The trend to ‘nearshoring’ - which allows companies to respond to customer needs with shorter delivery times and greater flexibility - is gaining momentum, according to a report produced by German company Miebach Consulting.
An increasing number of companies (51% of the participants) are producing in closer proximity to their markets instead of moving the production abroad. The study also shows that this percentage is likely to increase even more since 26% of the participating companies believe that nearshoring will have a very high or high relevance in the near future.
Commenting in detail on which localisation strategy they would choose and where they would like to implement it in the future, respondents said that in Europe the preferred strategy would be nearshoring (69%), in America onshoring would strengthen (43%), while offshoring was still a major trend in Asian countries (67%).
The study participants expect to see increasing supply chain complexity due to near- and onshoring trends. The process of choosing an optimal shoring strategy and subsequently selecting the ideal location therefore requires an integrated consideration of both supply chain and production networks, says Bernd Müller-Dauppert, member of the management board at Miebach Consulting.
In all, 127 companies from various sectors took part in the study. Around one third of participants were from North and South America and two thirds from Europe.
