Reshoring and Choosing Domestic vs Offshoring Injection Molding

Why oh why are companies continuing to choose to go offshore for their mold/tooling and molding work?

After the supply chain disaster of 2019 – 2021, which by the way still exists in some parts of the materials market, It can’t be true. I recently saw a chart showing tooling sourcing to China is at a higher level than 2021. Another chart showed outsourcing molds/tooling to China is almost back at pre-pandemic levels.

Some people have very short memories. Primarily issues with delivery, leading to VERY long lead times. Not to mention the unpredictability of the situation. Your mold and or parts were “in-transit”. Which meant sitting on the dock in China, on a boat somewhere on the ocean, sitting outside a port waiting to get unloaded, or sitting in a port, waiting on finding a truck that could deliver it.

That prior question above was rhetorical by the way. We know the reason is money. But is the cost of that mold or parts THE cost. We have all heard and even preached (to deaf ears) about TRUE LANDED COST. Meaning wrap into the purchase price, the cost of material in transit and shipping.

What about the cost to your reputation? There is no pandemic to hide behind. The cost to your reputation is hard to quantify.

PlastiCert has long maintained that our cost effectiveness compared to China is worth looking at. We do consider ourselves an option to HAVING to offshore for cost savings. With their drop in 2019-2021, China has been making huge concessions. Just like there is no free lunch, there is no free tooling and cheap molding.