A substantial majority of Americans questioned in a recent survey said that when deciding from which manufacturers to purchase products, they consider sustainable production issues, including product and employee safety, and environmental issues as the most important attributes.
The survey, based on phone interviews with more than 2,000 adult consumers, also indicated that 47% of consumers believe American manufacturers are less competitive than they were 10 years ago, up from 42% a year ago. And 79% of respondents said they would favor local, state, and federal government incentives to manufacturers to encourage investments in plant automation and other technologies that would make them more competitive.
The survey, conducted between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19, 2009 by Opinion Research Corp., was sponsored by Rockwell Automation.
Eighty percent of those surveyed said they consider manufacturers’ use of natural resources, such as water, very important when selecting a manufacturer. That compared with 81% of respondents calling use of natural resources very important a year ago.