In a recent survey in China, 96 percent of urban residents identified water quality as a serious issue. Concerns range from industrial discharge to polluted waterways to supply-and-consumption concerns. The Chinese government is getting the message, and water-quality investments there are on the rise.

The survey was conducted by Xylem, which is a global water technology provider that empowers customers to transport, treat, test and use water efficiently in a range of settings. Xylem is based in Rye Brook, New York, and has 12,500 employees around the globe. It does business in more than three-quarters of the world’s nations.

Each year since 2012, Xylem has published the Value of Water Index, and the China edition in 2014 was the first conducted outside of the U.S.

While the water-quality-and-supply challenges in China are at a crisis level, Xylem’s research documents that growing demand and aging infrastructure will threaten the U.S. water supply, as well. Aging pipes and treatment plants are being pushed to their limits. A water main breaks in America every two minutes, resulting in the cumulative loss of nearly 2 trillion gallons of clean water.

Xylem specializes in developing water treatment systems (with more than 200,000 installations to date); empowering the reuse of treated wastewater for industrial, landscape, and agricultural purposes; and providing energy-saving technologies, such as pumps that use significantly less energy than many models currently in use. These smart pumps can reduce energy costs by 50 to 70 percent by adjusting speed to reflect demand.

The current scenario, in which clean-water supplies decline and water use increases, is unsustainable. Simply put, Xylem and companies like it are developing and deploying the technologies that must play a critical role in addressing the global water crisis.

Hydraulic pumps are a $6.3 billion industry in North America. One of the leaders in the industry is Gorman-Rupp, based in Mansfield, Ohio. The business was founded by a pair of engineers in 1933. From those humble, Depression-era beginnings, Gorman-Rupp has become a global company, with sales in 120 countries.

Along with its subsidiaries, Gorman-Rupp offers more than 4,000 models of pumps. And the broad array of applications -- water, wastewater, construction, industrial, agriculture, HVAC, solar heating, fire protection, military, and flood-control – drive home the point that pumps are a ubiquitous part of modern life.

Flood control is one of the noteworthy applications. When the Army Corps of Engineers needed massive-scale pumps after the levies broke in New Orleans, Gorman-Rupp’s Patterson Pumps subsidiary was called upon to play a major role. Pump systems that ordinarily would take 18 to 24 months to plan and manufacture were delivered in just 6 months, winning high praise from the Corps.

Patterson makes advance-engineered pumps that can move one million gallons of water every minute. With that level of power, it is not surprising that in 2014, Patterson Pumps received a $60 million order for large-scale pumps in New Orleans – the largest order in company history.

In 2014, Gorman-Rupp was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the nation’s most trustworthy companies. The firm has achieved that distinction four times since 2009. Companies are ranked on factors that reflect sound accounting and governance practices. In 2013, Gorman-Rupp was honored with an E Award for its success in exports.

Gorman-Rupp and its subsidiaries are also active members of the Hydraulic Institute, a trade association that has been creating pump standards since 1917.

From its innovative pumps to its trustworthy governance, Gorman-Rupp is another Great Manufacturing Story. For a list of nearly 100 other stories highlighted on this site, click on the "Index" button above.

Talk to business associations and chambers of commerce in every state, and nearly all of them will tell you that enhancing our networks of roads, highways and bridges is a critically important priority.

One manufacturer that is preparing to help the U.S. modernize its transportation infrastructure is Volvo Construction Equipment. The company manufactures soil and asphalt compactors, motor graders, pavers and screeds, and milling machines at its Shippensburg, Pennsylvania plant, south and east of Harrisburg.

Volvo purchased the plant from Ingersoll-Rand in 2007. Manufacturing in the U.S. allows the foreign-owned company to reduce its exposure to exchange rate fluctuation, and to establish closer relationships with its customers and other stakeholders. The company hosted U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta for a plant tour on Sept. 6, 2013, and has a video on its web site from a recent customer tour. 

The plant was expanded in 2010, and is undergoing another $100 million expansion that will allow it to produce wheel loaders, articulated haulers, and excavators by 2014. More than 700 employees work in Shippensburg, in roles that include operations, sales and marketing, support, welding, painting, machining and assembly.

Policymakers like Rep. Barletta are committed to bringing increased predictability to our country’s highway investments. Volvo Construction Equipment is making the investments now to be ready to help meet the infrastructure needs of our dynamic U.S. economy.

For more Great Manufacturing Stories, click on Feature Stories.