The Real Reshoring Math With Rosemary Coates

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Sep 30, 2025

Rosemary Coates, founder of the Reshoring Institute, brings over 30 years of experience in global supply chains to the conversation. She discusses the real impacts of reshoring versus offshoring, emphasizing that while offshoring surged due to low labor costs, the tide is shifting slowly as factors like carbon footprints and automation influence decisions. Mexico emerges as a competitive alternative due to proximity and lower costs. Rosemary also highlights the need for new skills in manufacturing and how community colleges can play a key role in rebuilding the workforce.

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ANECDOTE

How A Transportation Class Changed Everything

Rosemary discovered international logistics by accident when a required class fit her schedule and hooked her on global transport.
That internship with a freight forwarder launched a career through Solar Turbines, defense contractors, and Hewlett Packard into consulting.

ANECDOTE

Founding The Reshoring Institute

Rosemary incubated the Reshoring Institute at the University of San Diego and grew it into a nonprofit affiliated with 19 universities.
The institute does research, site selection, labeling, and consulting to help companies evaluate reshoring.

INSIGHT

Offshoring Was Driven By Simple Cost, Not Just Labor

Offshoring succeeded originally because overall operating costs, especially labor, were far lower in China and executives chased those savings.
Today location decisions also require weighing geopolitics, carbon, tariffs, and broader organizational stakeholders.

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Rosemary Coates has spent three decades inside the hardest questions in manufacturing… where to build, what to move, and how to survive the politics around it. On this episode of The Manufacturing Culture Podcast, she walks through the real story behind offshoring, why reshoring is more trickle than tidal wave, and how companies can make smarter location calls without blowing up cost or capacity.

We go back to her origin story… blue collar roots, a transportation management elective that lit the fuse, and a career that ran through Solar Turbines, defense work, Hewlett Packard, Big Four consulting, and finally her own firm. When the 2012 election turned China into a punching bag, Rosemary pivoted from moving factories out to helping leaders bring work back in a way that actually pencils. She founded the nonprofit, nonpartisan Reshoring Institute and now advises with data instead of slogans.

We dig into what really changed. Labor in China is no longer cheap. Geopolitics now sits beside cost on the decision tree. Carbon footprint matters when your supply chain stretches across oceans. The grid cannot power a sudden factory boom even if you build it. And the workforce of today is not lining up for low skill, mind numbing assembly. The path forward looks like automation where it fits, contract manufacturing for flexibility, and a cold look at labor mix and total landed cost before anyone signs a lease.

Mexico’s rise gets a clear-eyed review… proximity, lower carbon, easier logistics, and a young workforce make Central Mexico compelling. Vietnam is full. India brings time and inventory penalties on the water. Demographics matter. So do hurricanes, wildfires, and the ability to shift production when the world throws a brick through your window.

We also talk wages, the hole blown in the middle class, and why the new middle class is built on writing, computing, and mechatronics rather than grease and punch presses. Rosemary explains her expert witness work inside global supply chain disputes and leaves us with a simple truth… strategy beats sentiment, and the best decisions use both spreadsheets and context.

Sponsor note:

Med Device Boston is your go-to Med Tech sourcing and education expo, September 30 through October 1 at Boston’s BCEC. 200 plus suppliers. 1500 plus attending professionals and OEM decision makers. Explore 3D printing, AI, materials, regulatory tech, and contract manufacturing under one roof. Visit meddeviceboston.com to register and plan your visit. Links in the show notes.

Guest:

Rosemary Coates, Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, global supply chain strategist, expert witness, and author of five books on sourcing and manufacturing.