One of the reasons for companies to return 'home' lies in the original driver for the massive offshoring of the past two decades, and that is that the difference in wage costs is not as big as it used to be. The price of international transport has also exploded in recent years, and as a result it has become unaffordable for many to systematically ship their own production from Asia to Europe. Not only has the price of transport gone up, delivery times are also not what they were before the pandemic. Therein lies another rationale for reshoring. Companies are looking to counter supply chain risks, and in response they simply shorten that chain.
"We sense customers are looking for a way to optimise their production here, despite the difficulty in finding personnel. It therefore promises to be an interesting trade fair season, with top trade fairs such as Intec in Germany and Global Industrie in France. Those are two countries where we have seen a noticeable increase in demand since the Covid period", says CEO Helmut De Roovere. “It is therefore only natural for us to participate in these two fairs again. I think we can expect busy, but successful days in Leipzig and Lyon.”