Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings

Can reshoring really make a dent?

By Paul Heney | November 29, 2012

Share

Positive signs continue to come in for the American manufacturer. The trend of reshoring—bringing back manufacturing that had been offshored to, say, China—appears to be more than a flash in the pan. As I’ve written before, more and more domestic companies are opening their eyes to the real costs of overseas manufacturing. While the price of a product might be somewhat cheaper to make in Shanghai, other costs have to be considered.

“What’s the cost of the piece on your loading dock?” asked Frank Russo, CEO of Fabricating.com, a new website that works to connect purchasers with American suppliers. “You have to look at total cost of ownership; transportation costs, labor costs are going up rapidly. These are underpinning this movement of reshoring.”

Russo, whose venture is less than six months old, already has 200 buyers and 1200 suppliers, and he sees a lot of interest across the country.

“I see a real renaissance in manufacturing,” he said. “That’s not campaign rhetoric or American patriotism—I see it every day in talking to suppliers and buyers. This is a great time for manufacturing.”

Manufacturers can find more resources online today, including sites like MFG.com and the Reshoring Initiative, at www.reshorenow.org. The Reshoring Initiative even includes an online Total Cost of Ownership estimator, to show companies how to compare domestic apples to foreign apples. The tool incorporates 29 cost factors, calculates freight from 17 countries and also includes duty fees and other steps that some procurement agents might miss.

The Boston Consulting Group sees a tipping point, where local manufacturing is cheaper in the U.S. compared to China, happening in 2015, as China’s labor cost continue to rise. By the same time, BCG says the U.S. will have an export cost advantage of 5 to 25% over Germany, Italy, France, the U.K. and Japan in a variety of industry sectors.

Tobias Schoenherr, assistant professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Supply Chain Management, co-authored a recent study that found that U.S. firms are moving or considering moving their manufacturing operations back to domestic soil from overseas

Schoenherr’s study found that 40% of the 319 manufacturing firms polled believe there is an increased movement of reshoring from countries such as China and India. Leading the trend were the aerospace and defense industries, along with industrial parts and equipment, electronics, and medical and surgical supplies.

The report also found that local companies are genuinely concerned about losing intellectual property to foreign manufacturers—and about quality issues. That’s hardly a surprise after all the horror stories I’ve heard over the years. Quality isn’t an easy thing to keep under control when your parts are being made literally on the other side of the world.

Has your company reshored any manufacturing? Weigh in on Paul’s blog at www.pneumatics.com/blog

Paul J. Heney – Editorial Director
[email protected]


Filed Under: Design World articles
Tagged With: insights
 

About The Author

Paul Heney

Paul J. Heney, the VP, Editorial Director for Design World magazine, has a BS in Engineering Science & Mechanics and minors in Technical Communications and Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech. He has written about fluid power, aerospace, robotics, medical, green engineering, and general manufacturing topics for nearly 25 years. He has won numerous regional and national awards for his writing from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Comments

  1. Harry Moser says

    December 14, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    Thanks for mentioning the Reshoring Initiative!
    Much of the offshoring occurred because companies looked only at wages or prices and not total cost. The Reshoring
    Initiative’s free Total Cost of Ownership software helps corporations calculate the real P&L impact of reshoring or offshoring. Current research shows most companies can reshore about 25% of what they have offshored and improve their profitability.
    About 10% of the approx. 500,000 manufacturing job growth since the low in January 2010 is due to reshoring.
    Based on the 309 published reshoring articles in our Reshoring Library http://www.reshorenow.org/resources/library.cfm,
    we calculate that at least 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been reshored.

    I was one of the business experts in Pres. Obama’s Jan 11, 2012 Insourcing Forum. I emphasized, and the assembled
    executives supported, the need for companies to more consistently utilize TCO analysis instead of price variance in making their sourcing decisions.

    You can reach me at [email protected] for help using our tools for sourcing decisions and when selling.

Tell Us What You Think!

Related Articles Read More >

Drone-mounted inspection breaks barriers for F-35
TriStar, a misunderstood failure of design
More on engineering and science
Dan Arvizu: Embracing the soft skills

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Global supply needs drive increased manufacturing footprint development
  • How to Increase Rotational Capacity for a Retaining Ring
  • Cordis high resolution electronic proportional pressure controls
  • WAGO’s custom designed interface wiring system making industrial applications easier
  • 10 Reasons to Specify Valve Manifolds
  • Case study: How a 3D-printed tool saved thousands of hours and dollars

Design World Podcasts

May 17, 2022
Another view on additive and the aerospace industry
See More >
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Technologies
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
    • Fluid power
  • Learn
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
    • Engineering Week
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • MC² Motion Control Classrooms
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
  • LEAP AWARDS
  • Leadership
    • 2022 Voting
    • 2021 Winners
  • Design Guide Library
  • Resources
    • 3D Cad Models
      • PARTsolutions
      • TraceParts
    • Digital Issues
      • Design World
      • EE World
    • Women in Engineering
  • Supplier Listings