Basic HTML Version
Invest in the U.S.
//
Manufacturing
S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G F E A T U R E
evolved into global marketers who
source fabrication from offshore. At ABF,
we serve both groups with logistical
solutions designed to maximize supply
chain performance.”
Certainly, global marketers view supply
chains in a different light. And this could
have a very positive impact on markets
like China and India as companies move
manufacturing operations back to the
U.S. Indeed, the trend of re-shoring
will actually help markets like China in
the long run, says Sirkin. While global
manufacturers may bring manufacturing
operations back to the U.S. to sell their
products domestically, he explains, many
also are sure to repurpose their factories
in China to serve the emerging consumer-
based economy in that country. “So what
you will see is that a company will not
close a factory in China to open one in the
U.S., but will simply open an additional
plant here to serve the U.S. market,” Sirkin
says. “The manufacturing plant in China
will then be repurposed.”
Other factors weighing in on the side
of U.S. manufacturing include quality
control and worker safety, which are
issues be er handled locally than
they are over an ocean. “American
companies are also at the forefront of
developing employee practices that not
only improve safety but also increase
productivity,” says Brian Brurud, a
former naval aviator and founder and
chairman of Check-6, a company that
specializes in employee safety training
in the oil and gas industry. “The same
practices we use in drilling and mining
can be easily adapted to help increase
the productivity, safety and profitability
of any heavy manufacturing operation,”
Brurud says. “Domestic manufacturing
operations are also making good
strides in technological advancements,
especially in areas like product and
prototype development,” he adds.
New product development today is
more crucial to a company’s success
than ever before. Look, for example, at
Apple, a company whose five-year-old
iPhone continues to gobble up market
share. Indeed, BCG recently named
10 companies that are today’s leading
innovators. Apple headed the list along
with Google, Toyota, GE, Microso ,
Procter & Gamble, 3M, Walt Disney, IBM
and Sony. Each of these companies,
especially Apple, has been able to reinvent
itself time and time again to maintain
its market dominance. “New technology
is also starting to allow for significant
advances in prototyping, especially
with something called 3-D printing,”
said Reynders. “This is a revolutionary
prototyping process that takes AutoCAD
and digital images and turns them into
prototypes. And the materials being used
are ge ing be er, so you are starting
to create actual finished goods.” This
means manufacturers will soon be able
to shorten product development and
prototype time from a process that can
take as long as 32 weeks to between two
or three weeks in the very near future.
Of course, U.S. manufacturing
will always face competitive issues
frommarkets around the globe. Even
companies in the smallest of emerging
markets are increasingly competitive and
sophisticated. “But from a relative point
of view, the U.S. will get more than its fair
share of economic and manufacturing
development,” Reynders believes.
■
ABF Freight Systems, Inc., one of North America’s largest motor carriers,
helps manufacturers shorten and optimize their supply chains.