The mission of the nonprofit Reshoring Initiative is to grow U.S. and North American manufacturing by 40%, eliminating the trade deficit. The objective of this column series is to help you get more than your share of that growth.
This first column has two purposes: first, a very brief introduction to the resources you can find on our website; and second, what companies can do to accelerate reshoring and gain business.
Achieving the Mission
The Reshoring Initiative documents and promotes the trend of jobs returning to the U.S. and provides the tools to help companies accelerate that trend. On our website you can find:
- TCO Estimator: A free online tool for better sourcing decisions and for selling against imports. We helped one contract manufacturer use this sales tool to win a $60 million order versus a Chinese competitor.
- Reshoring library: Articles on cases of reshoring. You can sort by industry and location. When they reshore, they need suppliers. Sell to them!
- 2019 data report exhibit 3: Data on the factors that drive companies to reshore. Show your prospects that you can match those needs.
- Import substitution program: Identifies major importers of what you produce. Use the TCO Estimator to convince them to reshore and source from you.
- Since the U.S. is not price-competitive in some product categories, we also advocate for government policies that level the playing field.[1]
What can your company do?
- Promote reshoring on your website.
- Ask customers if they have any reshoring opportunities you could help with.
- Offer the TCO Estimator to help the customers decide. E-mail us for help if needed.
- Cooperate with the component producer to offer good enough price/delivery/quality to overcome likely higher price.
- Offer to develop the process if the brand does not know how the product is made offshore.
- Report cases of reshoring, where you provided processing that previously would have been done offshore. We will review the best cases in Industrial Heating. Free publicity!
A Case in Point
Many companies are turning to automation to drive U.S. competitiveness. Automating some tasks increases efficiency while reducing the advantage of low-cost labor. As labor begins to represent a smaller share of total costs, companies that once offshored due to cheap labor are beginning to favor close proximity to the markets they serve (i.e., reshoring). Reshoring is empowering risk mitigation, resiliency, agility, responsiveness and faster time to market. As the reshoring trend accelerates, it will drive economic growth by creating jobs, reducing unemployment and balancing trade deficits.
In 2020, Franklin, N.H.-based aluminum extrusion manufacturer Vitex Extrusion cited automation/technology, proximity to customers/market and under-utilized capacity for reshoring U.S. manufacturing.
“Over the last few years we’ve made a number of strategic investments in new equipment and technologies to meet the downstream manufacturing needs of our customers,” said Andrew Curland, Vitex’s president and CEO.
The Reshoring Initiative’s resources can be found on www.ReshoreNow.org. Twenty recent related free webinars can be found at https://reshorenow.org/videos/. For help, contact me at 847-867-1144 or harry.moser@reshorenow.org.
