The North American Die Casting Assn. reports that a recent survey of its members reveals a significant majority, 78%, have evidence that buyers of their products are shifting to domestic sources for diecast components. The survey identifies three reasons for these shifts: buyers’ concerns about the product quality, supplier proximity, and overseas logistics.Read the full article here.

A new study by Archstone Consulting shows that companies are contemplating the re-establishment of manufacturing domestically, amid rising costs and other strategic challenges within the off-shoring model. As companies reassess their manufacturing and supply chain strategies for today’s global economic environment, the trend may create significant job opportunities in the U.S., according to the recent study.The study found that almost 90% of the companies surveyed are considering changing — or have begun changing — their manufacturing and supply strategy and are being more and more selective in making off-shoring decisions. U.S. manufacturers have become increasingly aware of the need for a more sophisticated total cost model that considers factors such as supplier price and terms, delivery costs, operations and quality costs, customer-centric supply capabilities and other situational costs that arise.

Read the full article here.

The trade journal Purchasing recently ran a story noting that the financial downturn appears to be spawning a new focus across all industries on The Cost of Poor Quality, or COPQ.It says that surveys and interviews find buyers insisting that “cost of quality” has to be lowered this year, but that won’t happen unless their best suppliers focus on meeting supply contract specifications, on exceeding quality measurement goals and on meeting continuous improvement of deliveries goals.

In other words, buyers want their suppliers to focus on reduced costs-not just lowered prices-as they provide North American manufacturing firms in 2009 with commodities, components and systems. This meshes with American Society for Quality (ASQ) tenets that the cost of quality isn’t the price of creating a quality product or service; instead, it’s the cost of not creating a quality product or service.

The article is extensive, and well-researched.

Read it here.

Developing a healthy relationship between manufacturers and suppliers is not easy, but critically important in the current economic waters. The manufacturer-supplier relationship is beset by a great deal of friction, the result of decades of mistrust between historically unequal partners. That friction has increased in recent years because of lower margins and greater market pressure; indeed, some manufacturers that were once praised by suppliers for evenhandedness have recently adopted a more aggressive approach.To determine the elements of a successful manufacturer-supplier relationship and the skills needed by leaders working toward or sustaining such a relationship, Booz & Company joined with executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct 43 in-person interviews of senior executives at nine major manufacturers and 19 leading suppliers in the United States and Europe. The focus was on the automotive supply chain. These interviews covered the nature of the arrangements between automakers and suppliers, how their relationships have changed over time, and areas in which their partnerships have worked and where there was room for improvement. An analysis of those interviews produced a clear view of the characteristics of a high-performing relationship, the environment necessary to sustain it, and the qualities needed in executives charged with implementing it.

Read the full article in Strategy+Business here.