How do you know when it is time to bring your manufacturing back and what products should you manufacture in America? When determining the costs and feasibility of reshoring, there are many things that companies must consider. To get ready to reshore your products, you must consider many aspects of the reshoring decision. Below are 7 important questions to help analyze your Supply Chain rebalancing plans; as detailed in my recent piece “Will You Know When to Leave China?” in CEOMagazine:

1. Costs – based on a total-cost-of-ownership model, can you get your US manufacturing costs to within 10-15% of Chinese production costs. This is the decision point most companies are aiming for.

2. What features, functions and improvements are your customers asking for? What product innovation must be pursued to build new and improved products and attract consumers in the US?

3. Can production be automated to extract labor costs and at the same time, achieve quality targets?

4. Can the product be localized for different global markets? What product features need to be changed to optimize sales in the US or sales in China? Is China your most significant target market? If so, you should keep on manufacturing there for the local market.

5. Where is your supply base located? If you move manufacturing back to theUS or to another country, will you have to reestablish your supply base? This is not a trivial task.

6. What skills are needed to restart manufacturing in the US? Are these skills still available in the local markets or will you have to train people? Can you rely on local community colleges, trade schools and universities for the skills needed to feed manufacturing growth in America?

7. What local, state and federal incentives are available? Most communities are now offering tax breaks, free use of land or buildings and sometimes cash incentives to locate manufacturing in their area. Jobs growth is top priority for politicians and government officials.

In conclusion, the reshoring decision is specific to each part of your supply chain. Instead of making an all or nothing decision to completely leave China or other low-cost countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam or Mexico, think about rebalancing your manufacturing by bringing segments of supply chain to the US where and when it can be justified.