Veröffentlicht am 23.10.2015

Where in the World? Manufacturing Index 2015

It is now official: China is no longer the favourite country to build new factories. While countries from Asia Pacific (APAC) still dominate the top half of the Index, highlighting the importance of the region as a global manufacturing powerhouse, there remains some underlying volatility. Rising labour and perational Costs in China, the world’s largest manufacturer in terms of output are adding to the attractiveness of lower Cost regions with Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam all ranking strongly as a result, the latter topping the Growth Index. Rising global operating Costs are contributing to a trend for re-shoring facilities to the West with stronger prospects for the US (ranked fourth) and certain European locations. Supply chain management and perceptions surrounding brand and where a product is produced are also high on a manufacturer’s agenda, adding to the attraction of manufacturing in home markets.

The latest "Where in the World" manufacturing index 2015 identifies Malaysia and Taiwan as the first and second best places, respectively, to site manufacturing plants.

Key headlines:

• Asia Pacific’s attractiveness as a manufacturing destination roars on
• Malaysia retains first place in our main index
• Vietnam continues to grow as a manufacturing location
• A stronger outlook for the US and Europe as rising global labour costs add to the growing trend for re-shoring and on-shoring manufacturing facilities

“Rising labour and operational costs in China, the world’s largest manufacturer in terms of output, are adding to the attractiveness of lower-cost regions, with Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam all ranking strongly as a result, the latter topping our Growth Index,” the report said.

The authors of the report recognised, however, that in 2015 manufacturing is not simply about making things at the lowest possible price, and many companies also consider “market conditions” – factoring-in political and economic risk to their supply chains as well as branding, which had made a score of highly developed nations increasingly attractive to produce in – for example, Singapore entered the top 30 location list this year.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield