Manufacturers moving closer to consumers: New technologies and mass customisation shift global trends

The advent of mass customisation coupled with other global macro-trends, such as rising labour costs in emerging economies, has stirred manufacturers and their property advisors to focus on proximity in manufacturing and the implications for the wider supply chain. The following research outlines the key challenges posed by these trends, particularly the need to add flexibility to manufacturing processes and reduce lead times. It also examines how technology — both hardware and software — is enabling companies to reconfigure and optimise their supply chains, enabling locational decisions in a global context. In particular, this paper predicates the diffusion of ‘best-shoring’, which often results in a compromise between market, access and cost minimisation, as opposed to traditionally cost-driven offshoring. It concludes that growing demand for industrial/production space in some parts of the world which offer the right balance of these two elements, such as Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Mexico, will be partly offset by a reduction in space requirements achievable through smart digital supply chains, growing automation within factories and 3D printing.