While American manufacturing appears to have steadied from its 2011 growth spurt, contract manufacturing continues a 2-year trend of positive growth, according to the recent third annual Design-2-Part (D2P) manufacturing trends survey.

The survey shows that 42 percent of U.S. OEMs indicated they expect to have more outsourcing projects/purchases in the next year than they had in the past 12 months. The response was a 3 percent increase over 2011 year and an 11 percent increase from the 2010 survey by D2P, Prospect, Conn.

However, responders indicated a less positive trend for their business in general: 48 percent said that business has grown in the past 12 months compared to 51 percent in 2011.

The survey asked the OEM engineers and buyers that outsource what their company’s most important factor for measuring manufacturing outsourcing vendors was. Quality continues to be the number one priority (49 percent), followed by product cost (39 percent), delivery (9 percent) and technical support (3 percent). These responses were within 2 percentage points of the answers given in 2011.

Also, responders were asked where they outsource the majority of their projects. Forty-two percent answered “local vendors, up to 100 miles,” 20 percent said “regional vendors, up to 250 miles,” 19 percent answered “national vendors” and 20 percent answered “overseas/international vendors.”

Engineers and buyers were given the opportunity to answer two open-ended questions. When asked about advantages to outsourcing domestically, there were five common themes: superior quality, better communication and supervision, reliable delivery, shorter production runs and “made in America” pride.

When asked about their biggest challenges regarding product development through manufacturing in trying to bring a product to market, common answers included: industry and government regulations, smaller run quantities and maintaining quality while dealing with price pressures.

The annual Design-2-Part survey was sent in June to manufacturing engineers and purchasing personnel who attended one of the eleven D2P trade shows in the last year that take place in major manufacturing hubs across the U.S. The survey yielded 436 responses from a fairly even cross section across all major manufacturing industries.

For information about Design-2-Part design and contract manufacturing tradeshows or to register for free show admission, visit www.D2P.com.

Posted August 2