UK manufacturing dead or just resting?

I am thinking of writing an article for 'Operations Management' on the above topic.

Long term I can see that increasing fuel costs, consumer pressure to reduce carbon footprint, increasing demand for short lead times and wage inflation in current low cost economies may all result in pressure to manufacture more locally.

The question is, how far away are we from a 'tipping point' in this regard? I suspect for food stuffs we are almost there? (e.g. stories of disgust at dinner parties when you say you have bought strawberries flown in from Egypt!)

I admit to this being a rather 'theoretical' view and wondered if anyone has any real life examples of this beginning to become apparent?

John Hardwick
FIOM

I would like to share my views regarding UK manufacturing dead or just resting. I think the slow down of the UK manufacturing is due to the outsourcing from china. China has become a great destination for many countries to out source because of its high end technology at reliable and affordable cost. The current financial turmoil yet been another set back to the UK manufacturing. I think these two reasons might lead to the slow down of UK manufacturing. courier insurance|cheap courier insurance|courier insurance quote

Recent events on the US Mexican border are highlighting the fragility of the supply chains we have built today. There is very little allowance made
Manufacturing in the UK still faces four external factors that prevent more manufacturers from moving onshore:

1. Wage arbitrage
2. Monetary supply management in Asia
3. Artificially low logistics costs
4. Low manufacturing costs
5. Monopolistic pricing of materials (e.g. rare earth magnets from China, Steel from Korea, etc.)

This is further impacted by corporate strategies that dictate investment in China and take a multi-year view.

The companies I know who are moving into the UK have a real desire to be close to their customer base and take advantage of a highly capable workforce.

It is going to take many years to attract manufacturing back to the UK in a meaningful way. The following factors will need to be addressed before we see resurgence:
1. Low oil costs and shipping capacity will keep logistics costs artificially low need to rise
2. Lax intellectual property laws will need to be enforced equally and consistently around the world so workers in the UK are competing on a level playing field
3. Finally firms in the UK must see a demand for locally made products from the people.


Until these factors are all addressed I see little chance that manufacturing will migrate back to the UK.