The 2013 update to the study, On-Shoring in the Electronics Industry: Trends and Outlook for North America, published by IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries, confirms that companies have continued to locate new operations in North America and are returning some existing operations to the region. It also finds that more on-shoring is planned for the coming year. A representative sample of 92 companies, with combined annual sales of US $50 billion, completed the survey.
Survey results indicated that 16% of the responding companies moved operations to North America from overseas since the beginning of 2012. They included OEMs, EMS companies, PCB fabricators, and suppliers of materials and equipment. Based on the value of the operations and number of jobs created, EMS companies were responsible for the bulk of the operations returned to North America. Most of these operations were moved from China to the United States, and a few moved to Mexico.
There are signs that this activity will continue in the near future. Fourteen percent of the companies surveyed indicated that they were planning to bring existing operations back or build new operations in North America from mid-2013 through the end of 2014. The majority of these companies are OEMs and most of the planned operations are manufacturing facilities.
More than three quarters of participating companies that reported returning operations to North America since 2012 cited cost of transportation as a major driver of that decision. Sixty percent of these respondents also cited quality control concerns, the need to be close to customers, and management costs as major drivers. Other factors included quality of available labor, protection of intellectual property, cost of manufacturing and International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) requirements.
The report also covers an analysis of the rationale for and deterrents to on-shoring, domestic sourcing trends and the future outlook for North American manufacturers.
On-Shoring in the Electronics Industry: Trends and Outlook for North America is a product of IPC’s market research service and is provided at no charge to companies that completed the survey. The report is available to IPC members for $225 and to nonmembers for $450.
About IPC
IPC is a global industry association based in Bannockburn, Illinois, dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,300 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2.0 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, New Mexico; Washington, D.C.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; Bangkok, Thailand; and Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Beijing, China.
