• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Bringing manufacturing back from China

By Becky McCray

The trend of “reshoring” manufacturing showed up in my back yard last week, with a story in the  Alva Review-Courier about local business Vantage Plane Plastics.

Vantage Plane Plastics
Vantage Plane Plastics in my hometown,
Alva, Oklahoma, is competing with China
for manufacturing jobs. 

Another Oklahoma manufacturer had planned to outsource their product to China, when a sudden increase in shipping costs derailed that plan. Vantage took on the project with a much lower minimum order, saving the original company money. Vantage saved them even more money by catching and fixing a design flaw. If the job had been done in China, the entire container load would have had to be scrapped.

Outsourcing manufacturing to China and other countries is becoming less competitive, and spells opportunity for local custom manufacturing firms. Hourly wage rates in China sound attractive, but are not the only cost factor. In this case, the shipping cost, the lower minimum order, and saving $290,000 in scrapped product, all made Oklahoma more than competitive with China.

Thanks to the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance for writing the original story and giving me permission to share a few excerpts here.

Tim Hartman, of PTO Productions, LLC, of Edmond, Okla., was helping Fun Sports Products, Inc. to manufacture and market “The Shutout Mound,” a plastic pitching mound used to train pitchers.

“We were just about to approve the manufacturing deal with China when they increased our shipping cost,” Hartman said. “The revised shipping cost for a container load caused us to hold and re-evaluate.”

Vantage General Manager Mark Seaver offered several advantages to his local production over outsourcing to China.

“Same material, same product, lower minimum-volume requirements, and no need to put all of our money out there at once,” Hartman said. “They handle the warehousing too. Mark provided us a one-stop solution.”

Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance Extension Agent Kevin Barber said, “The less visible costs of manufacturing overseas like managing additional inventory in the shipping lanes, managing quality issues, and maintaining good relationships with your foreign manufacturers are very real and make manufacturing in Oklahoma an attractive and feasible alternative.”

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

  • About the Author
  • Latest by this Author
Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

www.beckymccray.com
  • Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank
  • Revitalize Your Rural Community: Join Us for an Interactive Workshop at the 2023 IEDC Annual Conference
  • Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your people

February 20, 2012 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, success, trends

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

Holyoke Hummus Company cart

How one food business keeps adapting, from table to cart to truck, to restaurant and back again

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

Newspaper story headline says, "Made in Dorrigo Markets a bustling success"

Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in