business currents 1.2
manufacturing headed Back to the U.S
Among the various reasons given by U.S. companies, such as Caterpillar, Ford Motor Co., General Electric, and NCR, for "onshoring" or "reshoring" their manufacturing operations were the following:
- Chinese wages and shipping cost have risen sharply in the past few years while U.S. salaries have stayed flat or even fallen.
- U.S. manufacturers have become frustrated by the sometimes poor quality of good made by foreign contractors.
- the desire to bring production managers and assembly-line workers closer to engineers suppliers, and customers, in an effort to reduce product defects and turnaround times.
- An effort to protect a company's intellectual property because intellectual property laws and often enforced less vigorously in certain foreign countries.
- Weary of mindnight phone call from, and multiple annual trips to, Asian producers.