Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Having demonstrated their superior quality to reclaim the work, they have been plunged into a frantic recruitment drive.

Customers seduced into outsourcing work to China and eastern Europe have performed a dramatic u-turn. Now they appear dedicated to ‘On-shoring’ – a recently manifested trend among manufacturers to source components within the UK as opposed to low-cost economies abroad.

Local engineering companies are reporting that many contracts are returning to the UK – so much so, that they are genuinely struggling to recruit suitably qualified precision engineers.

During the past two years, many manufacturing companies have started to realise that sourcing abroad can incur many hidden costs. Such issues as air travel for supplier meetings, large minimum volumes, long lead times and quality issues can all impact the commercial performance of a manufacturer  not to mention the time and energy required to manage such a long distance relationship.

In some cases, it is thought that environmental concerns are also starting to influence how companies go about sourcing components.

As a result of these realisations and changing values, many UK manufacturers are reviewing their outsourcing strategies and opting for the more flexible and controllable relationship of an on-shore supplier.

East Anglian companies such as Hitec Sheet Metal based in Soham, are seeing the direct benefits of this trend and welcome this return of fortune for the engineering sector.

”2006 was a great year for us, we picked up several new clients,” said John Stevenson, managing director of Hitec.

“2007 looks set to be an even better year and we are certainly on the look-out for talented and motivated engineers to help us grow the company. We know for sure that some of the business we are winning has been previously placed in the Far East, so it’s great to know that UK manufacturers are beginning to realise the commercial benefits of using a local supplier.”

Hitec is not alone in its search for engineers.

Ladbrook Engineering of North Walsham, which manufactures pressed metal parts, is also looking to recruit such engineering expertise as toolmaking. Ladbrook is also experiencing a period of growth, having closed some recent long term contracts within the window manufacturing industry and the automotive sector.

”We are on the look out for talented engineering staff,” said Mike Blowers, MD of Ladbrook.

“We are mainly looking for engineers that have a passion for the subject and are also looking to grow their technical knowledge and understanding of engineering. The future is looking very bright for us and we are very aware that this success will depend on the quality of the team we have in place, here at Ladbrook.”

Acro Engineering in Catfield, a company that specialises in high precision turned parts, is also looking to buy in new machinery to meet this upsurge in demand.

“Yes, it’s been a very good year and we also think that manufacturers are starting to appreciate the value and quality of British engineering,” said Fred Pain, general manager at Acro.

“We’ve even been doing work for the oil industry in Norway, so its good to know that UK engineering is back on top.”

The on-shoring trend is not just impacting the precision engineering sector; it is also having an effect on industry sectors such as electronic manufacturing.

Contract electronics manufacturer, Barric, in Diss, is currently working on a large project that had previously been outsourced to a low wage economy and it is also looking to grow its engineering team to meet the current demand.

”We are currently manufacturing a product that was being made in eastern Europe,” said Mike Bayley, director for business development at Barric.

“The UK owners of the product came to us because they had suffered from recurrent quality issues that involved the managers in a lot of air travel. It’s good to see manufacturers starting to value UK engineering once again.”