Reshoring, or bringing manufacturing back to a company’s home country from overseas, is making headlines for manufacturing worldwide. While U.S. and U.K. news sources are optimistic about the benefits to their respective economies, some sources aren’t so sure reshoring is living up to the hype. And with so much discussion around the topic in the manufacturing sector as a whole, the Industrial Designers Society of America has chosen to cover the topic at its South conference, which will be co-located with NPE in March.
News Drill Down
- According to an article from RubberNews.com, estimates for the number of jobs reshored in the U.S. in 2013 were even with the number sent offshore – a major improvement from 2003. “Reshoring has helped stop the bleeding,” says the online news source.
- SupplyManagement.com references a report from EY that posits the aerospace, defense and automotive industries are the top candidates for reaping the benefits of reshoring in the U.K. The report further breaks down the regions that would see the most growth, with the North West gaining an extra £2.4 billion GDP over the next 10 years.
- While the optimism surrounding reshoring abounds, a Cerasis.com blogger uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and manufacturing employment data to conclude that “recovered jobs result from factories returning to full production capacity as aggregate demand recovers, not from new manufacturing projects flocking to our shores.”
- A recent entry on the ProcurementLeaders.com blog outlines similar dissention from the prevaling optimism, saying that while there have been several cases of successful reshoring by big companies in the U.S., the data doesn’t “show the wider trends, nor does it provide us with information about the rate at which manufacturers are continuing to offshore production.”
- The IDSA’s Southern district is planning to cover the topic in depth at its “Home Cooking: Designing, Manufacturing and Sourcing in the USA” event, which will run concurrently with NPE. The event will involve presentations by speakers from large and small companies that have engaged in reshoring their manufacturing operations.
Reading List
RubberNews.com: Reshoring has helped to fuel rebound in U.S. manufacturing
SupplyManagement.com: Reshoring could add £15 billion to UK economy
Cerasis.com: Reshoring Optimism, But Not Much Else
ProcurementLeaders.com: If Reshoring Is So Great, How Come No-one Is Doing It?
IDSA.org: 2015 South Conference
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