Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1538100
18 SMT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2025 Even as you detail the other topics in the report, eventually it comes back to the same question: Who will do the work? Whom do you hire? Moser: Most negative arti- cles about reshoring mention these ques- tions as one of the major reasons it won't happen. I've also advo- cated with the Departments of Labor and Education to change their messaging, sup- port, and funding so that we can get the workforce that we need. How did you go about developing this report? What was your methodology? Moser: It's been a team effort. I have results from 20–30 studies and surveys that have been done on reshoring. They typically ask questions like: Have you done it? Will you do it? Why or why not? How's it going? I tried to fill the gaps, to look at the empty spaces where there wasn't any informa- tion, for a more complete science on the subject. I thought new information would get more attention from the media and the Trump administration. Nunnally: We were in the midst of the election when we did the initial survey, but we knew the Trump campaign had tariffs in mind. Moser: An important question for me, at least, was asking respondents, "What percentage of what you import would you reshore in the case of each of five different policies?" We asked them about: • 15% tariffs on everything • 15% lower dollar • Massive deregulation • Lower corporate tax rate • Sufficient quantity and quality of workforce Respondents dramatically said workforce con- cerns are more impactful than any of the things that the Trump administration is routinely propos- ing. I hope that his administration will pick up on that result. Nunnally: In the design of the survey, Harry and his team wanted to be very intentional about distinguish- ing contract manufacturers from OEMs, because to our knowledge, no one has ever done that. Moser: It seems no one ever asks the people who are actually doing the work—assemblers, harness makers, and so on. In the survey, we asked it right up front. Depending on their answer, they were asked different questions so we could have a data- base to compare. Some of those questions attempted to quantify how much fear they feel; not just uncertainty, but fear. Moser: We never mentioned fear, but we asked what caused them to reshore or not. We asked if they were offshoring and what was causing them to go offshore. We're acknowledging that, even while there's a massive amount of work coming back, there's still work moving offshore, and that much of the same logic about why you should reshore applies to why you shouldn't offshore. Johnson: When did you have the survey open? Nunnally: We worked on the design of the survey through the election, and then we decided to put it off until after the first of the year. We tested it in January, and launched it in February. It ran from February through April 1. So, this effectively represents the first 100 days of the administration. Nunnally: Yes. We left it open longer than we had originally planned. Moser: In retrospect, it's good that we did that because after April 2, the trade deal policies were all in motion and the media blew the story up. Thanks to that timing, we were able to cut through to the core of what people's beliefs were, rather than reflecting the emotions that came later, or having them change their answer because of the fear of tariffs. Harr y Moser