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he most likely candidate for a location decision involving a new or expanded facility will be in the manufacturing sector, according to corporate executives surveyed by Development Counsellors International (DCI), a New York?based economic development marketing firm. More than 280 corporate executives participated in the exercise.
Forty-four percent of the respondents anticipate making a location decision involving manufacturing or production facilities in the next year, followed by corporate/regional/divisional headquarters (19 percent), distribution centers (15 percent), regional sales offices or service centers (14 percent) and back-office facilities (8 percent). Seventy-seven percent of respondents reported expansions or relocations in 2002.
These survey results beg some interpretation. After all, the economy isn’t setting any growth records, plenty of industries are retrenching, operational costs are being scrutinized with electron microscopes, and more and more companies are outsourcing their manufacturing to third parties. Their core competencies have more to do with intellectual property rights than with building plants and maintaining equipment. So shouldn’t these corporate executives be reporting less activity?
Not necessarily. Look at it this way: The economy is expanding, companies must innovate by bringing new products to market, population rates are growing around the world, creating ever-expanding markets for more products and services, and trade barriers are vanishing, making it more cost-effective for companies to operate facilities elsewhere. So it actually stands to reason that so many corporate real estate executives anticipate making location decisions involving manufacturing facilities in the near future.
Which is why Site Selection and the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) — a new association dedicated to the issues surrounding the location of industrial facilities — are so important. This issue marks the launch of “IAMC Insider” in Site Selection, the official publication of IAMC. This new section covers association news, conference information and other content. Throughout Site Selection, corporate projects are covered from a strategic perspective without making the reader wade through the layers of “consultant-speak” that plague coverage elsewhere.
The synergy between this publication and IAMC will certainly benefit association members. And it will benefit those readers who are not yet members. If you find yourself in the latter category, I urge you to keep your subscription current and to consider seriously the benefits of joining the manufacturing sector’s most important new association. Given where things are going, you’ll be glad you did.
Till next time,
