Bingham said that Utah is a hub for certain types of manufacturing, such as aerospace, medical devices and nutraceuticals.

"We have some natural advantages," he said. "Our economy is good right now, but also we have among the lowest energy rates in the nation. That's helpful. We also are among the lowest with some other HR kind of costs, like workers compensation and unemployment insurance.

"All those things help make Utah as a whole an attractive place. Quite frankly, we're seeing some folks moving here, especially from California, where the environment for business and manufacturing is not as favorable as it once was. We're a net benefactor of those kinds of things."

And Utah's diversified manufacturing sector insulates it from trouble such as that seen in Michigan, where manufacturers supplying the auto industry are in lean times, he said.

"Even in a recessionary period, some of our manufactures, like medical device manufacturers, didn't even feel it because what they were making was something that continues," Bingham said. "People were still having surgeries whether the economy is off or not. They did not have a downturn. But if you were building equipment and machinery for somebody else, you would have had some trouble. Diversification is healthy for our manufacturing economy."

Manufacturers' News Inc. has published manufacturers' directories since 1912 and has compiled and produced manufacturing guides, statistics and databases for all 50 states.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com