When Sonja Zozula and Jerry Anderson founded LightSaver Technologies three years ago, everyone told them that they should manufacture their emergency lights for homeowners in China. After two years of outsourcing to Chinese factories, Sonja and Jerry shifted production back to the US. The owners admit that having their products manufactured just 30 miles from their homes is about 30% more expensive, but the pros still outweigh the cons. “Factor in shipping and all the other headaches that you have to endure. It’s a question of, ‘How do I value my time at 3am when I have to talk to China?’” says Anderson.
Factors like doing business with a country that is 12 time zones away continue to deter American small businesses from outsourcing their manufacturing to China. Harry Moser of the Reshoring Initiative says that in the last two years there’s been a dramatic increase in the amount of work returning to American soil. For the LightSaver team the decision was easy. Like many small business owners, Sonja and Jerry had never been to China, which made communicating with the manufacturers very difficult. Sometimes components that were shipped from the US got stuck in Chinese customs for weeks, and Jerry often spent hours on end on the phone trying to explain product tweaks.
Even business owners like Brian Bethke who are fluent in Mandarin grow frustrated with manufacturing in China. Bethke, co-founder of Pigtronix, discovered he couldn’t adequately monitor quality at Chinese factories. After years of finding technical glitches in about 30% of their China-produced products, Pigtronix shifted their manufacturing to a Port Jefferson, NY. With their new US manufacturing facilities, Pigtronix is able to run multiple tests on products, ensuring quality for the company and their customers. Bethke and his team are also able to manufacture more appropriate levels of product compared to the huge orders they were required to put in when producing in China.
While producing in China is undeniably cheaper, more and more small business owners are opting out of it, bringing jobs back to the US and building local economies. If your business is currently producing or looking to produce goods locally, check out PCV-partner SFMade. The SFMade team supports local producers and manufacturers, and has some great resources for small business owners. Until next time!