‘Bring manufacturing back to Ireland’

Ireland may benefit from the increase in wages in China as a growing number of companies look to bring manufacturing back to their core markets.

Hourly wages in China have increased by over 400% since 2001 and, coupled with the time difference and an average shipping time of six weeks, the attractiveness of manufacturing in the East may diminish for some sectors.

The Cork Electronics Industry Association will hear from Caroline Dowling, president of integrated network solutions at Flextronics, who believes now is the time to bring manufacturing industries back to Ireland.

“This is an ideal time for Ireland to harness the opportunity that re-shoring presents,” she said.

“Manufacturing has evolved and we are continuously reinventing our business processes in line with technological developments, client needs, and customer demands.

“As the design and manufacturing process becomes more sophisticated, customisation and final configuration closer to the market is desirable and often necessary.”

The government advisory body Forfás has outlined measures necessary to create an additional 20,000 manufacturing jobs in Ireland by 2016 in its report ‘Make it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020’.

CEIA chairman Sean Gayer said tomorrow’s seminar will look at making these plans a reality.

“This seminar will explore how Ireland can leverage the changes in the manufacturing sector to become a significant manufacturing location globally,” he said. “National policy must also support the renewed entrepreneurial thinking to enable Ireland’s competitiveness in the global economy.”

* The seminar takes place the Radisson Blu Hotel tomorrow in Little Island. Bookings at www.ceia.ie.