Electronic Design

Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Manufacturing abroad removes control from the production process and companies are finding a sacrifice in quality control as a result of this decision.  It requires a willingness to relinquish control to rely on overseas manufacturing of products.

As a result, recent reports are anticipating that some companies are going to put quality first and migrate manufacturing abroad back to North America.  The concept sometimes referred to as “onshoring” is encouraging to US based custom design houses that have historically focused on quality.  When companies test out overseas production often they are greeted with challenges relating to a lack of quality workmanship or in some cases counterfeit parts.

This will be a slow process and not an overnight decision for most but it is promising to companies in the United States that focus on quality and have the systems in place to pick up and manufacture formerly outsourced products quickly.

You may ask yourself what does this mean to me?  How will this impact my products?  Try to remember that you have the ability to control your product manufacturing and by making decisions to use a local company with the ability for quick response and extremely critical quality you can avoid the cost of reworking or delays in production.  It is empowering as a business to research a company and find a fit that will exceed the expectations on many levels.

Yes a business may look at the cost savings of manufacturing overseas and jump to that opportunity.  Remember that although the production cost when outsourcing was relatively low, the true cost of ownership can skyrocket due to many factors including servicing equipment failures.  The wise decision will be made after careful analysis of the big picture and potential compromising on the quality and time/scheduling.