Offshore, Nearshore, Reshore, Backshore. Fore Sure!

March 6th, 2013

Maybe the best bet was to never have gone there in the first place!

This post is from Ronald D. Southard CEO at SafeSourcing.

I have posted a number of times over the last five years on the supposed benefits of Offshoring, Nearshoring and now Reshoring or Backshoring. I?ve even taken a look at the environmental impact of offshore tonnage being shipped via ocean bound freight and the resulting impact to our collective carbon footprint from that freight and the diesel they use. Interestingly, it is greater than the damage from all of the emissions of all the cars in the U.S. combined. I have even discussed the creative use of containers that were no longer being used at one point because of the cost to reship them. In fact some of them have become creative housing projects while others were just melted down.

I like detail, and I?m not sure if we looked at all related costs of offshoring in the first place would have made as much sense if in retrospect we had all of the information available to us today (Big? Data; UH!).

So now? companies are pursuing reshoring or backshoring because the cost of producing products? in places like the Asia Pacific region are going up substantially as the emerging middle classes in those areas are demanding better wages, benefits and work conditions.

I was reading a survey? in the USA TODAY MONEY section attributed to? Schneider Associates that indicated that the statement ?Made in USA? being the most influential attribute when buying a new product had increase from 48% to 62% during the period of 2008 to 2012. That?s a 29% increase in 4 years. And, it indicates that almost 2/3 of the respondents agree. That is a big number as companies try to increase their wallet share from their top decile customers. Quite frankly, we do not have companies ask us very often any more if we can bring in suppliers from off shore to participate in eRFX events for products and raw materials. This can only mean that these companies are in fact reading their tea leaves (customer data) and doing as their customers ask. The answer is BUY AMERICAN! And that should include Mexico and Canada which after all are part of America and benefit with the U.S.? from our NAFTA arrangement.

If you?d like to learn more about how SafeSourcing can help you find sources of supply in North America that you may not be aware of, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative or visit our SafeSourceIt? Supplier data base query tool.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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