Factories Around the World Are Slowly Cranking Into Gear Again

  • US, China lead nascent activity recovery and Germany improves
  • Wisconsin producer has ‘really good pipeline of work for 2024’

Workers on a production line in Yunnan province, China.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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Assembly lines around the world are starting to hum again, marking a turn in a years-long manufacturing slump.

The nascent industrial recovery is led by the world’s two biggest economies. Chinese manufacturing has made a strong start to the year, boosting the economic outlook, and US factory activity unexpectedly expanded last month for the first time since September 2022, buoyed by rising new orders and a jump in production.