About

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Industrial Patterns publishes reference editions organized into modules. Operating Benchmarks (Module 1) is the annual reference on operating performance; Industry Structure Reference (Module 2) is the census-anchored reference on the structural condition of the same industries. The material is descriptive — it does not provide advice, forecasts, or recommendations.

Editions are static, dated artifacts. Each edition applies a consistent analytical framework to observed data and is released without promotional cadence.

The editor is Dave Carr. Dave is a DBA candidate, defending his dissertation on November 27, 2026. The dissertation examines target selection in private-equity buy-and-build investing in mid-tier US industries. He is the former president of Plasti-Fab Ltd., a building-materials manufacturer acquired by Carlisle Companies Incorporated (NYSE: CSL).

Professional history: LinkedIn · davidjcarr.ca.

Industrial Patterns uses publicly available, authoritative data sources. Operating Benchmarks draws on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (Statistics of Income), the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; Producer Price Index), and the U.S. Census Bureau (Economic Census; Annual Business Survey), with current-conditions data from additional federal monthly series including the Federal Reserve's G.17 Industrial Production release, the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Industry Structure Reference draws on the U.S. Census Economic Census, County Business Patterns, Statistics of US Businesses, and the Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics. Population counts reconcile across modules — the two products describe the same peer set from complementary angles.

Methodology is documented in each edition's appendix in sufficient detail for an independent reader to audit any computed value. The full methodology for both modules — shared framework, source architectures, edition cadences, and limits of inference — is described in detail on the Methodology page. Limits of inference and warranty disclosure are stated in the Disclaimers.