Reshoring Initiative Impacts 2012 U.S. Budget

The Reshoring Initiative has impacted the nation’s “minibus” spending bill as part of a strategy to bring outsourced jobs back to the United States. The Initiative’s Total Cost of Ownership Estimator is an online tool that aggregates a manufacturer’s costs and risk factors and sums them up into one figure for simpler, more objective sourcing decisions – offshoring versus reshoring.

Recently, the U.S. Senate and House approved, and President Obama signed, the minibus spending bill, which involves the 2012 budgets for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Science, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.

In particular, the bill encourages the Commerce Department to focus its efforts on reshoring manufacturing and specifically instructs Commerce to develop an online total cost of ownership calculator that firms may use to determine the hidden costs of offshore manufacturing, such as shipping and inventory carrying costs.

According to Congressman Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Commerce Department’s budget, the goal is to develop a national job repatriation strategy to bring back to America jobs that have been outsourced to China and other countries.

“The Reshoring Initiative looks forward to providing its Total Cost of Ownership Estimator to the Commerce Department as a means of meeting the requirements of the bill,” said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative.

According to Moser, Congressman Wolf obtained the idea for a total cost of ownership calculator after reading an article Moser wrote for the June 2010 issue of Manufacturing Engineering magazine. The cost of ownership concept is also included in Wolf’s bipartisan Bring Jobs Back to America bill (H.R. 516) first introduced in the 111th Congress and reintroduced in the 112th Congress.

Moser is actively communicating with Congressman Wolf’s office and sharing ideas to accelerate reshoring. Additionally, the Reshoring Initiative is currently working with several individuals and groups within the Commerce Department, including the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a nationwide network that works with small and mid-sized U.S. manufacturers to help them create and retain jobs, increase profits and save time; Peter M. Perez, the deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing; and SelectUSA, an initiative that seeks to highlight the many advantages the United States offers as a location for business and investment.  

“Based on my years of experience in the manufacturing industry, reshoring is an efficient means of reducing imports, increasing exports and regaining manufacturing jobs in the United States. Furthermore, reshoring helps manufacturers recover from offshoring’s poor quality, trade secret thefts, supply chain disruptions and lengthy delivery times,” said Moser. “Reshoring is also the fastest and most efficient way to strengthen the U.S. economy.”

Supported by 23 companies and numerous trade associations, the Reshoring Initiative pursues its mission of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States by helping U.S. manufacturers recognize the profit potential of utilizing local sourcing and production as well as the critical role they can play in strengthening the economy. Part of the mission involves the initiative’s complimentary Total Cost of Ownership Estimator software that’s available to manufacturers 24/7 at www.reshorenow.com. With the Estimator, users can account for all relevant factors when determining their total cost of ownership, including overhead, balance sheet, corporate strategy and other internal and external business costs.  

About the Reshoring Initiative
A 40-year manufacturing industry veteran and retired President of GF AgieCharmilles, Harry Moser founded the Reshoring Initiative to move lost jobs back to the U.S.  For his efforts with the Reshoring Initiative, he was named to Industry Week magazine’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2010. Additional information on the Reshoring Initiative is available at www.reshorenow.org. The Initiative’s many sponsoring associations and companies are also acknowledged on the site.

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