By Dee DePass

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Minnesota factory leaders are boldly confident about the financial strength of their companies in 2016, even as they acknowledge concerns about a possible recession in 2018.

Those are the biggest takeaways from the annual State of Manufacturing Report issued by factory consulting organization Enterprise Minnesota with the help of survey pollster Meeting Street Research.

The survey found that 90 percent of 400 surveyed Minnesota factory executives were confident about the financial future of their companies. It was the highest level in the survey’s history and the third year that confidence climbed. The survey, however, also revealed that the executives’ confidence in the U.S. economy was the lowest since 2012.

Along with the survey, Enterprise Minnesota conducted 19 focus groups with factory owners and executives from across the state, most from companies with more than $1 million in revenue and more than 50 employees.

“Minnesota’s manufacturers are enthusiastic about their prospects in 2016,” said Enterprise Minnesota CEO Bob Kill. “The lessons they learned during the recession have made them strongly resilient and well prepared to face the growing sense of economic uncertainty.”

The survey was conducted in February and results were to be formally revealed late Tuesday at the Minneapolis Convention Center before 400 business owners, bankers and economic development specialists, as well as U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer. The State of Manufacturing findings will also be presented to business leaders in 16 cities around the state during this month.

During the Great Recession, many firms laid off staff, automated some processes and squeezed out inefficiencies. Since then, many plants have grown again and now struggle to find enough workers to keep up with demand. A majority of survey respondents said that profits rose last year even as sales remained flat. Nearly 60 percent increased wages.

The factories also bought new equipment, created worker training programs and developed much closer ties with local trade schools in an effort to build a ready pipeline of job applicants.

Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis will soon graduate 30 students with advanced machining degrees. All students received offers for full employment months ago, which is a change from how manufacturers used to operate with the school, Kill said.