Before considering how to rebalance your global supply chain, first you should take a look at the changing landscape of manufacturing. Rising costs in China and shifting global economic forces are pressuring companies to reevaluate their global manufacturing strategies and…

Failure is hard.  Hard to admit, hard to accept and hard to reflect on.. Last month we discussed how to avoid the pitfalls of reshoring.  We used “pitfalls” as a kind way to say “How Not to Fail” but really…

Have you ever tried to do too much at one time? Of course you have, we all have. In most cases it works out with very little fallout.  In some cases though, time and money can be lost. Years ago…

Ever since Starbucks announced it was returning the manufacturing of its retail coffee mugs to the U.S.A., Rosemary and I have been checking for them.  Every time we are in a Starbucks we turn the mugs over to see where…

Growing up the 3R’s were Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.  When looking for an image for this blog I realized that the current 3R’s are Recycle, Reuse and Reduce. Those make more sense than original but for sake of this discussion…

Public opinion is a fickle thing. One minute we love a company for exciting new products and then the next we hear that they are using child labor to make their products and we boycott them. How do you recover from…

Regardless of your religious affiliation (or non affiliation), December in the United States means one thing: SHOPPING!  Since the start of the recession, retail sales numbers have been our way of judging where the economy is headed.  Were people lined up…

Is manufacturing sexy? Was it ever? Can we make it appeal to young Americans?  It is sexy and exciting in other countries such as Germany, so why not the US? These are questions haunting business leaders today.  I am a…

3D Printing – it’s been in the news lately, the mayor of San Francisco recently took a class on it and there was an episode of Elementary staged around it.  So what is it really? Although it’s been called the…

As we mentioned in our blog on the 5 things to consider when Reshoring – Political Environment and  Public Sentiment,  we know government is interested in supporting local manufacturing and employment. So Blue Silk Consulting spent the month of August connecting…

Do you know how your manufacturing can take advantage of federal and local incentives, the current labor market and the desire for “Made in the US” goods? The tide of public sentiment towards outsourcing has sifted as a result of…

Can you find the skills necessary to reshore manufacturing into the highly efficient and automated factory floors of the US? As your manufacturing was outsourced your internal skill ladder continued to shrink. Skilled jobs followed the production capability offshore.  Add…

Are you able to quickly recognize then capitalize on new market trends in different locations with a customized and localized product? Manufacturing locations such as China are rapidly emerging as major markets for US goods. Gathering large amounts of market…

How has your manufacturing choice enabled or inhibited the innovation you need to remain competitive? The pace of innovation in new materials, increasingly sophisticated digital electronics and manufacturing technology such as 3D printing and robots, has never been faster. In…

Do you have systems and measurements in place to monitor your manufacturing cost components? Costs in offshore locations have dramatically increased over the last five years. In an earlier Blog, “5 things to consider when Reshoring”, we identified cost increases…

How do you know if the time is right to consider reshoring some of your manufacturing? Offshoring manufacturing today is hardly the economic slam-dunk that it may have appeared to be 5 or 10 years ago.  Today, you need to…