Custom manufacturers should expect increased business, survey says

As U.S. manufacturing continues to rebound from the Great Recession, new data suggests that suppliers of custom manufacturing also should see an increase in their businesses.

In a recent survey by Design-2-Part, Prospect, Conn., U.S. OEMs indicated by a margin of more than 2-to-1 that they expect to have more outsourcing projects and purchases in the next year than they had in the past 12 months.

The results revealed that 39 percent of OEMs — an 8 percent increase from the previous poll — will have more outsourcing projects in the coming year, compared to 17 percent that anticipate fewer projects. The respondents also indicated a positive trend for their businesses in general, with 51 percent saying that business has grown over the last year, compared to only 17 percent who said that business has shrunk.

Forty-eight percent of OEM engineers and buyers said quality is the most important factor for measuring outsourcing vendors. Other factors include product cost (37 percent), delivery (11 percent), and technical support (4 percent).

For 48 percent of respondents, the majority of projects are outsourced to local vendors within a 100-mile radius. Reasons given for choosing local vendors include hands-on access/vendor visits, delivery time, support of the local economy, and cost.

Regional vendors within 250 miles and national vendors are each used by 18 percent of respondents, while 17 percent of companies outsource most of their projects to international vendors.

The survey was sent in June 2011 to more than 10,000 manufacturing engineers and purchasing personnel who attended one of 12 D2P shows across the U.S. in 2010.