Means of Production: Choosing Between Outsourcing & Manufacturing Your Own Products

Making products has always been a complicated process. Not only do you need to make designs, prototypes, and test runs, but you also have to deal with all of the other challenges that come with setting up a factory. Of course, though, over the last few decades, many companies have been moving their production overseas, outsourcing the work to other businesses that can do it cheaper. There are benefits to both outsourcing and manufacturing something yourself, though, and this article is going to be exploring them to enable you to make the right choice.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing involves finding a factory overseas that makes something similar to the product you have in mind and working with the professionals that operate it to make a product that reflects what you want. This can take quite some time, and a lot of companies end up spending a small fortune during this process. Of course, though, this will often be less than the money you’d spend building a factor. Alongside costing less to get started with, this sort of process will also give you access to world-class engineers and designers.

Outsourcing can be a good option for scalability, enabling you to grow and shrink your operation to suit the products that you’re making, while also making it possible to stop production if you’re simply not selling enough. Many companies end up falling into the trap of investing heavily in their own factories, only to find that they can’t sell enough of their goods to pay for the whole thing.

Self-Manufacturing

Manufacturing something yourself is going to be more complicated than outsourcing the job. You are going to need a factory or warehouse, a skilled team of designers and engineers, and people to make sure that the whole thing is running smoothly. You will also need to pay for a lot of different resources, and this means that it will pay to know a pallet racking company before you get started. Small product launches can be handled from garages and other small structures, though this won’t be very scalable and could force you to move elsewhere if your demand grows.

The true benefits of self-manufacturing come when you start to think about flexibility. With full control over the machines you use, you will be able to dictate exactly how each of your products is made. You will be able to make changes and improvements that wouldn’t be possible in another factory, while also having the opportunity to make your own prototypes as you go through the design process.

Which Is Best?

It can be hard to say which of these options is best for your business, and it usually depends on the type of product you’re making. Smartphones, for example, need to be carefully designed and tested to make sure that they work perfectly for the customer, and it would make sense to manufacture something like this yourself. Products that are much simpler or have been tried and tested can be handled with outsourcing, ensuring that your customers get a good product.