Top 500 U.S. Manufacturing Firms Had 2011 Sales of $5 Trillion, Almost As Much as Japan's GDP

table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}.tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}Rank10 Largest U.S. Manufacturing Industries, 2011 Revenue (Millions)  Examples1Petroleum & Coal Products$1,274,150Exxon, Chrevron, Conoco2Computers & Other Electronic Products$709,613HP, IBM, Apple, Dell3Chemicals$406,445P&G, Dow, DuPont4Pharmaceuticals$306,076J&J, Pfizer, Merck and Co.5Motor Vehicles$303,540Ford, GM, Harley-Davidson6Food$284,469General Mills, Kellogg, Campbell7Aerospace & Defense$254,126Boeing, Lockheed Martin8Electrical Equipment &  Appliances$244,738GE, Emerson, Whirlpool9Machinery$227,481Caterpillar, Deere, Xerox10Beverages$120,356Pepsi, Coke, Snapple                             Total$4,130,994IndustryWeek recently released its annual ranking of the 500 largest publicly held U.S. manufacturing companies in 2011 based on sales revenue, and the top ten U.S. manufacturing industries are displayed above. Here are some factoids:1. The combined sales revenue (including global sales) of the top 500 U.S.-based manufacturing for 2011 was $5.13 trillion, which was a 12.75% increase over 2010 sales of $4.55 trillion. To put it in perspective, that amount of annual revenue ($5.13 trillion) of the 500 largest U.S.-based manufacturing companies was almost as much as the $5.8 trillion of GDP for the entire economy of Japan in 2011 (world's third largest economy).   2. The sales revenue from the top ten manufacturing industries totaled $4.13 trillion in 2011 (see chart above), which was more than Germany's entire GDP of $3.6 trillion last year.3. Annual sales of $1.27 in 2011 for America's single largest manufacturing industry - petroleum and coal products - was larger than the GDP of both Mexico and South Korea, and larger than the Gross State Product of both Texas and New York.   4. Annual sales of $709 billion for America's second largest manufacturing industry - computers and other electronic products was more than the entire GDP last year of Switzerland ($594 billion) and almost as much as the GDP of Turkey ($797 billion) and the GSP of Florida ($754 billion).   5. The top ten largest U.S. manufacturing companies (Exxon, Chevron, Conoco, GE, GM, Ford, H-P, IBM, Valero, and Proctor and Gamble) had combined revenues of $1.57 trillion, almost as much as Canada's GDP in 2011 of $1.75 trillion. MP: The comparisons above help put the enormous size of the U.S. manufacturing sector into perspective and demonstrate American manufacturing is not withering and disappearing, but  thriving, expanding and prospering.  In terms of profits, the American manufacturing sector will have its best year ever in 2011.  Based on data currently available through the third quarter, the U.S. manufacturing corporations are on track to earn more than $600 billion in profits for 2011, which will be a new record high, and double the profits in both 2008 ($26.6 billion) and 2009 ($28.6 billion), and 36% percent above the pre-recession level of $44.2 billion in 2007.  American manufacturing is alive and well.