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64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 e drive that powered offshoring is now enthusiastically advocating reshoring to pro- tect against uncertainties and reduce the envi- ronmental impact of business activities. How- ever, keeping everything close to home is oen not an option. Manufacturing requires appro- priate skills, as well as supporting industries, and these, too, have migrated away or sim- ply folded up. I can comment directly on the printed circuit business, where the proportion of boards fabricated in Europe and the U.S. has dwindled to just 2% and 4%, respectively. In the 1980s, there were over 20 suppliers of substrate base materials in Europe. Currently, there are two. Similarly, the number of sup- pliers of glass and copper foil has fallen from a Feature Article by Mark Goodwin VENTEC INTERNATIONAL GROUP Globalization and offshoring have shaped the supply chains of large manufacturing busi- nesses for the past three to four decades. e main goal has been the relentless pursuit of cost control to minimize expenditure and out- lay and thus maximize returns and profitability. Since the COVID pandemic and the associ- ated disruption to manufacturing, with sub- sequent turmoil in labour markets and ship- ping, more companies see the value of resil- ience in their supply chains. Arguably, we had all become accustomed to everything fitting together neatly with minimal complications, which encouraged setting up increasingly com- plex and extended supply chains. Until, sud- denly, everything stopped. Building Resilient Supply Chains