Since 2010, more than 4,700 companies have brought back some or all of their manufacturing operations and sourcing to the U.S. Despite COVID-19, reshoring was up in 2020.
On March 26, Stellantis announced that it would temporarily close five North American assembly plants starting April 5. The affected plants are in Illinois, Michigan, Mexico and Canada. At press time, the plants were expected to be closed through mid-April.
MCLEAN, VA—What products and components offer the biggest opportunities for reshoring? What advanced manufacturing technology is needed to enable the reshoring? To what degree did the pandemic disrupt supply chains, and how did it affect sourcing? To answer these questions and better understand the needs of the manufacturing technology community, AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology and the Reshoring Initiative are asking manufacturers to participate in an online survey to help in rebuilding the supply chain. The survey is open through March 31.
COVID-19 has accelerated deglobalization in manufacturing, but that shift was already underway before the pandemic. Between 1990 and 2016, global trade had been growing at average annual rate of 4.9 percent, according to the World Trade Organization.
Growing sustainability and resilience concerns brought about by trade war uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic have companies looking for ways to mitigate risk and increase agility.
Deglobalization was already happening before the coronavirus brought the world to a grinding halt. Global supply chains that were once so appealing were becoming less attractive due to geopolitical turmoil, shifting priorities, rising costs, trade wars and environmental concerns.