Global Supply Chains & Manufacturing - Manufacturing and the Economy

Question 1

what were the x3 big manufacturing industries in China

Answer 1

Textiles
Apparel
Footwear

Question 2

What was a large driver of the decline in manufacturing in ANglo Saxon economies

Answer 2

Financial pressure -> Offshoring for cheaper labour

Question 3

What is an example of an Anglo Saxon Country where manufacturing did not slow down

Answer 3

Germany

Question 4

What does Jack Welch say the ideal strategy for a global company is

Answer 4

put every factory on a barge and move it to where they can take advantage of short term changes in economies

eg. move to where labour cost is the lowers

Question 5

what are some signs of reversal of manufacturing being offshored

Answer 5

near shoring
re shoring
friend shoring

-> increasingly aware of the vulnerabilities of a globally dispersed value chain

Question 6

what is friend shoring

Answer 6

locating in countries that are geopolitical allies

Question 7

why are consumers concerned about offshoring

Answer 7

ESG

They know that the companies cannot control how workers are treated in the factories if they are located so far away

Consumers do not want to have negative impacts on somebody else’s welfare

Question 8

How do the wages in the US and Vietnam differ

Answer 8

a months wage in Vietnam = a day’s wage in US

Question 9

Are Chinese wages rising or falling

Answer 9

rising

Question 10

What are other factors increasing costs

Answer 10

rising energy costs
rising shipping costs

Question 11

As wages rise, what do manufacturers turn to

Answer 11

robots and automation

Question 12

reasons to reshore

Answer 12

• reduce risk
• lower shipping costs and times
• better quality control
• no time difference
• same languages
• same set of rules, laws and regulations

Question 13

Why have many services, such as call centres re shored

Answer 13

thick accents and lack of local context makes it difficult for customer service representatives to communicate effectively with callers

data privacy and security reasons (huge fines if GDPR is not complied with)

Question 14

during the celtic tiger, a lot of call centres were located in ireland

then they moved to ___ when costs got to high

now where are they

Answer 14

India after global financial crash

Now phillippines - neutral accent

Question 15

what is self producing

Answer 15

the rise of advanced manufacturing techniques including robotics, cloud manufacturing and 3d printing

Question 16

how is technology, self-producing upending the global supply chain

Answer 16

reversing the traditional multinational search for low cost labour as technology can do this locally

Question 17

which countries have highest number of industrial robot sales

Answer 17

Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, USA

Question 18

How has 3d printing changed since it’s introduction

Answer 18

Used to be a niche for modelling and sampling

Now has many functions including £D printing human cells for skin grafting

Costs are coming down over time

Question 19

what is 3D printing most appropriate for

Answer 19

it is slow and expensive and can only make one at a time, unless there are dozens of 3D printers, which is unlikely due to how expensive they are

so only products in low demand, customisable

Question 20

what would the impact of 3D printers be on supply chains

Answer 20

locally made and distributed

lower carbon footprint

lower financial costs