If you ask manufacturers about their operations, they'll probably tell you they're feeling pretty good. They've improved productivity and efficiency by implementing lean and Six Sigma, training their workers and making strategic investments in high-tech equipment.

If you ask them about what's going on outside their four walls, that's an entirely different story.

That's one interpretation of the summer edition of the McGladrey Manufacturing and Distribution Monitor, a quarterly survey of manufacturing executives on the state of industry.

"The economy, rising commodity prices, federal gridlock, federal over-regulation -- all of those things that manufacturers can't control, they're very concerned and pessimistic about," said Karen Kurek, national manufacturing practice leader for RSM McGladrey Inc.

Conversely, manufacturers seem "fairly positive" about the things they can control, such as making their businesses more productive, Kurek told IndustryWeek.

That assertion is reflected in the latest McGladrey survey. When asked about the health of their companies, 44% of the manufacturing executives answered that their firms are thriving and growing, compared with 45% of executives in the spring.

Meanwhile, 52% of the survey respondents said their businesses are holding their own, while only 3% said their businesses are declining. Those percentages are nearly identical to the spring survey.

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