After cutting costs and introducing efficiencies during the global crisis, Canadian manufacturing is poised to grow again because of some key changes in the way business is being done worldwide, according to a report from KPMG.
In its annual outlook on the Canadian manufacturing sector, the consulting firm says there is a shift coming from making goods in low-cost countries to making them "on-shore" in North America because of rising energy costs and a lack of quality and consistency from China and India.
In 2014, only 14% of manufacturers planned to source from China, compared with 31% in 2013 and three per cent were looking to India compared to 12% last year.
Canadian manufacturers will be able to take advantage of these trends because of their proximity to the U.S. and their reputation for making higher quality goods, the report Canadian Manufacturing Outlook 2014 says
The report points to Canada’s highly educated workforce as an advantage because of the need for professionals who understand supply-chain management and workers who can handle robotics.
The authors urge manufacturers to develop relationships with post-secondary institutions so they can build a workforce with the right skills.
Their findings, based on a survey of 154 manufacturing executives, provides a more optimistic assessment of the future of manufacturing than the Bank of Canada, which is worried about export growth, or the C.D. Howe Institute, which reported last week that Canadian businesses are not investing.
