SURVEY SEES U.S. MANUFACTURERS SHIFTING OUTPUT
More leading U.S. manufacturers plan to
increase the proportion of their U.S.-based production
vis-a-vis their overseas output over the next two years,
according to a Boston University School of Management survey.
    The Manufacturing Roundtable 1987 study showed 32 pct of
manufacturers plan to shift output to their domestic plants
from their overseas ones, or simply increase the production in
their U.S. plants.
    That was up from 19 pct expecting to make that shift in
1986, and only 12 pct in 1984.
    The Boston University survey canvassed 207 firms.
    The largest group of those surveyed, 44 pct, planned no
changes in their U.S./overseas operations, while 23.7 pct said
they would boost the ratio of overseas output, the poll said.
    Jeffrey Miller, professor at the School of Management and
director of the Roundtable Survey, said that exchange rates
favored plans toward increased domestic production. But he
added that increased competitiveness seems to be behind the
move towards greater production in the United States.
    "What's peculiar about this group is that it's the most
successful in terms of profitability, decreasing costs, and
increasing quality," he told Reuters in an interview.
    Those companies increasing offshore production are at the
opposite end of the spectrum, he said, not meeting the
production goals they set for themselves.
    He cautioned that the survey was skewed towards large,
unusually profitable businesses representing a diversity of
industries and regions. The typical respondent was a large
manufacturing division with sales of about 200 mln dlrs.
   
 Reuter
