Manufacturing companies in Dallas-Fort Worth: what the region makes and who makes it

This report is for people looking for Dallas-area manufacturers to work for, buy from or partner with, analysts sizing the region's industry, and B2B sellers whose customers are plants.

Dallas-Fort Worth manufacturing in Census data

The figures cover manufacturing (NAICS 31 to 33) in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area (CBSA 19100). Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.

What Dallas-Fort Worth makes

Two subsectors set the region's character. Transportation equipment, which includes aircraft and parts, and computer and electronic products together employ 30% of the metro's manufacturing workforce at the highest pay. For aerospace specifically, see the report on aerospace companies in Dallas. Below them sits a broad base of metal fabricators, food plants and plastics molders.

How big they are

In broader bands: 3,634 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 1,476 have 20 to 99 and 563 have 100 or more. Of the 20 sites with 1,000 or more employees, 6 are transportation equipment, 6 computer and electronics and 3 food plants.

Where the plants are, and which way jobs are moving

For a more recent read, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages counts jobs from unemployment insurance records. Its methods differ from County Business Patterns, so compare the change, not the level:

County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, not companies: a manufacturer with plants in Garland and Fort Worth counts twice, and a corporate head office with no production is usually classified outside manufacturing. Owners without employees are excluded, and the snapshot is the week of March 12, 2023.

The largest manufacturers headquartered here

The Dallas Regional Chamber's 2026 economic development guide lists the Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the metro. The manufacturers among them include Caterpillar (#65), Kimberly-Clark (#225), Texas Instruments (#252), Keurig Dr Pepper (#268), Celanese (#431), Commercial Metals (#491), Lennox International (#658), Flowserve (#703) and ATI (#720). Fortune assigns headquarters by the principal executive office in SEC filings, so a headquarters doesn't mean a plant: check each company's 10-K, which lists its main facilities.

Finding manufacturers by name

1. Start from the subsector. Decide which codes matter (say, fabricated metal and machinery) and how big a plant you need.
2. Use public lists: the chamber's guide for the largest firms, SEC filings for public companies' local plants, and city economic development sites, which often name their major employers.
3. Ask the regional partners. TMAC, the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership center for Texas, has a North Texas office at UT Arlington. The Texas Association of Manufacturers represents manufacturers statewide.
4. Check the entity on the Texas Comptroller's franchise tax account status search before you sign anything.

How to evaluate a Dallas manufacturer as a supplier

Selling to Dallas-Fort Worth manufacturers

Small shops buy on speed and price, often from whoever answers the phone. Mid-size plants have a purchasing function but the plant manager still decides on anything that touches uptime. The 20 largest sites buy through approved supplier lists, so the first sale is getting on the list. At volume, the research is the slow part; Bebop finds plants that match a description and researches each account. For building the list, see how to build a prospect list.

Illustrative example. The seller and its figures are invented; the plant counts are Census data.

Elm Fork Tooling (elmforktooling.example) distributes cutting tools and abrasives. Its targets are fabricated metal and machinery plants with 20 to 249 employees: 350 fabricated metal and 144 machinery establishments, 494 in all. Two contacts each, the plant manager and the buyer, is 988 people. At a 5% reply rate that's about 49 conversations; if one in five runs a trial and half of those buy, 5 new accounts at $30,000 a year add $150,000. Lead in Tarrant County, where manufacturing employment is growing.

Subject: Tool life on your [machine type] line

Hi [first name],

I saw [company] is hiring [role, e.g. CNC machinists] in [city], which usually means more spindle hours this quarter.

We stock cutting tools and abrasives locally and run free tool-life trials: one job, our tooling against yours, with cost per part written up.

Could we run one trial on your highest-volume part this month?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: see the wider business base of the region in the report on companies in Dallas.