The trend of the past 10 years that has seen many companies relocating their manufacturing and distribution operations to lower-cost countries or regions of the world.

However, manufacturers are beginning to recognise that many of the factors they previously based their offshore manufacturing and supply decisions on most heavily, such as component price and transportation costs, have dramatically increased over the past few years - and those seemingly initial cost savings are no longer so big. They are, in fact, diminishing as transportation, commodity costs and labour rates rise around the world. These cost pressure issues are arising at a time when customer requirements for agility, speed and capability are becoming increasingly more challenging. 

One local company Electronic Temperature Instruments Ltd., (ETI) have always had a strong UK based manufacturing ethos. Peter Webb ETI’s Managing Director said “I am not sure whether it was good forethought and planning or just luck, but we have always looked locally in preference to moving our production overseas”.

The changing economics of production and distribution, along with shifts in customer demand and the emergence of smart products, are pushing manufacturers like ETI to explore new ways of working.  Peter Webb went on to say “Buying local is not just about buying produce at the farmers market, many businesses like my own are increasingly looking for more local suppliers, it never ceases to amaze me how many very capable manufacturers and suppliers there are locally on our door step”.