An important part of our mission here at Manufacturing Nebraska is keeping the public in tune with what’s going on in the manufacturing world. After all, understanding and being aware of the news around the industry is essential to having a firm grasp on why we’re doing what we’re doing.

And luckily, there are a number of places online that give great up-to-date news, information, and data on the manufacturing world. While headlines sometimes overlap across all of these websites, each website still often offers a unique perspective on what’s going on.

For manufacturing news, information, data, and news on industry trends, here are our top five sources on the web:

• : Manufacturing.net is a well-recognized source of news on manufacturing. More than industry trends or data, they focus specifically on news from around the industry, offering up-to-date news on what’s going on across manufacturing in America and around the globe. We highly recommend these folks as a great source of manufacturing news.
• : For us and many others, IndustryWeek is the standard by which all other manufacturing news websites are judged. They offer a variety of information: hard data from the industry, trends straight from the government and manufacturers themselves, global news, and even opinion pieces on the state of manufacturing. If you could only reference one of the sites we mention here, we’d recommend that it be IndustryWeek.
• : While Manufacturing News’ website is a little more convoluted and ad-ridden than the others here, we like it because it breaks up news by regions: Southwest, Southeast, Northeast, Midwest, & West. It’s worth it to be able to see fairly local news on a broader scale than you might get on your local news website. Their editorial pieces are great, and they’re still a great source of news on American manufacturing.
• : What better source of information on manufacturing than the government itself? Manufacturing.gov does offer some news and trends, but we really like the in-house resources that are hosted on the website. They provide real information (“What is Advanced Manufacturing?,” “U.S. Manufacturing in Context,” etc.) and are the source to go to if you’re looking for an introduction to manufacturing. Highly recommended.
• : Perhaps the most fun of all the websites here, Manufacturing is Cool is the website of the SME-EF: the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation. They don’t offer much news, but they do offer a different invaluable resource: real stories of individuals involved in manufacturing, which puts a face to all of the information you’ll read across the other websites. Manufacturing is Cool offers a much-needed different perspective on manufacturing, and is another good source for parents looking to learn more.

All five of the websites we just listed are great places to visit for a number of reasons. Whether you’re looking for news on manufacturing, trends in the industry, real data, or even stories of people involved in the manufacturing world, every website has something a little different to offer.

Knowing what’s going on in the manufacturing world is the first step to understanding our mission here at Manufacturing Nebraska. We think you’ll find that the industry is much more nuanced and interesting than you think!

Check on the websites we listed, and let us know what you think in the comments or on . Have another favorite web source that we didn’t mention? We’d love to hear from you!

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