The research was carried out among 263 buyers of outsourced manufacturing services with a total annual spend of over £215 million. On average, 56% of manufacturing in their organisations was carried out in-house, with 44% outsourced.

Nearly a third of respondents, 31%, said that over the past three years they had increased the proportion of their manufacturing requirements placed with subcontractors.

The main reasons cited were: only wanting to focus on core competences in-house (45%); not having enough capacity in-house (41%); it was less expensive than making it in-house; and not wanting to make capital investments in the processes outsourced (32%).

Looking ahead, 38% expected the amount of work placed with contract and subcontract manufacturers to increase over the next 12 months, with only 7% expecting it to decrease.

A quarter planned to place more of their work with UK suppliers in the next 12 months, with only 7% planning to decrease the amount of work given to British subcontractors. Over the next three years this rose to 33% expecting to place more work in the UK and 10% planning to place less.

22% said that they had brought work back to the UK in the past three years that used to be carried out in low-cost economies.  The main reasons given for this were quality (75%), response time (57%) and improved communications with the supplier (45%).

Subcon, which runs from 7 to 9 June at the NEC, Birmingham, is a UK showcase event for contract and subcontract manufacturing supply chains across all technologies and sectors.

More than 400 exhibitors will be showcasing manufacturing services ranging from machining and metalforming, through to electronics, plastic moulding, casting, forging, treatments, additive manufacturing and composites.

For more information and to register for your free ticket please visit www.subconshow.co.uk