Bush team seeks answers to questions.

The Bush administration is fully aware of the plight of the U.S. manufacturing sector, says Sam Bodman, the number two person at the Department of Commerce. "There is on doubt that this important sector is hurting and has been for some time," says Bodman, a chemical engineer and former professor at MIT But Bodman isn't sure if the troubles facing manufacturing constitute as much of a crisis as purported.

"We have to ask if total employment is the best gauge" for measuring the health of the manufacturing sector, he told the "New Directions in Manufacturing" meeting held recently at the National Academy of Sciences. "Do we have the right metrics to measure manufacturing competitiveness? Do our policies protect the status quo or lead global changes that are inevitable? We don't want to find ourselves in the position that Japan is in today."

The Commerce Department is intent on assessing the problems facing manufacturing and developing prescriptions. Its newly created manufacturing task force headed up by Grant Aldonas, head of the International Trade Administration, "is counting on you to tell us what we need to hear and what we need to know," Bodman said.