Yesterday was a horrendous day for manufacturing news. First up were the highly anticipated restructuring plans by GM and Chrysler. Chrysler’s announcement of 3,000 job cuts combined with their $5 billion in requested federal funds looked relatively good compared with GM’s 47,000 planned cuts and request for an additional $16 billion. Yikes. Both companies are aiming for a return to profitability, yet the scale of their restructuring shows how ominous the economic conditions are for US auto industry.

Then there was yesterday’s New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State factory index, which fell to a record low minus 34.65. This index is one of the first of many state by state measures of activity, and is likely not the last of the grim reports.

We all know what manufacturing is up against - tight credit, risk due to cut corners and supplier bankruptcies, and shrinking demand (in the US due to sinking confidence and abroad to due the stronger USD’s impact on exports). And we also know of the unprecedented buyer’s market conditions in the marketplace brought on by many of the same factors.

So how do those two forces converge? How are manufacturers coping with the situation? And what more can be done?

SupplyExcellence’s own metals category expert Mike Petro will be on a panel discussion tomorrow (register here) with Sidney Hill Jr, Executive Editor of Manufacturing Business Technology and Naseem Malik, Director of Global Sourcing at Terex. They’ll discuss conditions in the manufacturing sector and strategies some companies are employing to not only survive, but actually prosper (or at least prepare themselves to prosper when the tide turns).

They’ve also solicited questions from the planned attendees for the last few weeks. So there should be some insightful, lively discussion from a cross-section of insiders, spurred on by your peers. It’s a daunting time for manufacturing, but fortunes are made during times like these. And the perspective Mike, Sidney and Naseem bring from the trenches may help shed light on some of the pitfalls and opportunities.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.