Daily Archives: September 25, 2011

Manufacturing Bliss: The Making of the Swiss Army Knife

This summer, while many of you were on vacation, CNet ran a great Geek Gestalt article on where the swiss army knife gets made that is a must for any supply chain geek as it shows that even in an age of increasing outsourcing and mechanization, sometimes the best products are still made by hand in a small factory in Ibach, Switzerland – even if the required volume exceeds 17 million.

Rather than spoil the grandeur of the article, I’m just going to recommend you check it out, and the YouTube videos it contains. It truly is Geek Gestalt.

Where To Next?

In addition to pointing out the recent corruption survey by Transparency.org, which pointed out that Brazil, China, and India fall about halfway down the corruption chart, the CPO Agenda recently pointed out a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit that revealed that, although countries such as India and China remain vital investment destinations, investments are being planned in other destinations as well. Specifically, approximately:

  • 17% of multinationals are planning investment in Mexico
  • 14% of multinationals are planning investment in Indonesia
  • 12% of multinationals are planning investment in Thailand
  • 11% of multinationals are planning investment in Poland
  • 11% of multinationals are planning investment in Romania
  • 10% of multinationals are planning investment in Ukraine

Given that the investment plans for the BRIC are only:

  • 20% for China
  • 17% for India
  • 12% for Brazil
  • 10% for Russia

It looks like not only is near-sourcing coming back, but secondary sourcing destinations are on the rise. So where are you going next? Giving the lack of coverage of some of these destinations, it’s hard to say, but it’s almost a sure thing that new “low cost” destinations will be making the headline soon. Any bets?