Illinois Reshoring Initiative to Present Seminar at Design-2-Part Show

The Greater Chicago Design-2-Part Show, the region’s largest show dedicated to contract manufacturing, will welcome Harry Moser, Founder of the national Reshoring Initiative to deliver a seminar, “Returning Manufacturing to America.” The seminar will take place from 11:30am – 12:30pm on Wednesday, May 4, at the Schaumburg Convention Center.

Mr. Moser’s presentation, open free to the public, will reveal the “true” costs of offshoring manufacturing, including why it may not always be the most cost-effective solution. All participants will receive a free copy of the proprietary Total Cost of Ownership Estimator software, which Moser developed.

Harry Moser has spent more than 40 years in manufacturing and most of his life as an advocate of United States manufacturing. As President, and then Chairman Emeritus of GF Agie Charmilles, Moser would visit schools encouraging kids to pursue careers in the skilled manufacturing trades and promised them that there would be jobs. To help keep his promise, he founded the Reshoring Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing work back to the U.S. from overseas. For his work, Harry Moser was named to Industry Week magazine’s Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2010.

The Illinois Reshoring Initiative helps level the playing field for American Manufacturers competing against offshore suppliers. The Illinois initiative, applying the principles of the national Reshoring Initiative, is an industry-led program intended to bring orders and jobs back to Illinois manufacturing companies. The Initiative is achieving this goal by helping manufacturers recognize that local production or sourcing may actually reduce their TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of purchased parts and tooling, improve their balance sheet and make product innovation more effective.

The Greater Chicago Design-2-Part Show attracts thousands of design engineers, manufacturing engineers, managers, and buyers from across the Midwest to meet local and national job shops and contract manufacturers to source custom parts, components, services, and design. With over 250 exhibiting companies, the show is projected to be the largest Chicagoland area D2P show ever.

The show in Schaumburg is one of eleven Design-2-Part Shows that will take place in 2011 in major manufacturing hubs within the United States. As their policy has been since inception over 35 years ago, D2P Shows exclusively feature job shops and contract manufacturers with manufacturing operations in the United States. Companies that do not have facilities in the U.S. are not permitted to exhibit.

“We are excited about partnering with the Design-2-Part Show, it is a great venue for us to be sharing our information,” said Harry Moser. “Their commitment to U.S. manufacturing is very impressive.”

“Teaming up with the Illinois Reshoring Initiative makes perfect sense for us,” added Jerry Schmidt, President of the Design-2-Part Shows. “Attendees can walk the show floor and find high-quality suppliers to solve their manufacturing challenges and then Harry can show them how to justify keeping more of the work in the U.S.”

Admission to the Illinois Reshoring Initiative session and the Greater Chicago Design-2-Part Show is free to qualified industry professionals. For more information or to register, visit www.reshoringd2p.com or http://news.d2p.com.

About the Illinois Reshoring Initiative
The goal of the Illinois Reshoring Initiative is to bring manufacturing jobs back home by providing proprietary software that identifies and calculates the “hidden costs” of offshore manufacturing, such as overseas travel, quality issues, inventory costs and long lead times that often are not factored into the total cost of ownership. Recent studies have shown that 60% of companies underestimate the real costs of offshoring by 20 to 30 percent or more. The Illinois Reshoring Initiative leverages technology, innovation and education to help regional manufacturers compete effectively with offshore companies for U.S. manufacturing business.  The Initiative is a 6 step process.  The steps include bringing together at the Sept. 8, 2011 NTMA/PMA Contract Manufacturing Purchasing Fair, customers and shops that have both been trained to think in terms of Total Cost.

More than 40 organizations already support the Illinois Reshoring Initiative including: the national Reshoring Initiative, Medusa Consulting Group, Inc., Northern Illinois University, Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, the Greater O’Hare Association, the Tooling and Manufacturing Association, the Illinois workNet Center of Northern Cook County, the Chicagoland Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Rockford AEDC, and the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Center. More information is available at www.medusainc.com and at www.reshorenow.com.