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The next wave in US offshoring

The shift in global manufacturing presents tantalizing opportunities for low-cost countries.

FEBRUARY 2005 • Ramnath Balasubramanian and Asutosh Padhi

Operations, Supply Chain & Logistics  Article, offshore manufacturing

In This Article

For many US manufacturers, the biggest wave of offshoring is yet to come. Our analysis indicates that by 2015, 12 low-cost countries1 could account for nearly half of US manufacturing imports, up from 42 percent in 2002—a shift worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some industries will feel substantial pressure for the first time, and competition will lead many US manufacturers to source products from these countries or even move plants abroad. The following exhibits show where and to what extent these changes will occur.2 The data cover the United States, but we believe that these trends apply to other developed markets as well.

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