Abstract
After decades of globalization and outsourcing the idea of “bringing manufacturing back home” and the twin concepts of backshoring and nearshoring have received much attention in recent years. Recent positive stories from the Finnish manufacturing industry suggests Finland as an attractive target for nearshoring, yet little to none has hitherto been made of this connection. This article (i.) examines recent relocation literature with a focus on nearshoring and manufacturing in high-cost environments, (ii.) explores the location advantage of Finland, (iii.) analyses cases of recent manufacturing developments in Finland within this context as single incidents or signals of change, and (iv.) discusses this development within the perspective of Industry 4.0.
Highlights
Over the past few years, a remarkable thing has happened in Southwest Finland
The article will briefly present recent – and highly reported – positive cases of manufacturing developments in Finland. As mentioned these include in particular the growth of the Meyer Shipyard in Turku and the Valmet Automotive factory in Uusikaupinki; two engines of growth with a large effect on the regional economic situation of Southwest Finland
Thousands of jobs have been created in the manufacturing of cars and cruise ships, and the importance of these sectors for the whole of the Finnish manufacturing industry has risen, visible in the national economic statistics
Summary
Over the past few years, a remarkable thing has happened in Southwest Finland. Major manufacturing sites have boomed and more than 30,000 new jobs have been created in the region (YLE, 2018). There are key differences between the cases in terms of e.g. ownership and functions and positions in manufacturing ecosystems, but centrally to both is Western European owners and customers willing to bet big on facilities in Finland This can essentially, we will argue, be considered a form of nearshoring. In order to make this claim, we will first briefly examine the expanded strand of relocation literature related to nearshoring Within this context, our primary focus is nearshoring to small open economies and high-cost manufacturing environments, i.e. on Finnish conditions or on economic conditions similar to those in Finland. As mentioned these include in particular the growth of the Meyer Shipyard in Turku and the Valmet Automotive factory in Uusikaupinki; two engines of growth with a large effect on the regional economic situation of Southwest Finland.
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