Turn on the news and it is hard to miss the barrage of messages about the recent move to buying products that are “Made in America”. The most interesting aspect of this is that retailers who were once so driven on price reduction are at the head of the reshoring movement. Over the past 20 years, Wal-Mart and other retailers main goal was to lower pricing; now they have embraced the “Made in the USA” ethos. In December, Wal-Mart hosted their third annual Open Call for products, as they look to move more of their store footprint back to US made. This mandate will pressure suppliers to constantly optimize logistics and lower numerous production costs benefits, focusing on automating systems on the manufacturing floor and within distribution centers. Let’s take a closer look at the Reshoring Movement and how Boston Industrial’s master planning, distribution center design, and system improvement services can reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Reshoring is the practice of bringing manufacturing and services back to the United States from overseas in low cost labor markets. The overall reshoring effort has become a fast and efficient way to help the U.S. economy by adding jobs, balancing the trade and budget deficits, lowering unemployment and fostering a skilled workforce. Reshoring has required United States manufacturing companies to re-examine their labor, materials, and products. They must reduce the total cost of material and labor to fabricate their products, use automation, consolidate facilities and use Lean Manufacturing techniques. Transportation costs and time-to-market benefits are true advantages, but production costs need to be in line in order to gain the maximum effect of reshoring.
How, then, can BIC help you avoid offshoring and embrace reshoring, be more efficient and reduce your operational costs? It will require a collective shift in thinking from “offshoring is cheaper” to a mentality where “local production reduces the total cost of ownership.” At Boston Industrial Consulting we can do this by assisting manufacturers and suppliers in a detailed review of process, costs and techniques. We look to find ways to replace labor by more efficient systems, process or through automation. Once a retail, wholesale, or manufacturing enterprise has had its systems and layout analyzed by our operations engineers, we can provide robust solutions for complex projects that will allow you to save money while achieving superior results. From design, master planning, and system implementation, we can help your offshore facilities become a reshoring success story.
Call BIC at (978) 739-0399 or visit our website at BIC to find out more about avoiding outsourcing through reviewing manufacturing systems and warehouse layout improvements for your company.
