Buyer's watchword: Survey shows falling U.S. dollar results in modest rise in U.S. manufacturing business
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 6/25/2008 1:53:00 PM MDT
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MFG.com, the largest global online marketplace for the manufacturing community, has issued results of its Buyer MFGWatch survey conducted in May 2008. More than 500 respondents completed the sourcing survey targeting buyer members of MFG.com.
The participants comprised purchasing professionals (42 percent); engineers (33 percent); and operations managers/others (25 percent) who use MFG.com to source for manufacturing services and standard parts.
The main results of the MFGWatch survey revealed that as the U.S. dollar has continued to decline in value, it actually affected where buyers, both in the U.S. and internationally, have decided to source.
Survey points show these trends:
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40 percent of survey participants stated the current value of the U.S. dollar had an effect on where they choose to source their business.
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47 percent of buyers said they were sourcing more business in the U.S. as a direct result of the declining value of the U.S. dollar.
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41 percent of buyers responded said they source for made-to-order parts in the U.S.
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55 percent of respondents source solely to U.S. suppliers.
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92 percent of survey participants conduct a portion of their sourcing in the U.S.
Other MFG.com marketplace research revealed a modest growth in requests-for-quotes (RFQ) awarded to U.S. manufacturers from international buyers. The number of RFQs awarded on MFG.com from January-May 2008 from international buyers to U.S. suppliers nearly doubled when compared with the same time frame for 2007.
The survey also uncovered the following:
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38 percent of international buyers currently are sourcing to U.S. suppliers.
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53 percent of Canadian buyers surveyed revealed that they too are sourcing to US suppliers.
From rapid prototypes to million piece production runs, buyers use MFG.com to source locally or globally for qualified suppliers of more than 300 manufacturing processes, including CNC machining, metal stamping, forging, plastic molding, metal fabrication, and metal casting.
