Democratização da produção (Parte III)

Parte I e Parte II.

"The globalization manufacturing paradigms of the past few decades were primarily cost-cutting ventures built on traditional high-volume production schemes. Locating factories in regional hubs, typically in developing countries outside a manufacturer’s domestic market, was seen as a way to reduce labor expenses and form alliances with low-cost suppliers in these regions. And as long as the discount to operate in emerging nations was large enough to overcome logistics inefficiencies and time-to-market requirements, this approach was profitable and made perfect sense.
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But a combination of trends is making this strategic approach obsolete — and is shifting value creation in production downstream toward customers and customization. For one thing, wage escalation in emerging nations and concerns about uncertain energy costs have eroded the perceived competitive advantage that multinationals sought from offshoring.
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the growing importance of the “build where you sell” principle
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More than anything, however, the rapidly morphing relationship between manufacturers and their consumers is at the heart of the point-of-demand revolution — and will have the most permanent impact on it. In all regions, but particularly in emerging nations as demand evolves and the middle class expands, customers increasingly expect products that match local cultural preferences, rather than homogeneous global brands and business-to-business services.
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For the first time, customers can reasonably demand products from mainstream manufacturers that look and feel like they were made next door. And companies can expect increased customer loyalty when they meet these demands through personalization"

Cito isto e lembro-me da reacção da indústria automóvel incumbente a pedidos em pequena quantidade e com requisitos fora da caixa:

"Deutsche Post says it took this route when the conventional vehicle makers turned down requests to build the electric vans in what are limited numbers by their standards."

Também me lembro disto, "Comboio Vasco da Gama vai ligar Portugal à Alemanha em 2020". Da janela do meu escritório, a menos de 10 metros da linha do Norte vejo passar os comboios de mercadorias carregados de: eucalipto; brita; carvão; e cimento (eheheh escrevo isto, oiço o comboio a passar, levanto-me e é um comboio com contentores fechados). Não digo que seja impossível levar exportações das PMEs do Norte para a Europa Central, mas vai ser muito difícil. A variedade de destinos, as pequenas quantidades e as entregas rápidas não sei se podem ser conciliadas por quem tem o mindset noutro mundo. Fazem-me lembrar:

"Em 2009, com a forte quebra da produção automóvel, recordo as empresas produtoras de composto para esse sector, que com preços muito baixos tentaram fornecer os fabricantes de solas. Claro que a coisa não correu bem porque a indústria de calçado queria variedade e pequenas quantidades, não a monocor e as grandes quantidades. E a coisa deu para o torto." 

Continua.

Trechos retirados de "Manufacturing’s new world order - The rise of the point-of-demand model"