How to Successfully Reshore Your Injection Moulding Operations // BEC Group Blog

Overseas manufacturing has lost its shine. Shipping delays, communication friction, quality issues, and rising costs have companies rethinking their supply chains through and through. Bringing your injection moulding operations back home offers control and flexibility – but you can’t just pack up your tools and start again. Nailing reshoring means planning properly, and in this article, BEC Group explains what you need to sort out.

Your Existing Tooling Situation

Tools are the big question. What condition are they in? Who owns them? Can they even be moved?

Start by retrieving specifications, drawings, and maintenance records from your current supplier. Some are helpful. Others suddenly go quiet, which tells you everything about why you’re leaving. Consider that:

• Worn tools need refurbishment first
• Poorly maintained tools might need extensive repairs or replacement
• Non-standard tools may need modifications to run on different machinery

If your tools are knackered, undersized for your volume, or built to odd specifications, new tooling might be cheaper long-term than trying to salvage what you’ve got.

Contracts and Ownership

Many companies assume they own the tools they’ve paid for, only to discover the supplier retains ownership or has liens against them.

Review your contract for exit clauses, notice periods, and any stipulated minimum order commitments. Some agreements penalise early termination or require months of advance notice.

If your supplier contributed design work, it’s not unheard of that they’ll claim IP rights that restrict where you can manufacture.

Work With an Experienced UK Manufacturer

BEC Group operates state-of-the-art injection moulding facilities suitable for a range of materials and specifications.

Before quoting the company needs to understand your part design, material requirements, expected volumes, and quality standards. The company can advise on material selection if you’re uncertain – sometimes switching from what you used overseas to a UK-equivalent resin makes economic sense.

BEC Group is happy to arrange facility visits so you can see our operation firsthand. Check out how BEC Group work, meet the team who’ll handle your work, and see the equipment used. BEC Group work with automotive and medical clients who demand tight tolerances, so the company understand exacting specifications.

Our pricing might surprise you. Once you factor in shipping costs, import duties, and the time you spend managing overseas suppliers, UK manufacturing often costs less than expected.

Plan Your Manufacturing Transition

Reshoring timelines vary. Once your tools are received, time is needed for installation and testing. We’ll fit them to our machines, run test cycles, and produce samples for your approval before ramping up production.

It’s often sensible to ensure stock covers the transition or to run operations in parallel. It beats running out of stock because the transition is more complex, or time consuming than expected.

Once You’re Over The Hump…

Reshoring is all about gaining advantages that distant suppliers can’t offer – responsive communication, shorter lead times, easier visits, and flexibility when you need changes or have problems to solve.

BEC Group has managed dozens of reshoring projects, assessing tooling, handling transitions, and getting production running smoothly. We handle everything on-site – design, tooling, moulding – so you have total visibility throughout.

Click here to read the latest news from BEC Group.

BEC Group
+44 (0)1425 613131
Website
Email