Recovery emerging from U.S. factories

washingtonpost.com — Improbable as it seems, the brightest spot so far in the nation's spotty economic recovery is a sector long considered all but dead -- good-old-fashioned manufacturing.

Factories are churning. Exports are up. Even though jobs are the bleakest aspect of the overall economy these days, factory payrolls have turned positive.

"We could have a renaissance here," said Ron Bloom, President Obama's manufacturing czar. "Indeed," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke declared late last month, "manufacturing has been leading the recovery so far."

The basis for that optimism is emerging companies such as Nanosolar Inc. in San Jose, which is riding a wave of demand for "green energy" equipment, as well as established firms such as Intel Corp. and Boeing Co. that are investing billions in U.S. production facilities.

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