Manufacturing businesses are generally categorized by the material type they specialize in: metals, plastics, etc. Metals is a broad category of a popular material type so you are going to notice more of them than other material types. Metals fabrication is a difficult business to run. Not for the faint of heart or those without a spine of steel. Most failures occur around no real market niche, poor estimating, poor commodity pricing controls or poor metallurgical knowledge. Plus, there is a huge shortage of skilled labor in the metal working trades, so growth is not a given just because you sold extra work. Depending on the exact type of company, many are easy to start, requiring a small amount of capital. Welding shops specializing in lighter weight components is a good example. These type of companies should be flooding the market due to retiring baby boomers and the long run implications of OEM's outsourcing work to China, India and Mexico. Light weight = restaurant longevity. The only type even worth looking at is one that has a real niche that can't be moved to lower labor cost parts of the world. If the business doesn't require at least a 10 ton crane, then its a commodity business and best to avoid those.

Great input. Thank you for taking the time to share!