Despite the practical financial benefits of supply chain collaboration, only a small minority (12.8%) of manufacturers actually share production data, inventory data, sales forecasts and order information, and new product development across the Internet with suppliers or customers.

That's according to respondents of the fifth annual PulseMark survey by RSM McGladrey, Inc. and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The results are published in "Bench-marks for U.S. Manufacturing Productivity."

Also, only 1.8% of responding manufacturers are capable of providing order visibility across its Web site.

For more information, visit www.pulsemark.mcgladrey.com .