Survey Shows Positive Outlook on North American Manufacturing

                                                                             Image from MFGWatch survey report

Online manufacturing marketplace, MFG.com, recently released the results of its MFGWatch survey targeting 8,840 sourcing professionals throughout North America. Respondents ranged from an array of industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical, industrial equipment, consumer products and textiles. Overall, the results report that 2013 is going to be a year of growth, with many product development companies expecting to make new technology investments and expand their supplier base.

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According to a statement from MFG.com, “With 76 percent of survey respondents expecting to spend the same or more on contract manufacturing services this year, manufacturers can look positively at the future.” Additionally, more than half of the participants reported that they expanded their supply chain in 2012, and 80 percent expect to maintain or expand their supply chain in 2013.

The survey indicates that quality of products is by far the leading criteria for selecting a new supplier (84 percent of respondents). Overall cost is also a major factor, but falls in second by 28 percent. This result, combined with the responses to a reshoring question in the survey, indicates that many companies are looking into supply chain alternatives that don’t require them to compromise on product quality in order to reduce costs.

The complete MFGWatch survey report can be downloaded from MFG.com’s website.