The regionalisation of industrial production and trade in industry goods is gaining momentum and puts new demands on Swedish companies that want to expand their sales in other regions than Europe. Near-market manufacturing has become a commonplace expectation among customers and can contribute to faster and more accurate adaptation to local conditions.
By establishing production capacity in distant markets far from home, companies can also mitigate supply chain risks, reduce environmental footprint from transport and simplify logistics. The fact that the trend is accelerating is reflected by the intra-regional trade in industry goods which has surged in both North America and Asia over the past decade.
Local expertise, connectivity, sustainability and resilience in the production environment are key factors that determine the outcome of increasingly complex localisation decisions.
The report Taking manufacturing to new frontiers outlines the main drivers of near-market manufacturing from a business point of view and political perspective. In addition, the report presents a framework for the factors that industrial companies should pay close attention to when deciding where to locate their production facilities.
This framework describes the decision process in three steps with key factors involved in the choice of region, the choice of market and lastly, the choice of manufacturing location. The report and framework are based on interviews that Business Sweden has conducted over time with leading representatives at Swedish and international industrial companies.
Business Sweden has also based its analysis on accumulated internal expertise and experience when advising companies on localisation of manufacturing, also known as the site selection process.
The english report will be available a few days after the Swedish report.
