About 3,600 jobs were cut from local manufacturers in the last year, but St. Louis' manufacturing sector may not be as downtrodden as that figure indicates.

Area experts say many successful manufacturers are cutting jobs because they are automating manual processes. Beyond that, most of recent layoffs in St. Louis manufacturing have come from the slumping auto industry.

From April 2007 to April 2008, about 3,500 vehicle-manufacturing jobs were lost in the St. Louis metro area.

St. Louis manufacturing jobs fell to about 132,500 in April 2008, but that doesn't necessarily mean the sector is sick, said Frank Liou, director of the manufacturing engineering education program at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.

Liou said global competition is forcing more companies to cut jobs in the name of efficiency. Many companies retrain employees to do new jobs, he said, but some layoffs are inevitable.

"For some companies, they'll probably have to go through this process because they have relied on manual labor to compete," Liou said.

On the bright side, Missouri's manufacturers have been increasingly competitive overseas. Missouri's manufactured exports increased 5 percent in 2007 from the previous year, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.

Exports totaled $13.4 billion in 2007, led by transportation equipment, chemicals and non-electrical machinery.

The future of manufacturing in Missouri depends on the state's ability to increase exports, said Spence Jackson, spokesmen for the Department of Economic Development.

Similarly, Jackson said it will be important to attract foreign manufacturers to Missouri.

"We need to send a message to high-tech manufacturers around the world that Missouri is a good place for them to do business and create jobs," Jackson said.

But growth among manufacturers, foreign or domestic, has been hindered by rising costs of commodities and shipping, said Gary Marble, president of Associated Industries of Missouri, a trade association that lobbies for businesses. Many of the group's members are manufacturers.

Marble said smaller manufacturers that alter or add value to a near-complete product have been hurt less by the economy than those that supply raw materials, parts or original equipment.

Interest from manufacturers looking to start up or relocate to Illinois has been strong, said Patrick McKeehan, executive director of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois.

He said a proposed new bridge over the Mississippi should increase the interest by improving transportation.

cboyce@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8345