It’s getting to be an almost daily mantra for me to say, “We live in exciting times, and they’re getting more so every day.” Although the term “exciting” is usually associated with joy, it can be a double-edged thing. I’m aware of the benefits of manufacturing durable goods close to home, but have manufacturers seen the light, or is reshoring merely a transitory response to the increasing costs of fuel and labor?

More important, is the world paying attention to the cyclical pattern of manufacturing at home, to offshoring as a response to increasing obstacles to profitable business, then reshoring back home as the foreign business climate sours?

Lately I’ve run across several articles dealing with the reshoring phenomenon, and I get more excited every time I see another indicator pointing to manufacturing jobs returning home. Naturally, I rejoice at the thought of the U.S. economy thriving again, but why should someone in India or the Ukraine or China care? Because the ramifications are global.

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