Is the return of Pot Noodle further evidence of the decline of outsourcing?!

Perhaps we’re all guilty of picking up on ideas or stories that support a particular view that you feel is right. Ever since I began reading about doubts over the benefits of outsourcing and offshoring I’ve seen more stories on the same theme. There was Bob, who had outsourced his own IT job to China. Then came a special report in The Economist that asked some searching and detailed questions too (you can read more here). And now the definitive proof - the "Nation's Noodle" is coming home. Golden Wonder's pot noodles are currently made in China and shipped 10,000 miles to the UK, but the 191-year-old British company that makes the product has cancelled its Chinese contracts in favour of making its own noodles in Leeds.

According to the Guardian it’s the latest example of the growing trend for re-shoring – bringing back manufacturing of goods that had been offshored to China and other low-labour-cost Asian economies. As demand for China's skilled labour force has increased, so have wages and shipping costs, making the economics of manufacturing 10,000 miles away far less attractive. Now the business development manager of the noodle firm said costs in China had gone up so much recently that it was now "just as cheap to make them in Yorkshire".

And apparently cost was not the only motivator for bringing production back to the UK. The Guardian quotes the manager again: "We have experienced supply chain problems in the past. Having it made closer to home will allow us flexibility to increase/decrease production in respond to demand much more quickly”. The company claims to make almost half of the noodles consumed in the UK, had previously been "caught out" with not having enough stock and left waiting seven to eight weeks for the next ship to arrive. "If you don't have product, you have unhappy customers”. Long lead times can be a big headache for firms.

Other companies bringing production back include Topshop, River Island, Apple and Aston Martin.

The entrepreneur who invented the Trunki children's ride-on suitcase, said, "it was a long-held dream to make them (in the UK), but when we started in 2005-06 it was far too expensive to build them here. But there have been fundamental shifts in the last
few years – wage costs and the cost of shipping is just crazy, going up and down like a yo-yo."

If you read the article there is an interesting account of what happened next…