Manufacturing Footprint Optimization

Optimizing your manufacturing footprint is more important than ever before. Global uncertainties and disruptions are driving many companies to determine how to prepare their manufacturing footprint for the future from for example the perspectives of cost, risk and sustainability.

Proposition

We have extensive experience in this field, combining deep footprint analysis skills and experience with knowledge about manufacturing hotspot location around the globe. We can provide you with comprehensive analyses and data-driven recommendations to help you identify the best manufacturing footprint for your business.

Our vision on Manufacturing Footprint Optimization

In the current global environment, uncertainty is a given. Geopolitical turmoil, (manufacturing ) technology developments, labor market challenges, tax climate changes to name a few, are drivers for your company to review and optimize your company’s manufacturing footprint. Strategic considerations that should be included in the scope of your manufacturing footprint initiatives are for example:

  • Can we de-risk our manufacturing footprint through decentralization?
  • Should we consolidate to maximize economies of scale or should we manufacture close to our  customer base in a decentralized footprint?
  • What will be the impact of smart manufacturing technologies on our optimal footprint for the future?
  • How should we balance Make versus Buy strategies?
  • Are strategies such as near-sourcing, near-shoring, re-shoring, China+1, viable strategies for our company?

Our thorough process, with quantitative analyses combined with qualitative and risk analyses, allows you to determine the best footprint solution for your manufacturing operations taking into account business strategy, volume projections and expected external developments.

Contact persons
The BCI approach

Starting points of our manufacturing footprint optimization approach

Our proven approach is built on the following starting points, ensuring a thorough, detailed and fact-based assessment.

MFO-1

 

 

Manufacturing footprint scenarios

A manufacturing footprint scenario can include three basic building blocks:

  • Manufacturing footprint configuration -  for example consolidated versus more decentralized footprint options.
  • Candidate locations – current location and potential new locations
  • Make vs Buy options

In a manufacturing footprint optimization project you have the opportunity to test several (types of) footprint scenarios, ranging from relatively small improvements of the current footprint without significant investment needs towards more extreme scenarios with significant optimization potential, but also requiring much more effort and budget to implement.

Factors included in the analysis

In our approach we include a full cost analysis of your company’s AS-IS footprint and future scenarios: operating costs (OPEX) plus capital expenditures (CAPEX) and transition costs. Only by including the combination of these types of financial factors the real optimal scenario for your company’s future can be defined. As an illustration from a recent project: implementing the lowest operating cost scenario by relocating significant capacity to a low cost location in Mexico or Thailand also led to very high investment requirements and change costs, making that scenario overall by far the highest cost one.

In manufacturing footprint analysis it is not only about costs. The optimal scenario is also driven by qualitative factors that have a direct impact on the customer (e.g. service levels, reliability, speed of supply) and by conditional factors such as risks and complexity of the footprint. 

MFO-2
Cases
Case
Distribution and manufacturing location strategy development for a leading pharma company
Distribution and manufacturing location strategy development for a leading pharma company
BCI assessed several scenarios for this company to determine the optimal location strategy for their significant European distribution and light-manufacturing operations. Scenarios included expansion of the current location in Western Europe, adding a new site in a lower cost location in Central and Eastern Europe to the existing locations and c...
Read full article
Case
Global optimization of a complex network of manufacturing locations
Global optimization of a complex network of manufacturing locations
How to optimize the current manufacturing footprint which was established through mergers and acquisitions? Which scenarios are relevant and how do they compare from a cost, service, location quality and risk perspective?
Read full article
Case
Digital Twin
Digital Twin
Our customer operates within a highly dynamic business environment and requires visibility for an effective manufacturing strategy. Our customer operates within a highly dynamic business environment and requires visibility for an effective manufacturing strategy.
Read full article
News
News
Logistics Real Estate Markets in Europe Not Impacted by Covid-19: 14% Growth Forecasted for 2021

20 January 2021

Logistics Real Estate Markets in Europe Not Impacted by Covid-19: 14% Growth Forecasted for 2021
European logistics real estate markets have not suffered last year from the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to fast growing e-commerce and higher inventory levels of producers the total expected take-up in 11 European countries of 23.6 mln sqm for 2020 is only 3% down compared with record year 2019. In major markets like Germany and the UK last year’s fi...
Read full article
News
24 for ’24: Emerging Tech Hubs Around the World

04 December 2023

24 for ’24: Emerging Tech Hubs Around the World
In an exclusive report, the expert team at Netherlands-based BCI Global takes a close look at two dozen ‘out-of-the-box’ cities for future software development and support centers.
Read full article
News
European road and parcel freight rates will increase with 8% in the next six months

17 November 2023

European road and parcel freight rates will increase with 8% in the next six months
European road and parcel freight rates will increase with 8% in the next six months. Global ocean freight rates are stable at low level, but air freight rates will further decrease with another 5%. These are one of the main conclusions from the Transport Monitor of leading supply chain and logistics consulting company BCI Global. For t...
Read full article
News
Reshoring to US and Europe accelerates, now also serving CO2 emission reduction objectives

28 September 2023

Reshoring to US and Europe accelerates, now also serving CO2 emission reduction objectives
Reshoring accelerates as American and European companies want to de-risk their supply chain from geopolitical developments and supply chain disruptions. This concludes supply chain and location strategy consulting firm BCI Global in a very extensive study (supported by SCM).
Read full article
News
BCI Global Announces ‘DE-5’ Proprietary Framework for Value Chain Management

11 July 2023

BCI Global Announces ‘DE-5’ Proprietary Framework for Value Chain Management
One of the most influential financial and economic platforms in the world Bloomberg paid attention today to our new DE-5 Proprietary Framework for Value Chain Management. The framework aims to reduce risk in five major areas linked to the operations of many multinational companies. While there are vast differences between various companies and i...
Read full article
News
Boom expected of 250 New Batteries Plants in Europe

10 May 2023

Boom expected of 250 New Batteries Plants in Europe
More than 250 new plants of battery producers and their suppliers will be established in Europe in the next 10 years. That concludes international consulting firm Buck Consultants International in an analysis of the future European batteries market, presented today at the Transport Logistic exhibition in Munich.
Read full article
News
50 Most Admired Companies to Watch

03 April 2023

50 Most Admired Companies to Watch
BCI Global among America's Most Admired Companies to Watch: California based CIO Bulletin, the leading platform for Business & Information Technology leaders, has recognized BCI Global in its latest issue as one of Americas 50 Admired Companies to Watch 2023.
Read full article
News
Strong rise predicted in reshoring of critical parts and final assembly to Europe and US

24 March 2022

Strong rise predicted in reshoring of critical parts and final assembly to Europe and US
Over 60% of European and US companies expect to reshore some of their production activities from Asia back to Europe or the US over the next three years. In most of these cases it is about limited volumes and/or critical parts and products, but 17% intend to bring back the majority of their Chinese and Asian production capacity. When it comes to...
Read full article
News
Biotech Companies Are Preparing for the Manufacturing Future

28 September 2021

Biotech Companies Are Preparing for the Manufacturing Future
Biopharmaceuticals are one of the world’s growth powerhouses. In 2020, the global biopharmaceuticals market was worth $325 billion, and it is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of between seven and eight percent to approximately $500 billion in 2026, according to Mordor Intelligence. This growth is being driven by the aging of p...
Read full article
News
Manufacturing in the US: now or never?

01 September 2021

Manufacturing in the US: now or never?
The US economy is ‘hot’. Fueled by the Covid-19 recovery with a forecasted economic growth of more than 5 per cent this year and the substantial investment packages of President Biden domestic and foreign companies are investing in new manufacturing plants. But labor market challenges are around the corner.
Read full article
News
Making your manufacturing footprint more resilient

01 September 2021

Making your manufacturing footprint more resilient
For most companies clearly the time has come to take a longer-term perspective again and prepare the company for potential new disruptions in the future. BCI Global has defined 5 strategic initiatives that companies should adopt when preparing the manufacturing footprint for the future.
Read full article
News
From XXS to XXL: Towards a typology of distribution centre facilities

01 July 2021

From XXS to XXL: Towards a typology of distribution centre facilities
Distribution centres are becoming more and more relevant for spatial planning, due to their rapidly increasing size and number. There is little literature, however, that provides a generalized analysis of the size and functional attributes of distribution centres, and none that discusses the relationships between these attributes.
Read full article