in the process of reshoring production work from China, according to findings of new research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Thirty-one percent (31%) of respondents to BCG’s fourth annual survey of senior U.S.-based manufacturing executives at companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenues said that their companies are most likely to add production capacity in the U.S. within five years for goods sold in the U.S., while 20% said they are most likely to add capacity in China. Asked the same question in 2013, 30% of respondents said that China was the most likely destination for new capacity devoted to serving the U.S. market, while only 26% said capacity would be added in the U.S.