This study is the conduct and analysis of typical manufacturing plants to determine their use or non-use of some 10-15 production technologies. It is a follow-up, extension, and improvement of a pilot survey completed earlier. The National Association of Manufacturers is cooperating and partially supporting this study. Both "hard and soft" technologies are included. The sample of plants is about 5,000 requests to complete the survey form and include firms or all sizes. Respondents are asked to indicate their skill level with regard to each technology, reasons for adoption or non-adoption, changes over the recent past, and plans for the near future. Measures of output will be related to individual production technology used by industry. Aggregate results to be reported in a report, professional journals, trade press and the data and information collected (without firm/plant identifiers) to be made available to others
