On its way back to the U.S. from China, might manufacturing take a detour into Mexico? Does our neighbor south of the border stand ready to quash the Great American Industrial Revival?

What does it take to convince a manufacturer to locate a plant in the U.S.? How about in California, one of the most highly regulated and difficult states in which to operate? (It ranked 40th in CNBC's latest survey "America's Top States for Business." What about the San Francisco Bay Area, with its prohibitive cost of living, high population density and even more onerous regulatory environment?