Official figures don't reflect rapid shift in US companies' investments

New York

KIM Beck once considered owning his factory's big production machines to be a big part of being a manufacturer. Not anymore. The chief executive of Automatic Feed Co, an 80-worker Ohio company that makes machines for car plants, now leases most of his factory and its heavy equipment to another company that welds and cuts metal for him on the spot. That has freed up cash for him to hire engineers and programmers to design a new line of laser-driven products. "This is a much better way to do business," he said.

Mr Beck's change of heart about heavy metal is part of a larger and lasting shift in how US corporations invest. Instead of spending on buildings and big machines, companies are investing more in software and high-tech equipment that is often lighter and less expensive than the "monuments" of the past. Many firms, for instance, are shifting to cloud services for back-office operations that once required them to buy and maintain their own systems.