“Is American manufacturing dead?” The Tampa Bay Business Journal posed this question back in 2014. Headlines like this one were commonplace in the news media during the economic downturn of 2008. Today, however, manufacturing in the United States is making quite the comeback. With more than 800,000 new manufacturing jobs added since 2010, the industry has shown promising value. Unsurprisingly, the pharmaceutical contract manufacturing industry has followed suit. According to a recent study, The United States held the major share of the pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market in 2015, and “will continue to dominate the market” throughout 2021. It’s worthwhile to explore the benefits of keeping contract manufacturing jobs in the United States—namely, reduced production cost and increased client satisfaction.
Reduced production cost is just one of many advantages to domestic pharmaceutical contract manufacturing. A large reason for the offshoring of contract manufacturing in the 2000’s was the promise of inexpensive labor costs; however, recent years have seen a significant surge in foreign labor costs. In example, China’s labor costs are a mere 4% cheaper than those in the United States. Additionally, the rising cost of international shipping—not to mention the delayed timeline—has further devalued the practice of offshore contract manufacturing. Today, with domestic and foreign labor costs being nearly equal, companies no longer stand to gain as much by offshoring. By electing to keep business domestic, contract manufacturing companies are able to create jobs while also reducing production cost.
In most industries, client satisfaction is equally—if not more—important as production cost; contract manufacturing is no different. One of the most significant advantages to keeping contract manufacturing in the United States is increased client satisfaction. In fact, 8 in 10 American consumers say they would rather buy an American-made product than an imported one, according to one recent study. Some consumers believe that buying exclusively American-made is a great way to support the American economy; others cite the superior quality and safety standards in the United States as the reason for their choice. One recent survey indicated that 85% of consumers in the United States and a whopping 82% of consumers in China believe that American-made products have higher quality. When pharmaceutical contract manufacturing companies keep business in the U.S., they increase their brand value with clients.
In today’s economy, it’s more advantageous than ever for pharmaceutical contract manufacturing companies to keep business in the United States—not only does it reduce production cost and increase client satisfaction, but it also ensures the highest level of quality assurance and safety. Here at Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, we take pride in creating local jobs on our quest to provide the highest quality products to our clients. Our company is proof that American manufacturing is not, in fact, dead—it’s more alive than ever.
