I know some of my recent blog posts have been downers.
From news of sluggish profits at Harley-Davidson to slackening manufacturing conditions overall, January has not been a happy month. I believe it’s better to be honest about these things than gloss over them, though it’s also fair to state that matters could be much worse, and there are some bright spots on the horizon.
One of them is the continuing reshoring and next-shoring trends. They’re not new by any means, but some of the recent forecasts are worth noting.
Reshoring refers to bringing previously outsourced jobs back to the U.S., while next-shoring is the more complex approach of striking a balance between overseas and domestic production, based on a host of factors including demand, labor and supply chain availability.
Amid the recent gloom, I perked up on seeing an email this week from the Chicago-based Reshoring Initiative, which cited recent reports suggesting that China’s declining cost advantages will make America the world’s most competitive nation by 2020 as more manufacturers look to add production capacity in this country.
This is a narrative many in the U.S. have long been waiting to hear. And the Reshoring Initiative, founded by former machine company executive Harry Moser, is compiling information to help chart the progress and encourage the business community to take part in the movement.
In addition to its website, the group maintains a blog, which is full of useful information. One December post asks participants to “help document the return of manufacturing to North America,” and links to a master list of reshored companies, which contains the names of more than 800 firms.
Now that is something you will want to look at. While the database does not give detailed explanations (and indeed, it’s not clear whether some of these were full or partial reshorings), it should lead most readers to at least a few familiar names, prompting interest in finding out more.
For example, the first local example I found was Armstrong World Industries Inc. in Lancaster County.
In a 2014 address to local officials in the region, Moser cited Armstrong and Unilife Corp. in York County among companies that have brought offshore jobs back to the region as the cost of doing business at home became competitive with the once-cheaper cost of outsourcing to other countries.
I apologize for not having counted the total number of Pennsylvania references in the 107-page list, but let me reiterate that it’s worth perusing.
And, for what it’s worth, Dave Yarrish, of Springettsbury Township-based Nutec Group, is working on plans to bring Moser to the area for a talk next month.
In the meanwhile, keep an eye on the news, and on the Reshoring Initiative’s blog, to learn what American companies are doing to bring jobs home.
