Last Friday’s Wall Street Journal (Oct. 7, 2011) included three articles that support what MDM has reported on over the past few years. While too soon to classify as a trend, there are increasing signs of what’s been termed as “onshoring,” “near-shoring,” or “reshoring.” A combination of cost and supply chain factors are starting to make manufacturing look better closer to home. No matter what you call it, it’s good news for North American industrial markets and to distributors serving these markets.

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One article, Buck Up, America: China Is Getting Too Expensive, notes that Ford is returning some auto parts production to the U.S., and there are some surprises highlighted, including the return of furniture manufacturing. A Boston Consulting Group study (pdf) cited in the article and released Friday identifies seven industries most likely to relocating production from China to U.S. – furniture, transportation goods, computers and electronics, electrical equipment and appliances, plastics and rubber products, machinery, and fabricated metal products.

Related: Saving American Manufacturing – Growth Planning for Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturers

There are a number of factors contributing to the cost equation tilting back in favor of more localized manufacturing, including labor costs, materials and freight costs. Another article, Otis Shifts Work Closer to Home, details how the elevator manufacturer is moving production from its factory in Nogales, Mexico, to a new facility in South Carolina. The article notes a shift in the way manufacturers calculate costs – a combination of increasing costs in other countries as they develop, as well as process innovations that can lower costs of manufacturing closer to the markets served. Also, logistics costs have surged in recent years, as well as global security issues.

The third article in last Friday’s WSJ, New Tire Plant Set For South Carolina, tells of the German company Continental AG and other tiremakers returning production to the U.S. Reason: Lower labor costs and high-skilled workers are making the U.S. more competitive.The article also notes that GM and Ford are also looking to increase U.S. manufacturing, reversing a long-term trend of offshoring to lower cost countries.