A majority of the region's manufacturers expect to add jobs, expand local operations and significantly increase sales over the next three years, a new survey found.

	Online Graphic: Manufacturing See a graphic that shows the NAPM Regional Economic index.

Conducted this year by Downtown accounting firm Alpern Rosenthal and Georgia State University, the survey generated responses from 47 firms with annual revenues ranging from $3 million to $300 million.

Although 54 percent of the respondents said employment shrank the past three years, three-quarters said they expected to add jobs over the next three years.

Seventy-seven percent said they expected revenues to grow by 10 percent or more over the next three years, and 60 percent said they expected to expand operations in the state over the next three years.

"I think the mood of manufacturing is much more positive than we first anticipated," said Joel M. Rosenthal, director of Alpern Rosenthal's manufacturing services group.

The fact that 75 percent of survey respondents expect "an uptick in employment ... is pretty positive for the Western Pennsylvania area."

All is not rosy for the manufacturing sector, though. About half of the survey respondents said they lost sales to offshore competitors over the last five years, and only 27 percent characterized Pennsylvania as a good, very good or excellent place to do business. About half, 49 percent, rated the state's business climate "fair" and 19 percent said it was "poor."

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