Finding the Right Contractor

摘要

There is no shortage of discussions and trends in outsourcing these days. Is nearshoring a trend or just ripple in sourcing strategy? Is Mexico the new China? Will manufacturing re-shore to the US? Is Southeast Asia growing in popularity as China's costs increase? Are India and Brazil gaining more widespread popularity? In talking with OEMs and electronics manufacturing services companies over the past year, I've come to the conclusion that while nearshoring is happening, the bigger trend is a more calculated rationalization of the supply chain with a greater focus on total cost. This is good, because for years many companies were fixated on moving projects to the lowest cost labor market, whether it made sense or not. This month, I visit some of the softer issues that make or break an outsourcing relationship.