Haha, well I was thinking more along the lines of questions concerning the actual processes behind things, that tends to be what I study.

But I’ll give it a shot.
The recession, which we are still in, has vastly effected business and manufacturers for numerous reasons. Many manufacturers (Look at the automobile industry) suffered for reasons concerning poor money management etc. leading to bail outs etc….

In terms of Manufacturing itself, I think many businesses now are facing issues concerning productivity and efficiency. In north America, Most companies have their products manufactured else where in the world (i.e. China). This is simply because Factories in China have mastered the art of mass production. Manufacturers in north America simply cannot compete. The best option for Manufacturers who do not have the edge of mass production efficiency tends to be that they have an edge else ware (such as extremely high standards/ quality/ appearance)*. In order to succeed they need to have a unique quality…

*Not that products manufactured in China are low quality, but that Manufacturers elsewhere try to use there “Extreme quality and great engineering” as a advertising ploy

That being said, Many manufacturer’s suffered due to lack of Quality control, such as toyota’s Recall and too many similar products, Many car companies discontinued certain lines simply because they couldn’t afford to keep up…

My understanding of the recession is only very basic, so this is just a very brief over view of possible issues with manufacturing.
But thanks for the question!