Questionnaires were mailed to a universe of 10,000 Automotive Design & Production and Modern Machine Shop plants in the following discrete parts manufacturing industries: SIC 34, Fabricated Metal Products; SIC 35, Machinery, except Electrical; SIC 36, Electrical Machinery; SIC 37, Transportation Equipment; SIC 38, Instruments; and a few selected companies in the Metal Furniture portion of SIC 25. The universe, by employment, was made up of every plant Automotive Design & Production and Modern Machine Shop reach employing 250+ and every Nth plant employing less than 250 until a universe of 10,000 was assembled.

We mailed the surveys to upper echelon readers—presidents; executive vice presidents; general managers; vice presidents of manufacturing and/or operations; plant, works or factory managers and superintendents; directors of production engineering; and managers of manufacturing—people with lateral interests and access to the budgetary information and plans needed to complete our questionnaire. We mailed one questionnaire per plant using a computer program to select the highest title reached from a alphabetical search of each plan galley.

We conducted the survey from July 9, 2007 to August 15, 2007. As of the closing date, 1,325 surveys were returned for a 13.1% response rate. A total of 1,272 surveys were determined usable. Unless otherwise indicated, all figures are percentages.