Corporations seem to be rethinking their offshoring strategies. Thirty years ago, North American corporations decided that the best way to cut costs was to move their manufacturing to Asian and other developing countries. Now they’re rethinking the relevance of this strategy for various reasons, including rising production costs in China and India, increasingly volatile transportation costs, the higher risk of supply chain disruptions when doing business in faraway locations, and issues concerning quality control and intellectual property protection in poorly regulated markets. But there are also positive aspects to consider when contemplating whether to repatriate your manufacturing to North America such as access to skilled labour, easy adoption of automated manufacturing and access to a large transportation network. These factors are making business leaders rethink their “Invented here, made there” strategy. (more…)
