Almost every morning I find a message or two from Chinese and Indian manufacturers who believe I’m a potential buyer of their goods, which includes castings, molds, patterns, and even production machinery and contract services. I’m not, of course, but this is cold calling: there must be some level of response that makes it worth the trouble for them to keep trying. To me, it’s anecdotal evidence of the inevitability of a global supply chain.  

In that light, it is increasingly frustrating to see so much effort mounted to promote U.S. exports and to penalize imports.  They’re trying to outsmart human nature, and they cannot succeed.

It’s simply a fact that U.S. manufacturers source parts and products from overseas because they find it cheaper than producing or sourcing them here. This diminishes the potential for U.S. economic growth because it sends capital out of the economy, but trying to thwart it also penalizes the domestic buyer.

At the federal level there’s a sense that this “offshoring” problem can be fixed by some combination of incentives and/or penalties — often a distinction without a difference to federal policymakers. No amount of price-fixing is going resolve the fact that people will seek their own best options.

They should realize that, in economics, human nature does not respond to every incentive: what seems logical or attractive to government officials doesn’t always appeal to self-interested companies (or citizens.) That’s a rather benign explanation for the poor showing of last year’s stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

If someone truly wants to return manufacturing to domestic operations they’ll have to build a sound economic case. One who has done so is Harry Moser. He’s the chairman emeritus of machine tool builder Agie Charmilles and now the founder of the “Reshoring Initiative”. Moser’s insight is not just that domestic manufacturing strengthens the nation’s economy but that reliable and variegated domestic supply chains are a good value for domestic companies.  

To that end, he’s become a crusader for “reshoring” and is seeking to enlighten domestic supply-chain and purchasing officers that a range of factors can combine to create savings for their companies’ Total Cost of Operations. Among their potential savings are transportation and fuel costs, foreign labor costs, and reject rates. By “reshoring,” manufacturers also can shorten the production process, reduce surge-inventory impacts on JIT operations, improve the quality and consistency of their inputs, enhance innovation by concentrating manufacturing near R&D centers, reduce IP and regulatory compliance risk — ultimately to reduce TCO.

One of his best tools is a TCO calculator, available at www.reshoringnow.org. Manufacturers can identify their actual costs and review areas for potential savings if they reassign their purchases to domestic suppliers.

And, for those domestic suppliers to demonstrate their availability and competitiveness, Moser (along with the National Tooling and Manufacturers Assn. and Precision Metalforming Assn.) is promoting a second “reshoring” fair next month in Connecticut, where manufacturers will promote their sourcing options to potential customers.

Metalcasters — foundries, diecasters, investment casters, or event tooling and pattern shops — should take note. They certainly have something to gain by demonstrating their value to domestic buyers.