ATLANTA, GA- MFG.com has announced the results of its latest two-part MFGWatch survey. For the fifth consecutive quarter, more than one-third of North American manufacturers responding to the quarterly survey said that they have experienced a significant supply chain disruption in the past three months.

Other findings include:

North American Buyers in Q3 2010 have shown some improved employment activity. Twenty six percent of large manufacturers state that they have increased employment, an improvement over the 18% from the previous quarter. Conversely, while the 21% that had indicated they had reduced staffs is down slightly from the previous quarter, it is still much higher than those that anticipated any retraction (8%).

For the first time since Q3 2009, there are fewer large manufacturers in North America that have experienced a significant supply chain disruption than from the previous quarter. The 40% that stated they’d experienced those disruptions represents a 51% drop from the previous quarter.

The number of large North American manufacturers that have repatriated production from low-cost countries – 19% – is only slightly less than those from the previous quarter (21%). However, while this percentage still represents a significant increase from Q1 2010 (12%), recent trade and other economic policies put in place may impact these figures in the first two quarters of 2011 and beyond.

North American suppliers for small-and-medium manufacturers reported a higher contraction rate of business conditions, with 19% stating they’d experienced less business in Q3 2010. That number is up from 14% in Q2 , and represents a significant contraction in the North American manufacturing sector. Also, while those reporting growth in their businesses remained flat from Q2 (40%), that number exceeds those that anticipated growth from the previous quarter (27%).

In alignment with contracting business conditions, small/medium manufacturers state that they are not hiring. Employment in this sector remained virtually the same in Q3 2010, with 26% adding jobs (compared with 29% in the previous quarter) and 18% reducing headcount in both Q2 and Q3. However realities trumped expectations, as only 5% predicted staff reductions prior to this most recent MFGWatch survey.

North American suppliers in Q3 2010 reported less activity from larger sourcing manufacturers under duress from supply chain disruptions than in the previous quarter (37% and 42%, respectively). These responses are in line with large North American manufacturers’ lower reported incidents of actual disruptions. However, the most recent 37% virtually matches the levels reported in the same quarter of ’09.

Fewer North American original equipment manufacturers and large manufacturers say that they expect to research bringing production closer to North America in the coming months (33%, compared to 38% in Q2 2010).