Manufacturing increased by 6.8 percent. Ray Bacon, executive director of the Nevada Manufacturers Association, said he recently surveyed new business owners and found 40 percent moved here because they liked the area. They were looking around and this was a good place to live and do business. Bacon said manufacturing and industry in northern Nevada have grown substantially over the last 15 years. Manufacturing has grown in Nevada, even though the state lacks many natural resources that manufacturers use.
Manufacturers often build their plants near the material source to eliminate transportation costs.
In northern Nevada, this isn't always so. Today, the company molds plastic for local companies in Nevada and California, and distributes nationwide. You can cover a huge chunk of the west and be located in Nevada. Nearly 300 manufacturers have come to the area, according to Kris Holt, executive director of the Northern Nevada Development Authority in Carson City. Manufacturing makes up 17 percent of the U.S. economy and 4 percent of Nevada's as a whole.