Competitive manufacturing for reshoring textile and clothing supply chains to high-cost environment

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritise the success factors and challenges related to competitive manufacturing (CM) capabilities in a high-cost environment, and identify their potential to support future reshoring in textile and clothing (T&C) supply chains, with judgements from the practitioners’ perspective. Design/methodology/approach A Delphi study method is adopted with industry practitioners from the region of Western Sweden. Following a literature review on reshoring to identify relevant factors related to CM capabilities, a multiple round Delphi is designed to rank the success factors and challenges, and to further evaluate the likelihood of the success factors to lead to future reshoring. Additional semi-structured interviews are conducted to provide deeper explanation. Findings Empirical insights are both conforming to, and deviant from, evidences from extant literature. Moderate agreement is seen among the practitioners on the success factors; time- and product/process-related ones being ranked the highest. Low consensus is reached for the challenges, however, those related to high costs and lack of local resources were key concerns. Some anomalies from previous conception emerge among the challenges regarding increased costs of production, inventory and product variety trade-offs, and low skillset presence. Research limitations/implications The paper contributes to reshoring research by identifying and prioritising value-driven success factors and cost-related challenges to CM in high-cost environments, for labour-intensive T&C industries. In connection, some interesting paradoxes originate when dealing with multiple success factors. Practical implications Valuable insights are generated for informed decision making related to CM and future choice of its location. Originality/value Along with the decisive knowledge of the reshoring success factors and challenges, the study offers an interesting T&C practitioners’ perspective.

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