For years, the default option for many manufacturers was to outsource production to China (and other lower-wage markets). However, years of double-digit labor inflation in China combined with higher logistics costs (oil prices have tripled since 2000) are causing firms to reexamine their manufacturing strategy. In recalculating the cost-to-serve equation, firms are increasingly reshoring manufacturing capacity to the US/North America to be closer to end consumers, take advantage of a highly skilled and increasingly cost-competitive labor force, and reduce total costs. And it’s not just US-based firms—Japanese auto manufacturers, for example, are investing in more US manufacturing capacity to access skilled labor and to combat the multi-year rise of the Yen. Cheap natural gas is another factor leading heavy energy users like chemical firms to expand US manufacturing capacity. Clearly, products made for sale in Asian markets, especially with high labor content, are not candidates for reshoring, but products destined for North American and European consumers may be prime targets. Even high-tech products are part of the movement with Google manufacturing tablets in the US and Apple announcing that it will soon begin manufacturing a line of Mac computers domestically for the first time in nearly a decade. Action Item: The labor cost differential was a major factor driving the outsourcing boom and dwarfing other cost considerations. As the labor cost gap has narrowed, firms need to perform a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of total product cost at the SKU level, spanning sourcing and procurement to factory labor costs, and logistics to customer service, in order to make valid reshoring/right-shoring decisions. Engage experts with the market insight to validate cost and price assumptions to avoid garbage-in/garbage-out syndrome. Be careful not to ignore non-explicit product costs, for example the benefits of lower supply chain inventories if factory-to-retailer cycle times are cut in half, or the transition costs of restarting manufacturing in a new location. Optimize for these cost factors and target customer service levels to determine if reshoring capacity makes economic and customer-service sense based on current and future assumptions. |