This is a comment from an independent insurance appraiser to our building owner. Proud too.

“I must tell you that seeing a factory staffed with U.S. workers and an American flag hanging in the middle of the shop gave me a good feeling – a sense of pride. I guess I’ve grown a bit weary of appraising former factory buildings that now are nothing more than warehouses stacked to the ceiling with boxes marked “Made in China”…! It was just a good experience for me. My “assistant” Linda felt the same way.” (Feel free to relay that to Cindy).

www.Exaktime.com

Just read a great article in News & Analysis about a local lighting manufacturer, Seesmart, Inc.   They are ADDING employees because they are cutting back on using contract manufacturers in China.  In the article they quote Terry McGowan, director of technology for the American Lighting Assocation, “China is no longer the automatic choice when U.S. companies make light bulbs..”

Come on people, bring it on home.  Let’s make America the 1st choice again.  Put our people back to work.

ABA can help.

Not much else I want to say going into this weekend.

Greater quality was the major factor cited by Carbonite for moving back jobs to the U.S. as well. The company’s call center in New Delhi, India was having turnover of 100% or more each year, said Tom Murray, the company’s vice president of marketing.

Meanwhile, turnover in its Boston call center that handled more serious problems was in the single digits. Murray said that allowed the Boston call center to provide much better service and customer satisfaction.

CNN Money News/June 16, 2011

“There’s a clear benefit associated with continuity,” he said.

For GE, the decision to reopen the Louisville plant, which had been closed for decades, was based on the fact that it’s no longer as expensive to hire more workers in the U.S.

Jim Campbell, president and CEO of the GE Appliance and Lighting unit, said that when you factor in currency fluctuations and rising wages in emerging markets, “when we look out five to six years, the United States is becoming a lot more attractive.”

That trend is likely to continue, said Harold Sirkin, a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group.

According to BCG, Chinese labor costs are rising about 15% to 20% a year. That makes producing goods in China not nearly as cheap as it used to be. For many manufacturers, that narrowing is enough to tip the balance back to U.S. plants.

“I think for many goods, people will say, ‘I don’t want to offshore to China because the economics aren’t as good as making them in the U.S.,’ Sirkin said.

Still, some think the number of jobs coming back to the U.S. will remain relatively small.

“I worry that there’s a very big deal being made out of a few anecdotal instances. I think it’s a lot of wishful thinking going on,” said Alan Tonelson, a research fellow for the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a trade group.

What’s more, countries such as China and India that have profited from U.S. offshoring won’t stand pat and lose the potential jobs without a fight.

“It’s not as if the Chinese government is helpless is to offset this rising wage trend,” Tonelson said. 

 Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in July for the 24th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 26th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business^®.

The report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 10 are reporting growth in July, in the following order: Paper Products; Furniture & Related Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Transportation Equipment; Wood Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Primary Metals; Fabricated Metal Products; and Nonmetallic Mineral Products. The seven industries reporting contraction in July — listed in order — are: Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Textile Mills; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Machinery; and Chemical Products.

They are singing our song.  Manufacturing in the US…we’re baaack.  Just call ABA….

Cheap Labor? Rising Wages and the End of Manufacturing in China

July 14 2011 by ChiefExecutive.net

Made in China. Or maybe not.  Once a place where companies went to find cheap labor, China is becoming less desirable for companies looking to manufacture very inexpensively.  Wages are on the rise.  Time.com covers the rapid increase in labor costs for manufacturers in China, detailing one CEO whose manufacturing costs have risen by 50 percent over two years (the article notes that real wages for manufacturing workers have grown 12% per year over the last decade). The average manufacturing wage of $3.10 per hour is still drastically under the US’s average of $22.30.

These wage increases have implications across the globe, and not just for business owners. The living conditions for Chinese workers are improving and they are increasingly able to find jobs that pay well enough to work near their home. As business owners are taking their business elsewhere, many other countries are seeing an influx of jobs.

And these manufacturing jobs may not just move to poorer countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, but may also come back to the United States.  As the unemployment rate reached 9.2% in June, an increase in manufacturing jobs would be an extremely positive development for the US.

 ABA is here, awaiting your return.